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In 2006 and 2007, Universal released the first and second season sets of SNL in December, just in time for holiday gift-giving. Instead of waiting for the end of the year, though, the studio has announced this morning a May 13th launch for Saturday Night Live - The Complete 3rd Season on DVD!
But this time you won't just get one choice, but two. In addition to the regular release, the studio is also bringing out Saturday Night Live - The Complete 3rd Season: Limited Edition on the same day. We don't have details or an actual press release at this time, just a pair of listings at Universal's password-protected press site. So we're not sure yet what more you'll get by buying the Limited Edition, but we can tell you that the price is shown to be the same for both sets: each is $59.98 SRP.
The one different thing we can see is the box descriptions: the regular set describes the package as being a "Digipak with Outer Box," while the Limited Edition says the entire thing will be enclosed in a "Box" that we assume is more elaborate somehow than the regular set (as a guess, possibly a larger box to include something else that isn't a DVD).
The third season continues with the same main cast (in alphabetical order) of Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner. Writer Al Franken was also seen on-screen, as was writer Don Novello (who brought back his character of Father Guido Sarducci, previously seen in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour).
Guest hosts this season included the likes of Steve Martin (three times), Madeline Kahn, Hugh Hefner, Charles Grodin, Buck Henry (twice), Mary Kay Place, Robert Klein, former cast member Chevy Chase, Art Garfunkel, Jill Clayburgh, Christopher Lee, Richard Dreyfuss and the star of Capricorn One later that year, Mr. O.J. Simpson (who was leaving the Buffalo Bills due to injury, and would later sign with the SF 49ers). Ray Charles served as both main host and musical guest in one episode, and other musical guests included Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Elvis Costello, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Bonnie Raitt, Billy Joel, Ashford & Simpson, Eddie Money, Meat Loaf, Jimmy Buffett and the very first appearance of The Blue Brothers (who would get their own film two years later).
Both releases are shown to be 7-DVD sets using single-sided discs, with video in Full Frame 1.33:1...except for the final disc. The 7th disc on both listings says "Anamorphic Widescreen (1.33:1)." Note that this is a contradictory info point, though, because 1.33 is full screen, and widescreen would be 1.78:1...so we're not sure what that means. It could just be a typo. Please note: We're aware that there have been regular and limited editions of previous sets, but Universal hasn't announced both on the same day (in fact, they don't announce the regular version at all), and the regular set always replaced the limited set using the same UPC. These sets have different UPCs, and have both been announced. We're trying to determine if there's anything different between the sets.
Audio is English - Dolby Digital 2.0, and English subtitles are included as well. No further info is available, nor is box art obviously (or we could tell you more about the differences between these sets). Stay tuned and we'll keep you informed as we learn more about this! Also, it's worth noting that a DVD release this early in the year for Season 3 certainly leaves the door open for a December release of Season 4 as well. Will we get it? We're pretty sure, but nothing's for certain yet. Don't touch that dial!
  
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