The night after John Lennon died in 1980, Tom Snyder announced that he was going to re-run an interview that he conducted with John Lennon. It lasted an hour and became one of the most requested interviews he ever did. It’s intriguing to watch as Lennon is seen as laid back, struggling to stay in the US and oddly comfortable — even humble — about his surroundings.

It’s a subtle and unassumingly fascinating look at a complicated man in a simplified setting. He talks about the Beatles with a detachment that the years since the monumental breakup and repeated interviews would have on his enthusiasm. There’s a lingering fondness in his voice as well, even when he refers to the staleness and boredom of working with The Beatles which he likens to “playing tennis with the same person” and the “marriage that doesn’t work.”

These interviews are a must for anyone interested in The Beatles, or for someone looking to start their own band. Lennon contentedly discusses the differences between England and America and the many misconceptions about The Beatles and the music business that he and Yoko so often grumbled about.

Tom Snyder is a competent and likable interviewer whose talent for putting stars at ease and asking thoughtful questions is well earned. His disarming nature and casual style, saddled with a willingness to raise his own experiences in questions, adds to the richness of the experience almost as if we’re eavesdropping on a conversation rather than watching an interview.

“I look funny from the side,” Lennon says at a particular moment in the interview. He’s staring into another camera and it’s only odd when one considers the insurmountable number of interviews and times he has been on television. He’s still able to be himself and you know you’re watching a dated interview when Lennon cheers “the new disco music coming out now” and Reggae “from Jamaica.”

After a break, Snyder and Lennon are joined by Lennon's immigration lawyer Leon Wildes, about Lennon’s application for citizenship in England. Lennon goes on to explain that things were complicated by a corrupt cop in England who planted marijuana, and that U.S. immigration has charged Lennon for being an ‘overstay’ despite having already granted John and Yoko a two week extension.

Finishing off the first disc are two interviews Snyder conducted during the re-broadcast with a journalist friend Lisa Robinson and the Double Fantasy producer Jack Douglas. They share their thoughts and memories of Lennon’s last five years in which he stopped recording and talking to the media. From Robinson we get a picture of John Lennon as "house husband" and Yoko Ono as smart businesswoman with superior taste and intellect. Douglas discusses what it was like to record with John Lennon as he fights back teary inflections in his voice.

The second disc features interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr filling up the bill with their feedback on The Beatles, their careers at the time and their thoughts on fame and music.

Paul McCartney and his wife Linda are interviewed on satellite in 1979. While it would be interesting to hear a later interview on the death of John Lennon, it’s perhaps more important to have an overall view on The Beatles and the individuals who made up the band. The differences are clear between Lennon and his approach to music. While Lennon was comfortable with Yoko and his solo career, Paul McCartney was geared up to start a new band.

McCartney is more reminiscent about the Beatles. He gets a little more banal when discussing the farm and where they put the kids in school, what it’s like since the Beatles, how to shear the sheep etc. Compared to the John Lennon interview, it’s far less dramatic and doesn’t quite carry the emotional weight aside from the appearance of the late Linda McCartney, and a mention of the tragic Who concert in which 11 people were trampled the night before.

Ringo is interviewed in 1981 shortly after the release of his appearance in Caveman, in which he says only fifteen words. His wife (and Bond Girl), Barbra Bach is another high-profile marriage. His film career is doing well and he has just turned forty. Occurring less than a year after Lennon's death, this one has a little more emotional baggage. Starr is clearly still shook up from Lennon's murder.

As an archive, this DVD might be better served on a larger collection of Beatles memorabilia. However, as a singular piece on The Beatles, it serves its function well. Snyder’s research is professional and flawless and his approach is smooth. What the Tomorrow Show offers is a sliver of a glance at the history of a band that mattered, and whose legacy will no doubt live forever.

This Reviewer's Rating: 3 / 5

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."