I can remember the exact last SNL episode I tried watching: It was the season premiere in the Fall of '95 with a whole new cast (Ferrell & company). First sketch was what (I guess) became a new classic, Ferrell and, ah, a chick doing the over-enthusiastic cheerleaders. Didn’t like it, clicked it off and said, Well, I guess that’s that for a while.
Here it is 15+ years later, and Jimmy Fallon is *back *hosting (I only just kept it straight that he’s not the Corky Romano guy). The opening had Fallon repeatedly welcoming old cast members back who I can almost, not really, recognize. Then every sketch begins with the audience cheering, acknowledging that it’s a new classic. Not a clue what they’re doing. Now some frog named Michel Bubbles is singing? Huh?!?
[shaking fist] You damn kids get outta my yard!
[/shaking]
I’m fifty-something and still make a point to watch. I use to maintain the barest possible connection to pop culture mainly through the musical guests. Is it as good as it used to be? Probably not, but it’s easy to forget that even the classic episodes were always hit and miss, such is the nature of sketch comedy. But when it’s good, it’s very good: Motherlover, Dick in a Box, the entire Peyton Manning episode from a couple of years ago. The election year stuff is always solid.
I switch my brain off with Burn Notice. None of it makes any sense, and there’s usually a sequence in the middle where the game changes, but happens so fast I miss it entirely, and I remain confused for the rest of the episode.
You’re not the only *alter kaker *in this thread. I stopped watching SNL back in the late 80s (during what I call the Era of the Fart Jokes) and never went back. There are legions of third graders around here to serve my toilet humor needs without bothering to sit through unfunny “comedy”.
Late 80s?
I stopped watching when the original cast left, and found better things to do with my Saturday nights. I haven’t watched a full episode since then although some of the retrospectives have some good material.
The last time I switched SNL on was when Patric Stewart hosted, I wanted to see what he’d do. I saw a bit of his stint with Mike Myers – “If its ne Scottish its crap!”
I hate SNL. I truly loathe it. If I saw the producer, I’d walk the other way to avoid punching him in the face. Because he did give me lots of entertainment over the years.
I hate it because of the way the show goes, monologue, commercial, skit, commercial, short cartoon, commercial … and no, I’m not wrong. It is never, two short skits then a commercial. And no, I haven’t mistaken the SNL produced joke commercials for real commercials, those are likewise commercial wrapped. I accept commercials on TV, but I won’t be used.
There’s other sources of madcap sketch comedy these days.
I love these threads. I gain much amusement value from people who pronounce that something they admit they have not watched for years or sometimes decades is definitively unfunny.
“Doctor Who hasn’t been the same since the guy with the scarf. I watched a couple of episodes in the 80s and hated them. That show is awful now, I can tell you that without even having to watch any recent episodes.”
My problem with SNL is that they seem to have got the mix of stand-up and sketch comedy exactly wrong for my tastes. Remember when Weekend Update was done with some resemblance to a real newscast? Sure, it was completely satirical and over-the-top, but still with some connection to what they were satirizing, serious expressions and no playing to the audience. Somewhere in the era of “Opera Man, ladies and gentlemen!”, it just became stand-up comedy behind a desk.
Oddly, the opening monologue went the other way. It used to be something close to stand-up comedy. The last few times I’ve watched it seemed to have morphed into some sort of sketch with the guest host playing some version of himself (badly) cast into some uncomfortable situation.
I admit I haven’t seen it in a while. Can anyone tell me if that description still holds?
A lot depends on the host. If it’s an athlete or dramatic actor unfamiliar with doing monologues like that, they seem to like to throw in a lot of supporting stuff and turn it into more of a skit. Comedians are more likely to get to do an actual monologue.
And yeah, WU isn’t really much of a fake newscast anymore, but it’s still one of my favorite parts of the show. YMMV!
I’ve watched regularly since the first show. Lots of ups and downs. I’d say that this season they are generally on an upswing, although, as stated above, it’s always hit and miss. I thought the Fallon Christmas episode had some solid laughs. In fact, I was kinda’ surprised I laughed as much as I did.
I’m not sure what to make of Michael Bubbly. He seemed to be distracted by the lights or the orchestra or something. Which is a surprise as I assume he sings for a living.
Weekend Update has had some real laugh-free periods over the years, but Seth Myers has brought it back pretty strong. I do dislike many of the recurring WU characters and wish they’d just stick to the fake news. Like some of the sketch characters that get run into the ground, they have one odd characteristic which is played on over and over.
I’m so out of it that not only do I not know who those bands they have on are, I don’t even know who many of the guest hosts are. Some people with TV series, or stars of movies about toys, I suppose. So it goes. Go ahead and laugh, it’ll happen to you someday.
I watched the first half last night, through W/E update. It was one of SNL better shows, IMO, but I think I of a small percentage that like Jimmy Fallon, especially compared to Craig Ferguson. (D&R)
Buble sang Holly Jolly Christmas? How boring is that!
The opening monologue was one of the better SNL opening monologues. But that would be expected by someone who does it every day.
Charles Barkley is next? has he done it before? Now that could be a trainwreck!
I almost never watch it live. On a good night, there’s about 30 minutes of good comedy worth watching. But when it’s good, it’s really good. My favorite of the new cast is the woman with the kind of skinny face/dirty blonde hair who does the Greta Van Susteren imitation. She’s a hoot in almost everything she does.