saturday night live

Started by sphinx, March 09, 2003, 05:38:36 PM

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grand theft sparrow

Best choice, hands down.  I'm just that much more optimistic about this season than I was.

modage

yeah i'd actually thought Meyers was going to be Fallon's replacement on Update a few years back, so it makes sense that it will be him now.  also he and poehler do the fake british news thing together.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

picolas

this is a terrible decision based on his performances. but i don't know which sketches he wrote.

polkablues

Still should've been Will Forte, but this'll do.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Chest Rockwell

Seth Meyers is currently the funniest part of SNL, so good choice.

MacGuffin

'SNL' will update its Weekend Update
By Gary Levin, USA TODAY

NEW YORK — Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers are all about good chemistry.

The new anchor duo at NBC's Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update, making their debut this weekend (11:30 p.m. live ET/delayed PT), point out that they're both from New England. Both got their starts as comedians in Chicago. And they've already played a team in a popular SNL sketch: Dan and Sally Needler, "the couple that should be divorced."

"Seth and I have a very familial, dare I say fraternal, relationship," Poehler says in a joint interview at SNL's offices. "We have a very similar sensibility."

Meyers also "writes great jokes," she adds, "and I'm really looking forward to saying them and getting credit."

Meyers has other plans. After Poehler snatched the Update anchor slot from him two years ago in an audition face-off, "My vengeance was to get it with her and torpedo her."

Wisecracks aside, how they gel may be crucial to determining the health of the late-night staple, which begins its 32nd season. Behind the desk, they follow such storied anchors as Chevy Chase, Dennis Miller and Norm MacDonald.

And under the surface, SNL is weathering its biggest shake-up in years. Producer Lorne Michaels, stuck with what he called "massive" budget cuts, trimmed three cast members: Eight-year veterans Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz, and Finesse Mitchell, who joined in 2003.

Two others — Rachel Dratch and head writer and Update anchor Tina Fey — left to work on 30 Rock, Fey's NBC sitcom, due Oct. 11. It's about the goings-on backstage at a show suspiciously like SNL.

SNL had its worst ratings yet last season, averaging 6.5 million viewers, a 6% drop from 2004-05. And amid the cutbacks, a new director was named.

"There's a ton of transition going on," says Poehler, 35. Though she says she'll miss her co-stars, "we're kind of excited about the idea of a slimmer (cast)," she adds brightly. "Skinny is in right now."

But Meyers, 32, one of three head writers, says that when sketches are planned, "a lot of your obvious choices that you've been making in casting are gone."

Without Sanz, Meyers says, "I hope Gene Shalit doesn't turn up in the news, because that would be seriously heartbreaking."

The show's lean team of 11 cast members — including Meyers, who will appear only on Update — is its smallest since 1987, when Miller, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman and Jon Lovitz were on the show. But those who remain "will get a chance to develop different muscles," Meyers says.

"When Tina and Maya (Rudolph) went off and had babies," Poehler says, she and Dratch "got to play different roles out of necessity. You get to prove you can do it, and that's good for everybody."

Look for more short films from newer cast members in the wake of Parnell and Andy Samberg's Internet-fueled Chronicles of Narnia rap, the show's most talked-about recent clip.

Comedian Dane Cook hosts this week's opener, with musical guest The Killers, and Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl) hosts the show Oct. 7, with singer Corinne Bailey Rae as guest.

But SNL fans have seen the last of the Needlers. "Our theory is that the Needlers actually did get divorced," Meyers says, though viewers won't get to see how that happens. Says Poehler, "Nothing about divorce is funny."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

MacGuffin

'Weekend Update' and 'Dirty' Language

If last week's season premiere of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" is any indication, broadcasters have relaxed a bit since Janet Jackson's 2004 "wardrobe malfunction" spurred a wave of concern about alleged indecency spreading over the airwaves.

During "SNL's" fake-news broadcast "Weekend Update," new co-anchor Seth Meyers pretended to interview actor Dustin "Screech" Diamond (portrayed by "SNL" regular Andy Samberg) about a sex tape purportedly made by the former "Saved by the Bell" co-star. Meyers mentioned that on the tape, Diamond is alleged to have engaged in a "dirty Sanchez."

Many members of the studio audience could be heard gasping. The term Meyers used is slang for a scatological sex act and is considered by many to be a highly offensive ethnic slur.

Even so, the phrase has been showing up increasingly in popular culture, especially in Britain, where MTV's U.K. version of the stunts show "Jackass" is titled "Dirty Sanchez." Movie comedies, including last year's hit "40 Year Old Virgin," have also used the term.

NBC did not bleep the phrase, even for the West Coast feed of "SNL," which is taped from the earlier live broadcast. This may suggest a greater willingness on the part of broadcasters to air sexually suggestive material as long as it's coded within slang and does not include words that most audience members would easily recognize as profane.

To cite another recent example, at NBC's August telecast of the Emmy Awards, actor Jeremy Piven gave a speech in which he used the word "fluffer," which is slang for a worker on a porn film who helps prepare male actors for their scenes.

An NBC spokeswoman declined to comment.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

polkablues

So John C. Reilly hosted last night, and it was one of the worst episodes in years.  Not John's fault, there just wasn't a single funny sketch in the entire 90 minutes.  The closest they got was the opening monologue, where Will Ferrell popped up as James Lipton, but then they fucked that all up by singing a song from "Chicago".

And this just one episode after the Jaimie Pressley episode, which had the best hit/miss ratio for good sketches since Natalie Portman last year.

Still, Hugh Laurie next week.  If they're smart, they'll let him be in on the creative process, try and capture some of that old Fry & Laurie magic.
My house, my rules, my coffee

edison

Yeah, last night was pretty bad. This season is certainly not looking good at all.

polkablues

Quote from: Garam on October 22, 2006, 07:19:04 PM
Quote from: polkablues on October 22, 2006, 05:20:38 PM
Still, Hugh Laurie next week.  If they're smart, they'll let him be in on the creative process, try and capture some of that old Fry & Laurie magic.

Ooh, thanks for mentioning. A Bit of Fry and Laurie is the most underrated sketch show ever. As good as Flying Circus, easily.


Anyway, not to be patronising, but how have you seen it? It's only just been remembered here in England (DVD releases, Sky repeats), so I don't know how an American would know about it. Do they show it on BBC America? Are you just a big Hugh Laurie fan in general? How long is a piece of string?


edit: Assuming you're an American/Canadian, obviously. Bit presumptuous of me. But you must be if you saw the latest SNL episode.

American, yeah... I haven't seen a whole bunch of their stuff, just a couple of episodes on VHS that a guy I went to college with had (it was through him that I originally found out about the show, although I was familiar with both Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie from other things), and a handful of individual sketches on Youtube.  But if we ever get a region 1 DVD release, I'll be first to buy it.
My house, my rules, my coffee

matt35mm

Quote from: polkablues on October 22, 2006, 08:08:20 PM
I haven't seen a whole bunch of their stuff, just a couple of episodes on VHS that a guy I went to college with had (it was through him that I originally found out about the show, although I was familiar with both Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie from other things), and a handful of individual sketches on Youtube.  But if we ever get a region 1 DVD release, I'll be first to buy it.

Seasons one and two have been released since August.  Not too expensive, either.




abuck1220

i didn't think it was that bad. the racist colonial thing was pretty good, and i thought the oreo stuff was halfway funny. the swimming sketch was funny just because it was john c. reilly. maybe i'm giving it too much credit because he's one of those guys i can't help but laugh at.

pete

I guess if MadTV is still on, then SNL will never get cancelled.  But they really should just cancel it.  it was as good as studio 60.  I don't watch much televsion so I can only compare bad shows to other bad shows, without too much historical references, but yeah, I'll be really really surprised, like gasping for air surprised, if this show ever revives.  I think tv comedy has to progress to stay relevant (duh) and I really think the format is not relevant anymore--we've gotten to a period where live performances aren't dangerous anymore, and 2-dimensional sets have been played out.  SNL's format wasn't timeless- it was a specific decision from a specific period, and over the decades it has been modified to get with the times, but I think at a point, the three-camera, single wall setup, will have to go.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

picolas

it sucked horribly in the 80s and it came back. i think the thing that might make the difference this time is Lorne Michaels is in charge/can no longer distinguish between funny and unfunny.

Ravi

The show still can be funny, but I share your exhaustion with the live 3-camera format, Pete, especially after watching Mr. Show.  Before watching Mr. Show I just thought SNL was unfunny.  Afterwards I found it stodgy and old-fashioned as well.  Of course, if SNL was still funny, I probably wouldn't even care about its old-fashionedness.  Before jettisonning the live format, though, the people behind the show should start taking more creative risks.