I’m always up that late, and used to watch SNL from the time of the first cast. I stopped after the 90’s because it just wasn’t as funny. However, I don’t think that it’s true that the problem with much of modern entertainment is just that only the hip can appreciate it. There has been a degrading of music just like the rest of culture. The problem may be that the artists themselves don’t believe in the music; everything is irony, because there are no truths. Back in the 70’s there were Bowie and Lou Reed, but most artists were into music because they were into the beauty and power of what they were doing (and the chicks were great)[Almost Famous reference]
The point of my rants above was that although a few certain skits and numbers were funny and well-done, the whole show has been trashed as a real horror...when, in fact, it's a program that's beamed to a younger, more cynical generation who ENJOY the show's type of non-traditional, sometimes undecipherable humor, in contrast to what WE like to watch and hear....and throwing the baby out with the bathwater is really not fair to the show's young comedic artistes who performed their gigs earnestly and well.
I've enjoyed "chatting" with you on this subject very much.
Leni