In October 1975, when the show we now know as Saturday Night Live debuted on NBC, its title was shorter because ABC’s Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell had begun its run weeks earlier. Going back to that original title, a new comedy-drama directed by Jason Reitman takes us through the 90 minutes—tense, anxious, uncertain—that lead up to the sketch show’s first broadcast. All of the original players are represented: Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), Gilda Radnor (Ella Hunt), Jane Curtin (Kim Matula), and more. Nicholas Braun takes on double duty, playing both Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson. Watching the movie, one can’t help wishing that someone had brought a handheld camera to the dressing rooms that October, so we could see how John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd really handled opening night. But for S.N.L. diehards, this dramatization scratches the itch. —Jack Sullivan