Time to Cancel Saturday Night Live

Lorne Michaels will simply, to use his phrase, "when in doubt, go young" -- e.g. hire a new cast.

The longevity of SNL absolutely astonishes me. It's been on the air for 35 years. Why do teenagers not regard it as "old shite" and move on to something else, as they do with so many other things?

quote:

---

The longevity of SNL absolutely astonishes me. It's been on the air for 35 years. Why do teenagers not regard it as "old shite" and move on to something else, as they do with so many other things?

---

I did. I watched Mad TV, laughed, watched non-vintage SNL, and died a little inside.

Jimmy Fallon IS NOT frickING FUNNY.

That's what I was thinking...I had this Deja vue moment going on.

I'm completely done with it. There are tons of comedy writers out there with original stuff but instead we're subject to Gandolf the Great fricking two dudes in a bar for a drink. It's like they don't even fricking try.

I don't blame the actors, besides Sandberg for his shitty Digital Short crap that he gets full creative control over. And the upside Spiderman....WTF. Talk about a random fricking skit. The What's Up with That should have been a one or two time thing. It's Vintage BET which I doubt anybody younger than 30 would understand.

SNL now basicly bides it's time until the next political season so it can then demean and make fun of Sarah Palan and whatever other Republicans are running for office.

I think they remain relevant because

1. It's a farm factory for comedians. There will always be 2 or 3 comedy superstars that emerge from the cast. Will Ferrell and Tina Fey the most recent examples. Jimmy Fallon, though not on merit, became a night show host.
2. Celebrity idolization makes people interested in seeing the guest hosts.
3. Same with music, people are interested in new bands, maybe to a lesser extent than celebrities. SNL has shifted its guests to more 'indie mainstream' so they remain relevant with the younger crowd.
4. It has shifted with the internet. Andy Samberg has obviously been encouraged to make shorts, because so many of them have gone viral.
5. Maybe only tangentially beneficial, is that 30 Rock is like a meta-commentary on SNL. It's like a lagniappe portion of sketch comedy, except you see it from the inside out. Maybe it heightens or refines an appreciation for SNL.

I watched an episode for the first time in a while the other night. The Anne Hathaway episode. It was okay. In fact she was a great player -- I could easily see her doing theater. The best bits were featuring that fat new guy, who did an amazing Guy Fieri impersonation.

and this Mega Mart fake commercial:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aAzWYQhr1g[/youtube]

That clip is pretty funny.

quote:

---

they never impersonated or made fun of Democrats

---

yeah sometime people like to politicize their reasoning for not liking SNL. personally I just think that the political skits are stupid and run on too long, but here and there will be complaints that it's just part of the liberal media propaganda machine. but they hold no punches. the ep I referenced above had a skit lampooning Charlie Rangel and Rachel Maddow. I've got to say they've been pretty balanced over the years, imo.

quote:

---

Kristen Wiigs contract should not be renewed next year.

---

Completely disagree. She is amazing. Probably the strongest member of the cast.

quote:

---

Of course the funniest was the early to mid 90s

---

Meh, has more novelty value because the entertainment market wasn't over saturated with youtube overnight celebrities. There are just as many clunkers in the 90s and other seasons as there are now. We remember the best parts and watch 'greatest hits' collections and have only admiration. I know some of you may disagree, but the thing is SNL has always had sketches where an improv game is set up, the rules of the game or character play out, i.e. the macgruber game, where we see the transition from confidence in the face of disaster -> increasing absurdity -> total meltdown. However Macgruber works because it is only about 60 seconds long. That's why commercial parodies are sometimes the best because they are so concise. SNL fails when it tries to extend the game to a 4-5 minute skit. That has never worked successfully, with notable exceptions (Mike Meyes + Chris Farley in the Japanese game show, for instance). It's my opinion that the quality and format never really changed up until the early 2000s.

Now that entertainment is hugely internet driven, there is less aspiration for the best comedy writers to want to go to SNL when they can advertise their own DIY projects. I think the cast is very strong and they've made some astute adaptations, they just lack the innovation and quality to serve an audience that is overstimulated and jaded to their 40 year old formula.

quote:

---

Jimmy Fallon IS frickING FUNNY

---

Fify

Don't think they should cancel SNL. I think new cast members would help a lot

i usually like kristin wiig(sp) but her bit last night on update wasn't the greatest. in fact it sucked. other than that, i liked update, and felt it was probably the best part of last night.

digital short was weak.

so who fricked up last night, was it deniro, robin willimas, or keenan on what's up with that? that was pretty weird if anyone saw that.