A problem of pulse propagation in a homogeneous nonlinear waveguide array with saturable nonlinearity is studied. The corresponding model equation is the discretized Vinetskii-Kukhtarev equation with neglected influence of diffusion of charge carriers. For periodic boundary conditions, exact homogeneous and oscillating stationary solutions are found. A wide instability region of the homogeneous, array-independent solution is identified. An approximate analytical solution for the bright one-dimensional discrete soliton where the energy is concentrated mainly in a few waveguides is obtained. The soliton stability is investigated both analytically and numerically and a cascade nature of the saturation mechanism is revealed.