It might help these SNL threads if, when people give their opinion of the show, they mention what substances they were indulging in while watching it.
I could sum up my reaction to several of the sketches as: “Could have been a lot better, could have been a lot worse.” It was as though the writers could come up with a halfway decent premise but didn’t know what to do with it beyond the obvious, or how to make it really funny.
I fast-forwarded past the “Jon Bovi” sketch as soon as I saw how lame and obvious and by-the-numbers it was apparently going to be. Did I miss anything? Did they do anything remotely clever or funny with it.
No. Or maybe I didn’t get it. One guy looked at the camera or the cue cards through the whole thing.
I watched the first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes and didn’t even chuckle.
First time I’ve watched the show in years – I love Jamie Pressley. Will stars of NBC shows put something in their contracts that says they won’t have to do SNL? They should.
The women talking on the porch swing – is that a takeoff on something? All I could think of was that stupid commercial where two women are sharing secrets, and one of them says “I’m pregnant” and the other one says “I’ve never wanted children” and they laugh.
The opening with the hillbilly southern stuff looked like improv. Hard to believe someone wrote those lines.
Just out of curiosity, has SNL acknowledged the fact that thre are two other shows about SNL about to be on the air at all? A sketch about a show within a show within a show or something?
I have always suspected this is why I do not enjoy SNL much any more. I watch it sober and straight and generally by myself as the rest of the house is asleep.
When I watched it in the 70s I was watching it past my bedtime on the sneak.
The Early 80s cast mostly blew and smoking did not help.
In the Late 80s and into the early 90s, the show was good to great again and I was usually hanging out with friends and drunk or a little high or both.
For a good 10-12 years I have watched the show on and off and it has rarely been as funny as the original cast or the 87 to 95 cast.
I guess I should try watching it drunk at least and with some friends, but most of my friends have stopped watching the show. We are all middle-aged or old now.
I tried again this week out of a sense of loyalty, but for the first time ever, turned it off *before * Weekend Update. There was a period of some years in the 80’s when I’d turn it on, try to sit through a whole sketch, and fail. Without Tina, I fear what this season will be like.
I didn’t see the whole episode but of what I did see:
Weekend Update, especially the Peter O’Toole bit and the New York Minutes were excellent. The “Total Recall” Quadro thing was pathetic as was the Big Wigs skit.
The music was excellent and the intro-stills of Jamie Presley were hot, so I give it a 6 out of 10. Not the worst I’ve seen but far from the best.
And Dane - I sound like Jim Carrey pretending to be a girl - Cook is being repeated next week? Greeeaat. :rolleyes:
Wow. I am shocked that there are any comments on here except ‘Worst. Episode. Ever.’ It was sooo painful, but if it wasn’t absolutely the worst yet I’m happy I haven’t been watching this season. Can’t they just let Ardy and the boys from The Lonely Island write it all from now on and forget all the other crap? maybe even the whole ‘live’ bit? (Dykey reporter would have been funny within an actual funny show, but just didn’t work as a sketch)
I haven’t watched SNL for years. The last episode I watched had Dana Carvey and Mike Meyers on it. And watching that one was an exception - I hadn’t been watching it regularly for a long time before that.
I’ve heard about how the series went bad. But I figured that was just nostalgia over the early years.
I decided to watch it this week. I’ve been watching Studio 60 and previews for 30 Rock. And I’ve always liked Jaime Presley.
My reaction is what others have said - this was a better than usual episode? That’s frightening.
Yes, I’m referring to Tina Fey; she’s got a remarkable gift for intelligent humor. Personally, I think the previous few years were among the top ten years ever.
Sure, I’d estimate that only about 1/3 of the material of those years was funny, but of the funny bits, Tina wrote most of them (being head writer and all). And although only one third were funny, that’s a FAR higher hit percentage than they’ve had in decades!
Furthermore, now that Tina’s left, look how awful SNL’s been so far!
I laughed only once - during Dan Hader’s Peter O’Toole impression - specifically, when he did the drunken chuckle before taking a swig. The “steal a train” line was good too, but his delivery should’ve been better.
If you want to see what SNL should be like, go to YouTube and watch Will Sasso do the Sopranos on PaxTV, then watch him do Schwarzenegger, then maybe a little Seagal. It’s an order of magnitude better than anything on SNL in years and years.