Posted on 08/01/2025 4:22:00 AM PDT by dennisw
Cause we can catch clips from time to time and they suck.
That's only part of their problem.
The real problem is that these types of shows are just so expensive to produce and nobody is watching them anymore. And this wouldn't change even if they started being funny again.
We're really witnessing the final gasps of the historic network programming format as Boomers die off and younger people have moved on to internet-based visual entertainment produced for a microscopic fraction of the cost.
I hear you. I got lucky. In my town the really bad sci fi movie came on after SNL and on a different channel.
“Costs 4 million an episode”...
They aren’t getting their money’s worth, and haven’t for a very long time.
They made fun of Carter a lot. My favorite was when he went into the nuclear reaction and grew large.
Phil Hartmann’s Clinton was funny. I still remember the jogging skit where he goes into McDonalds and starts eating peoples food. The line to the SS guy about “theres gonna be a lot of things we dont tell Hillary about”...and of course explaining how the african warlords took aid comparing it to the big mac hes munching with a full mouth...
Great point!
Ross Denton: Rodney, can you please tell us, how big is the president?
Rodney Dangerfield: Oh, he’s a big guy, I’ll tell you that, he’s a big guy. I tell you he’s so big, I saw him sitting in the George Washington bridge dangling his feet in the water! He’s a big guy!
Rosalynn Carter: Oh my God! Jimmy! Oh God!
Rodney Dangerfield: Oh, he’s big, I’ll tell you that, boy. He’s so big that when two girls make love to him at the same time, they never meet each other! He’s a big guy, I’ll tell you!
Rosalynn Carter: Oh no! Oh Jimmy! My Jimmy!
Rodney Dangerfield: I don’t want to upset you lady, he’s big, you know what I mean? Why he could have an affair with the Lincoln Tunnel! I mean, he’s really high! He’s big, I’ll tell you! He’s a big guy!
Rosalynn Carter: No! No! No!
Ross Denton: Rodney, thank you very much. You can go.
Rodney Dangerfield: It’s my pleasure. He’s way up there, lady! you know what I mean?
You hit the core of it: nobody watches late night TV anymore. The former TV watchers are watching TikToks on their phones or on-demand web content in the evenings. The TV networks just haven’t realized their audience is gone. People are done with insufferable and insulting content - too many choices these days.
Outside of the occasional sporting event, I haven’t watched network TV for years.
I tend to agree with you. If I’m awake I usually check out the opening of the show and get about 5 minutes in so it gets abandoned. But there have been funny skits here and there if you can filter the garbage.
The Thanksgiving episode 2 or 3 years ago had a couple of hilarious skits. One was a guy’s Best man at his wedding dressed up as Joker.
Used to be true. The last big star to come out of there is probably Adam Sandler. There have been a lot of successful supporting actors, but not many who could carry an entire movie.
The last frontier fell for me about 5 years ago. I can't even watch live sports anymore: woke announcers, annoying AF, commercials, replays, half-time shows hosts arguing, just awful. I stopped b/c it was clear NCAA, NFL, NBA, and networks didn't want my support.
Amazing how liberating it is to break free from it. have not missed it.
Network TV is dying. For the younger generation it’s all Youtube and, unfortunately, Tik Tok now. Advertisers will follow them.
Pretty much all they have is live sports, notably the NFL. And even that has been poached a bit, as the streamers are trying to get some of that as well. Games are now on Peacock, Amazon and now Netflix will have a game on Christmas.
Physical newspapers died because of the internet. Network TV is dying because of video streaming. Youtube and TikTok in particular.
Understood. Rush used to say that was the primary reason late night “comedy shows” exist.
Newspapers and TV is narrowly controlled medium. It's interesting that after all the consolidation, M&A's in those two areas, we social media emerged to dominate viewers and content.
I was reveling in the trauma, despair, heartbreak, anguish and agony that oozed from that liberal as she cried her way through it.
Last time I watched must have been when it was GWB as president because all I can remember was Dana Carvey’s Bush impressions. It was a funny show. Sure they all did politics but there was no cruelty in it (except for that jerk Chevy Chase with Ford). I saw some clips on yourtube that were kind of funny with Celebrity Jeopardy with the execrable Will Farrell as Alex Trebek. Anything else that makes it to blogs or sites I read with the current cast since Trump has been just horrible.
BUT, let them burn through their money. One less dollar for democrat party agitprop.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.