There was a time when I was a huge Saturday Night Live fan. I was a supporter, even. I still remember the first episode I saw, back in the early 1990s: I only watched because New Kids on the Block were the musical guests. I'd never watched the show before, didn't know what it was, but I promptly fell in love – and I stuck with it, even through the Chris Elliot years. But now, I just … I can't keep my silence anymore. SNL, this is my Angry Face, and it's aimed at you. Grrr.
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Everyone knows what's going to happen now. There's going to be some presidential jokes. Whatever up and coming, Hollywood bound cast member happens to be hot that week is going to be featured in almost every sketch. New cast members will try to evoke past cast members, especially if they were more popular. Like how Jimmy Fallon fought so hard to be the new Adam Sandler. It all tastes like beans.
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It used to be that if I missed an episode, I heard about it by Monday. Someone was always doing or saying something verboten on the show, whether it was a cast member gone too far in their mimicry or some untalented little hack getting caught lip-synching (cough, Ashlee Simpson, cough). Now it's like the writers are choosing to err on the side of caution just a little too often. If I'm not mistaken, didn't this start happening around the “tragic” Janet Jackson/Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction?
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I'm sorry. But if you starred on Nickelodeon, you're probably not as funny as you think you are. And I'm sorry, but if you ever starred in Good Burger, you don't need to be on SNL. I get that All That was SNL-lite, SNL for kids, but I mean. Really?
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SNL has a history of either keeping cast members on for way too long or letting them go way too soon, but Darrell Hammond … jeez. I can now no longer remember a time when he wasn't on SNL. They didn't let him go until 2009, and I rejoiced – but do you know how many times he'd appeared on the show since then? He's in his fifties now. Let it go! Let him go! He's a funny guy and I loved his Sean Connery on Celebrity Jeopardy sketches, but his golden age is over, it's time to hang it up.
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This is sort of related to #4. SNL is famous for getting rid of cast members too soon, in my opinion. Sometimes it's for the better – Chris Rock and Robert Downey, Jr., for instance, went on to have rich and rewarding careers … albeit after some stints in rehab for RDJ, but whatever. However, sometimes it's just too soon. The viewers don't even get a chance to decide if they like them or not.
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Oh, I remember the days. Dana Carvey as George Bush. Darrell Hammond as Bill Clinton. Tina Fey as Sarah Palin (don't they look eerily similar?). Will Ferrell as Dubya. They pushed the limits so often. And now it's like … crickets. Be controversial! It's okay! You're supposed to!
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One of SNLs greatest faults is that, during certain seasons, certain groups of writers do not know when to end the skit. They keep it going long after it's funny. It's like they keep going in the hopes that the audience will magically just start laughing again. Similarly, they keep popular characters, bits, and shticks going on for way too long as well. Poor Dana Carvey and Mike Myers really had to deal with the brunt of that.
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Hosts are an important part of SNL. The good ones always come back, and they rarely if ever fail to disappoint. John Goodman is my personal favorite, followed closely by Alec Baldwin, even after that fiasco with his daughter. However, the problem is that the show has a tendency to follow up a really spectacular, funny host with a long run of hosts who should never, ever be on a comedy show. Ever. Like, I don't know, professional wrestlers and junk.
I long for SNL's glory periods, but I know they won't come back. The show had a renaissance, of course – a lot of people never thought it would be as good as its early days, where it was all John Belushi and Steve Martin and Bill Murray. Every time I think it might suck for good, something positive happens, so here's hoping. Do any of you have a favorite SNL skit or character?
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