Posted on 05/13/2018 4:27:07 PM PDT by Kaslin
Saturday Night Live hasn’t been running for my entire life, but sometimes it feels that way. When the show debuted I was still in high school, as hard as that is to believe today. I’ll definitely confess to being a fan of SNL early on, particularly when Belushi was still with them, though I sort of lost track of the show in the 80s and 90s. But after all these years, is the seemingly eternal Saturday night offering from NBC finally on its last legs?
Christian Toto seems to think it’s possible. Not for a lack of advertising revenue or even ratings, but simply because even some of the shows most liberal fans seem to be growing tired of the schtick. It’s all gotten too predictable. As Toto points out, while everyone knew that producer Lorne Michaels was a liberal at heart, there used to be an unpredictable edginess to the writing. You couldn’t be sure who they would go after on any given week and they would frequently surprise us. But not anymore, and even some well known leftists from the entertainment community are growing tired of it.
“SNL” alum Rob Schneider made waves recently by saying the show’s liberal crusade is hurting the laughs. Comedy demands empathy and surprise, two elements in short supply on “SNL” circa 2018.
“The fun of ‘Saturday Night Live’ was always you never knew which way they leaned politically,” he told the Daily News. “You kind of assumed they would lean more left and liberal, but now the cat’s out of the bag they are completely against Trump, which I think makes it less interesting because you know the direction the piece is going.”
Schneider added “SNL” player Alec Baldwin’s take on President Trump is another problem.
“To me, the genius of Dana Carvey was Dana always had empathy for the people he played, and Alec Baldwin has nothing but a fuming, seething anger toward the person he plays.”
In short, SNL traded in their edge for an echo chamber. Good natured ribbing, such as Chevy Chase playing a bumbling Gerald Ford, has been replaced by the anger and debasement of Baldwin’s Trump persona. Weekend update basically covers no news unless it’s something that can be used to mock Trump. At this point, even Vice is getting sick of it.
Toto goes on to offer a series of seven moves that SNL could use to bring back the funny and possibly something of a more ideologically diverse audience. These include having Lorne Michaels go on a national apology tour, dumping the cold open, reading some conservative satirists to see what they find funny these days and – possibly the boldest and most outrageous suggestion – replacing Alec Baldwin with Darrell Hammond.
Would that breath fresh life into the show? Maybe. I can’t see how it could get more offensive to at least half the country and, frankly, boring at this point. Putting last night’s show in context with Toto’s article, I found myself wondering today whether SNL was already noticing the same thing. I’ll let you be the judge, but check out the video of the strange Mothers Day skit they put on where the mothers of some of the cast members complain about all the Trump bashing and politics. It was clearly scripted, but why include that theme?
“The last good cast they had was in the early to mid 90s....Dana Carvey, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Phil Hartmann, David Spade, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider”
Also Kevin Nealan, Molly Shannon, Mike Myers, Jan Hooks, Jon Lovits, Victoria Jackson, Dennis Miller on the weekend update. Some great casts in the 90’s. Hartman was amazing, I still bust a gut every time I see one of the old Tonto, Tarzan and Frankenstein skits.
‘I could care less.’
if you don’t watch TV, I can’t imagine why it concerns you so...
I have only watch one skit from SNL in the past 15 years or so.
They did a skit about Mika and Mourning Joe (Spelling intentional) getting hot and heavy with each other as the news panel looked on horror.
That was funny!! “Who’s my little Mika Mouse”
SNL hasn’t been worth viewing since 1978 or so...
The first thing I saw Richards do was a character in a disco trying to meet women. He did a take where his cigarette disappeared completely into his mouth, then re-emerged. Howlingly funny.
I’d add Victoria Jackson to your list. And maybe Tim Meadows.
Surprising they let Victoria stay as long as she did. She came out pretty conservative.
The “Cold Open.” If it doesnt include Baldwin, I agree—they are pretty good. I don’t care for Kate McKinnon doing Jess Sessions either.
BUT, I think she is the talent of the operation. She did a skit about Alien abductions last year that was pee your pants funny.
Nah. Trump won’t be president forever and neither will the present cast be on SNL. The only thing holding SNL back is Lorne Michaels’ leftism, but that’s been proven to not be fatal.
I have never watched an episode of the show from beginning to end. ‘Nuff said.
I can watch “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” in its entirety 48 times, no problem. But one episode of SNL? Nope.
Same here. Local station used to alternate sci-fi, Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, W.C. Fields and then one night...the TV becomes a piece of plumbing working in reverse.
Don’t let me mislead you, I thought the cold open was an excellent avenue to present some great comedy. I don’t think they put out great comedy any longer. I have only watched short segments over the last 20 years or so. They are horrible.
In the old days the show would start sometimes before you even realized it, because the skits were so good.
The clips I’ve seen these days are just plain goofy. They aren’t funny, and I seriously wonder what type of people would think they were.
I think we may be out of their key demographic. Ha ha.
I’m sure we are, but funny is funny.
Henny Youngman, George Burns, Bob Hope, Jack Benny,... these guys were before my time and they were hilarious.
IMO < Good comedy is timeless. I Love Lucy is still being played over and over and over again. Folks still find the humor on those shows to be excellent.
Break out an old Bob Hope and Bing Crosby “Road” show.
They’re killer.
>> “The last good cast they had was in the early to mid 90s....Dana Carvey, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Phil Hartmann, David Spade, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider” Also Kevin Nealan, Molly Shannon, Mike Myers, Jan Hooks, Jon Lovits, Victoria Jackson, Dennis Miller on the weekend update. Some great casts in the 90’s. Hartman was amazing, I still bust a gut every time I see one of the old Tonto, Tarzan and Frankenstein skits. <<
I agree. Looking back in hindsight, SNL seemed to have three great eras: the late 70s, the mid 80s, and the early to mid 90s. Also agree that I stopped watching around 2000 or so.
Disagree with the FReepers claiming the show has completely sucked since 1980 or that they "couldn't make it thru one episode". There was a lot of classic stuff on SNL, and people like Phil Hartman are greatly missed.
Also here's something rather bizarre: the show itself never had any sort of right-wing bent, but the cast from the late 80s/early 90s (Victoria Jackson, Kevin Nelson, Dennis Miller, etc.) have mostly turned very conservative.
That being said, I've always hated Alec Baldwin, and I never found Al Franken or Will Ferrell to be remotely funny. In fact, the only funny thing I ever saw Farrell do on SNL was a dead on parody of host James Lipton from Inside the Actor's Studio.
On a related note: I also miss MadTV. It provided some good competition to SNL during its 1990s heyday.
If you remember the recurring Akroyed skit with “Jane, you ignorant slut,” that had a conservative side too in that what she was reporting was always nonsense.
Here are a few good movies:
“Birth of the Dragon” Bruce Lee, in 64, meets a Shaolin master who has killed a man in a match. Lee has the skills, but not the heart . . . yet.
“13 Hours” You probably know of this one.
“Flight” Denzel Washington’s best role ever. Should have won the Oscar for a coked-up/alcoholic pilot with fantastic flying skills.
And an oldie “Serial” from the early 1980s/late 1970s about Marin Co. CA as the looniness was just starting. Martin Mull.
I remember as a kid that Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert came on after SNL.
agree
Chase is a major TOOL.
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