The Television Academy - Interviews
Saturday Night Live, now known as SNL, has given us 50 years of comedy, music, and satire. To be sure, the show has had its ups and downs. There have been good casts, bad casts, and truly great casts; and, we can debate who was the best till the cows come home (psst, it was the original cast. No debate.).
To celebrate the premier of SNL’s 51st season next weekend, today’s post highlights The Television Academy’s Interview Collection.
What Is It?
This massive oral history project features video recordings of interviews with a wide variety of television professionals, both from behind the scenes and in front of the camera. The Academy has interviewed nearly 1000 people in dozens of television professions. These interviews, some upwards of 3 hours long, are freely available on their website.
The interviews are organized in a variety of ways to make for easy browsing. You can browse by:
Shows
Topics
Professions
Genres
People
Collections, or
Recent Interviews.
If you’re looking for SNL, they are listed under Shows as Saturday Night Live (note: the 25th anniversary special is listed separately) or under Genres - Music Shows & Variety Shows/Specials. Not under Comedy. Go figure.
Topics is an interesting way to browse, and less obvious than some of the other options. It’s broadly divided into larger topics like “Historic Events” and “Popular Culture,” then further narrowed to subtopics like “Fall of the Berlin Wall” and “TV Theme Songs.” The video links go to specific timestamps in the interviews, so you can hear about people talking about these specific things. My favorite (found under “Memorable Moments” then “We Laughed”) is this clip of Suzanne Pleshette talking about the greatest ending in sit-com history.
How to Use It
Using this resource is pretty self-explanatory. To begin your exploration, click on All Interviews at the top of the page. This is where you’ll find the various ways to browse.
Depending on what you choose, the results will be slightly different. For example, if you browse by Professions, then select a profession, you’ll see options for “Highlights,” “Who talked about this profession,” “Who worked in this profession,” and “About.”
Whereas, if you browse by Genre, the individual genres will have options for “About”, “Highlights,” “Who talked about this genre,” and “All shows in this genre.” Obviously, this is not a comprehensive list, as this list of sci-fi and supernatural shows doesn’t include X-Files or Doctor Who (though the latter is mentioned in the About essay). Presumably, they’ve only included shows discussed in at least one interview.
Why Use It?
Historians, authors, journalists, and documentarians will find this useful for their research. Here are a few small examples of questions this resource can answer.
How did a Lighting Director influence perceptions of Richard Nixon?
How did celebrities feel about being on the Hollywood Blacklist?
How does media consolidation affect the media landscape?
How have our perceptions of quality changed over time?
How is makeup artistry different for black and white versus color film?
Conclusion
Oral histories are a treasure trove of information about the past, about industries, about people, and about culture. The Television Academy has put together a fantastic and informative collection of television industry oral histories, and it is still growing. Go check it out!
