Saturday Night Live

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, I know that no one watches this anymore because it really has gotten that bad, but there was a time when this show was really good.

Watching some of it on Netflix (Yes I have Netflix now... yay.), though it only has from like 1994-2010 missing A LOT of great stuff, pretty much everything up to when Will Ferrel leaves and Mad TV started destroying it is pretty great. Phil Hartman, Dana Carvey, Mike Meyers, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, David Spade, Tim Meadows, Kevin Nealon, Chris Rock, and pretty much everyone else were pretty damn good at the time and the mix of low brow and satire was probably the best it had been in a long time.

How can you not enjoy material like this, and this? Love this stuff.

Anyone else enjoy SNL? Or... well, old SNL?

[Spark Of Spirit]

So Tiny Fey became the head writer in 1998-1999? So that explains why the show got so lousy and has yet to recover. Sorry to you 30 Rock fans, but I have never found here even remotely funny.

1986-1998 material is pretty great as a whole, but after that... it became really lousy. Especially when Fallon and Sans took over the show with their sub-Sandler and Farley act.

[Avaitor]

Well for me, I never cared for Tina Fey or Amy Poehler's SNL work, but I really grew to like them on their own shows.

I think a lot of the people on SNL now can be quite funny, actually, but something just kills all hope for them to be on the show itself.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The writing, probably. It's just like, not funny. There are no punchlines or build ups to anything, it's usually all just "Weird characters confound people for 5 minutes" or "Hey, this is weird and funny!" without anything really behind it.

I'm not going to say there's no talent there, but the last time anything from SNL was talked about was back when Will Ferrell was doing Bush. I really don't understand why that wasn't an issue, yet they had no problem firing people like Chris Farley and others like him back in the day. SNL needs a kick in the pants, badly.

[Avaitor]

I remember Tina Fey's Palin impression getting serious buzz not that long ago. And I sadly know a lot of people who watch the show now. I don't think they've ever had a chance to see the show at its prime, which is just sad. I remember watching repeats on Comedy Central, back when they had the rights to the show, and I think I was alone in watching those.

That said, I fucking love Lonely Island and there's nothing any of you can do about it.

[Angus]

Yep, lots of good stuff from the show. There might be some from the newer cast, but have little patience or time to keep it in my rotation.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I just got to the 1998 season and I was right, you can see the difference right off the bat. It's not all bad, but there's a clear shift in direction here. The skits are louder, more vulgar, and rely a LOT on recurring characters. Such as that Molly Shannon character whose whole schtick is to yell "I LUV IT!" repeatedly for five minutes.

And even though Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sans are only featured players at this point, they still get WAY too much push. More deserving featured players in the past never got the push these two got (like Jay Mohr) and it's clear they're trying to set them up to be the next Farley and Sandler, but they just aren't very funny.

On the plus side, Will Ferrel, Ana Gasteyer, Darrel Hammond, and Cheri Oteri hold the show up pretty well in this season. Without them it wouldn't nearly be as watchable.

[Avaitor]

I'm watching the most recent episode, with Jason Segel. If only for the Muppet scenes.

I just finished the Weekend Update, and SHIT, it's gone downhill since Amy Poehler left. Seth Meyers just can't hold his own on the sketch. His little winks towards the audience are just so fucking obvious and obnoxious, and his commentary is dry.

Say what you will about Poehler and Tina Fey, but you have to at least admit that the WU sketches were better with them, arguably the most bearable aspect of the show. Now it's just as dull as the rest of the show is now.

[Commode]

It's so weird to watch old episodes of SNL when they are so topical.  I just watched a Weekend Update segment on VH1 from an episode in I think 2002, and they are talking about the possibility of President Bush wanting to go into Iraq(which would happen in March 2003), and for one joke the "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" guy shows up, at which point Tina and Jimmy make fun of him for his annoying commercials.  I'm not sure if I should be nostalgic or ashamed of the stuff happening in 2002.

[Spark Of Spirit]

It's weird because the older Weekend Updates were not so topical despite being based on current news. Norm MacDonald and Colin Quinn's stuff still feel like good jokes instead of relying on you "being there" to get where they're coming from.

[Avaitor]

I'm watching Jeremy Renner's episode from this week, and he didn't even have a monologue.

How many times has this happened before? I can't recall any instances.

[Avaitor]

So, Don Pardo died.

If I was in charge of NBC, I'd just end the show now, before the season started. I know he left for a little while ages ago, but the show really never will be the same without him. And it's not like I need a reason to want to end SNL.

[Lord Dalek]

Yeah, they should cancel Price is Right, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy too because Don Pardo!

...what's that? Don Pardo has had nothing to do with any of these show in 30 years? SCREW THAT! I'm old and I'm not happy!

[Spark Of Spirit]

It's never getting canceled no matter how bad it gets, man.

[Avaitor]

The assumption is that it will end when Lorne dies, but I actually want to see the show continue without him. I'm 95% sure that the show's long-standing dip into mediocrity is his fault.