Schillervision

August 2, 2010 10:34 PM

Tom Schiller is best known for his work on NBC's Saturday Night Live, particularly for his filmed "Schiller's Reels" and "Schillervision" segments from 1975 through 1990. Examples [mouseover for more details on each]: [ Don't Look Back in Anger • Java Junkie • Falling in Love • The Land Before Television • Swedish TV One investigates Hidden Camera Commercials: What Are They Hiding? • Broadway Story • Search For Akasa ]

There are more Schiller's Reels that I couldn't find online, but the snltranscripts.jt.org site provides us with the scripts to:
• Death, The Great Enigma
• Norm MacDonald in "Will Work for Food"
• La Dolce Gilda

...plus, a bonus, unreleased Schiller's Reel -- the making of "Tortoise Man", starring Chris Farley as a man who assumes the shape of his car.

Schiller also produced and/or directed:
• A fuil-length documentary, Henry Miller Asleep and Awake, a slice of Henry Miller's life at 81 years old, "a guided tour of the pictures and artefacts of his bathroom" [trailer] [interview about making the film]
• Nothing Lasts Forever (1983), an unreleased feature-length starring Zach Galligan, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd, written and directed by Tom Schiller and produced by Lorne Michaels, with music by Howard Stone. [trailer]

...he went on to direct over 500 commercials as well. Here's a sampling:
For Eyes 1 2 3 • Lawn Boy • NAPA auto parts • Tampa Bay Buccaneers/Adidas 1 2 • Forth Worth Zoo • Take a Break magazine • Staples • Supercuts • TGI Friday's

posted by not_on_display (10 comments total)

What, no Mask Of Fear?
posted by motown missile at 11:28 PM on August 2, 2010

Thanks for putting this together, but I must say, without Love Is A Dream, it's like you put together links of MC Hammer's greatest hits and left out "Can't Touch This."
posted by mreleganza at 12:17 AM on August 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

The irony that I who is physically in Sweden, can't watch the "Swedish TV One ...." link because Hulu says I'm not in the right county, is not lost on me.
posted by dabitch at 2:51 AM on August 3, 2010 [3 favorites]

Boo! Down with Hulu links! *throws a rotten tomato*
posted by pyrex at 3:06 AM on August 3, 2010

These are priceless. Don't Look Back in Anger is incredibly haunting... and I'll always love La Dolce Gilda. Bittersweet. Wonderful stuff with a great edge.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:11 AM on August 3, 2010

I agree with mreleganza. Love is a Dream is amazingly good. When Phil Hartman died, it was what they played for his tribute on SNL. It it hard to watch now that he's gone, but I'm glad it exists.
posted by inturnaround at 5:53 AM on August 3, 2010

"Don't Look Back in Anger" is such dark irony when viewed today.
posted by charred husk at 6:09 AM on August 3, 2010

I love, love, LOVE "Broadway Story" and have ever since I watched it the night it debuted.
posted by grubi at 6:33 AM on August 3, 2010

dabitch, you're missing nothing with the swedish one. Show me a clip where Chris Farley doesn't yell a lot and I won't freakin' believe it. Otherwise, these are excellent.
posted by Daddy-O at 6:36 AM on August 3, 2010

I suspect, with regard to "Don't Look Back in Anger," that what looks like dark irony today was a big part of the joke at the time, even if more of an inside one. It must have been obvious to all involved that Belushi was... living fast, shall we say. And the idea of him being the last one of the group standing was probably meant to be darkly funny to them. I'm less sure about whether it was meant to be understood by the audience that way.
posted by Naberius at 6:39 AM on August 3, 2010