Every now and then I try watching "Saturday Night Live" and I keep coming back with the same conclusion: It sucks! How does it stay on the air? Recently I watched some of the old re-runs when Belushi, and Murphy, and Chase were part of it and even newer ones and they are still funny today. So what happened--aren't there any comparable comedians or writers anymore? I use to laugh myself sick every Saturday night and now not even a chuckle. What gives?
+++++++++
02-10-05, 08:40 AM
DorianGreyed
Part of the reason is, no doubt, your age. (Mine, too.) What we saw as funny in the 70s, when we were young, is not the same as what a mature, experienced viewer may see as funny. How many ideas, gags, skits have we seen in 30 years? What was once fresh and new to us is now trite and overused, sometimes even sophomoric. When we see the old skits, we see not only what is on screen, but we also see what we were then, the mood of the times, the thrill of challenging authority just as SNL challenged the censors. SNL then owed a great deal to Laugh In, which owed a great deal to Ernie Kovacs. All three pushed the envelope. SNL benefited by the times more than Kovacs, and even more than Laugh In; in the mid 70s, everything was fair game. (And, we must face the facts - not everything was truly funny. The humor of Chevy Chase inserting into sentences the word "herpes" completely out of context is not inherent in the word itself, but in the fact that he could say it and get away with it. We knew that the censors didn't even know the word. We shared the camaraderie of pulling one off on the establishment. )

There was also a rare syzygy of talent in SNL, which, for the most part, fed off each other. Of that group in the first few years, only Murray and Aykroyd had real careers in the same vein after SNL. (Belushi most certainly would have, but life happens to us all.) Chase made a few movies, Curtin had a TV series, but neither really 'made it' after SNL, and Garret Morris and Laraine Newman were nowhere to be seen. Radner also didn't do much in the little time she had after SNL.

Another factor, relating to the first point I mentioned, is that TV is a monster that eats ideas. Consider all the works of the great writers throughout history. Could Shakespeare or Molière come up with a gem a week? Shaw or Aeschylus ? With the advent of cable, all the great works in Literature wouldn't cover a season's worth of scripts, and even if it did, what does one do for the next season? It would seem that all that can be done now is to put the same food on a different plate. That's is fine for one who hasn't had that meal a few dozen times, but eventually, he, too, will have tasted it enough. How many times can "The Tempest" be remade? "Macbeth"? "Hamlet"? Wasn't "Educating Rita" just a variation of "Pygmalion"? Most scripts are just a few levels above the Evil Twin Syndrome, and eventually, all series must either jump the shark or go off the air with some class. Unfortunately, very few do as NYPD Blue is doing, or as St. Elsewhere did. Like most athletes, most series stay around until they are made to leave. MASH, a great show, went on too long, as did LA Law, Friends, and Cheers. Aren't we seeing the same stories on ER, albeit with different actors? It would seem that TV is a victim of its own success.

02-10-05, 09:08 AM
aleia
I never thought that the old (Chevy Chase era) SNL's were funny either. Then when Sandler, Farley, Spade, Myers, etc. came around - there was a lot of talent and they all worked well with each other. But you are right - the show stinks now. My husband (a huge fan for many years) doesn't even laugh anymore. It's time for it to go.

02-10-05, 04:40 PM
aminator2002
While I appreciate the theory that the shows haven't gotten worse but we've just gotten older.... I just don't agree. I don't think it is a good show at all anymore. The only evidence to the contrary is that Will Farrel gets movie deals and so do some of the rest of the cast, but I have never met a person that watches it like the old show was watched... people would stop what they were doing to watch. Now I think it is just a case of "if it's on and there's nothing else to watch".

For me, I'm in the habit of always watching SNL from when I was 8 years old on so it's hard for me to get away from it, but it really does suck. I feel bad if I do happen to catch it these days.

They don't need to end it; they need to get some new talent. It's a great spot for a comedy show, but the players are just not funny... watch Weekend Update sometime and tell me it's just because we are seeing it from a different perspective. The comedians just aren't funny like any of the past players.

02-10-05, 04:56 PM
juanruiz
I think there may be a tendency to look back at the original cast while wearing rose-colored glasses. Granted, on a percentage basis, they had more and funnier scripts; but they had their share of clunkers too. The Akroyd/Curtin face-off got tired pretty fast. The Killer Bees schtik Belushie hated. And if Woodward's biography on him is to be believed, they were all drugged out most of the time.

02-10-05, 09:42 PM
jusork
I last watched Saturday Night Live intentionally around 1999-2000. Then I couldn't help noticing how bad it was. Perhaps it left with Jack Handy, and Ace and Gary. Then I stopped and I have no idea what it's like now.

I have to disagree that fresh ideas run out within 30 or so years, Dorian. I think it's clearly not true for the world of comedy in general. Whenever I can't imagine what else people could joke about, there's just always someone who continues it. All the same humor from before is there. You just have to wade through some stupid and silly stuff sometimes. Comedy Central Presents has failed to ever let me down in quality humor. You know, Dorian, you should watch some Family Guy (the most consistently, most hilarious show I've seen). I think, no wait, I KNOW you'd get a big kick out of all the different humorus references.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,