This Week in Instant Watching: SNL reruns

Netflix has been kind of funny lately. It goes days without adding anything of consequence to its streaming roster, or even adding anything at all, then it dumps a ton of stuff at once. Instead of making any kind of attempt to be comprehensive, I'm going to mention a few titles I think may be underrated or lesser known here or there, or just ones that amuse or excite me, and from time to time, I'll talk generally about content that is on Netflix Instant Watching. That, in fact, is what I want to do today.

One of the coolest areas of the vast Instant Watching library is the collection of "Saturday Night Live" episodes dating back to the beginning. Now, I'm not so interested in the first 5 seasons, even though I like them the best, because they are on DVD. Far more compelling is the presence of those forgotten seasons of the eighties, ones that may never make it to disc, like, well, season 6, the infamous non-Lorne Michaels year featuring Charles Rocket and Denny Dillon as well as emerging stars like Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy.

Before I get back to season 6, let me give this caveat about all the "SNL" series on IW: The episodes are eviscerated. Some installments are as short as 20-some minutes long, and no one is really sure why. All musical performances are gone, not surprisingly, as are sketches with music that NBC/Universal didn't want to bother clearing, and I'm not sure that this drastic hack job is necessary for digital streaming, but apparently someone figured it best not to take any chances.

But there are plenty of embarrassing moments that are left in the shows--horrible sketches, flubs, and the Queen Mother of All Embarrassments, the moment when Rocket said a clear "F-bomb" at the end of the Charlene Tilton-hosted episode. So if someone is making edits for reasons of aesthetics or standards and practices, that person is doing a horrible job.

So the rationale behind the ridiculous editing remains a mystery, but that said, it's still a trove of fascinating viewing. I'm making my way through that sixth season now, and, yes, the show is terrible. But there are moments here and there, and no matter how bad things get, it's interesting watching the product on screen both as a time capsule of the era and as the result of the backstage turmoil that has been talked and written about so extensively.

Oh, and there is one good reason to wade through season 6, and that is the young Edward Regan Murphy. Maybe it's just the advantage of hindsight that makes him stand out today, but watch those first several episodes, then see Murphy's first appearance (or at least the one represented in these versions) and marvel at just how fresh and exciting he seems. They must have known, you can't help but thinking, even though Murphy overcame resistance from the show's then producer to make it on the air in the first place.

The fact is that these shows aren't all that great, and sometimes I watch one and am almost thankful someone went to the trouble of whittling it in half, but "Saturday Night Live" endures as one of those programs that is disproportionately more interesting to follow than to actually watch. Even when the comedy isn't firing on all cylinders, there is enough going on, especially in these older seasons, to make viewing the show a fun experience, especially if you educate yourself as to what was going on behind the scenes.