saturday night live

[Myxo]

Donald Trump skit was aweful.. I was cringing..

Keane was about the only highlight really. Great bunch of guys that Keane..

[modage]

to give credit where credit is due, she wasnt even as bad as i had thought.  number one, the fact she was only allowed to play 'paris hilton' in one sketch was worth being thankful for, although i am surprised they didnt do the obvious maya is also paris thing.  wasted opportunity perhaps.  the pattern recently seems to be either the host or the musical act must be extremely mainstream, which is better than neither being any good.  even though i dont listen to keane (or like them) i recognize that SNL is making an effort to book 'cool' bands rather than whatever top 40 pop act.  just like last week had a cool host with paul giamatti, but lame musical act wtih sum 41/ludacris.  next week has a freakin awesome host in jason bateman, so we must suffer through kelly clarkson.  so it seems like they're purposefully trying to draw both crowds now/again, instead of every episode being kelly clarkson and paris hilton.  and i'll take that over nothing.

[Ravi]

This is only the 5th or so episode I have watched the last three seasons. SNL is pretty bad nowadays eh? It seems its coasting on reputation alone. They should add David Cross (he could find time), Amy Sedaris, and Stephen Colbert as cast members.

Nah, they need better WRITERS.  Besides, them doing SNL would be slumming IMO.  Amy Poehler's been great in other things like UCB but you wouldn't know it by watching her on SNL.

I hadn't watched the show in a while until yesterday.  Horrible episode.  The cheapkids.net commercials were funny if a little repetitive, and WU was okay.  But they killed the "kids' thing that is supposed to be innocent but is really dirty" bit with Horatio Sanz's dirty drawings several years back.  And Paris Hilton, SIGH.  She was terrible.  With someone like Tom Hanks they can do a variety of cool sketches but what can Paris Hilton play but a ditzy rich girl?  They put her on because her 15 minutes of fame are still running.

[Myxo]

I agree that they need better writing.

Of course, they could also use some fresh blood. The loss of Will Ferrel and Jimmy Fallon has made the show almost unwatchable anymore. But then, will we ever see a cast like this, ever again on SNL?

Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock, Ana Gasteyer, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Mike Myers, Rob Schneider, Kevin Nealon, Molly Shannon, Dennis Miller, Tim Meadows, Norm Macdonald, Jon Lovitz, Al Franken..

..and I'm leaving some people off the list from the late 80s and early 90s I'm sure. People tend to forget that in addition to writers like Conan O'Brien from 1987-1991, alot of the regulars I mentioned above wrote for SNL as well. The current cast are seriously not that funny. I can usually count on 1-2 good skits a night now, where before 1-2 were bad skits.

[Ravi]

Didn't Conan only write one or two sketches that made it to the air?

I think we're looking at the old episodes with rose colored glasses.  There have always been mediocre sketches.  It's inevitable with a show that lasts an hour and a half.  But you are right that the loss of Will Ferrell was a blow to the show's quality (though the show had been bad for some time before he left).

[meatball]

I don't know about the rest of yousguys, but I actually think the episodes this season are pretty funny.

[Ravi]

We can't take you seriously with a Constantine avatar.

[Gamblour.]

Wow, I loved that Bill Curtis skit so much. However, Gays in Space and Monkey Poop.....very very bad, just plain bad.

[meatwad]

Didn't Conan only write one or two sketches that made it to the air?

i think it was a few more then that, but not many. I always thought the best guy writing over there at the time was Robert Smigel

[peaceisourprofession]

it's better than mad tv, but that's about all I can say for it.
(not to offend any mad tv lovers, they wouldn't be that bad if all their skits weren't about 5 minutes too long)
i do like weekend update at times.
how did tina fey get that scar?

[MacGuffin]

This Sunday, February 20th @ 9/8pm, "SNL: The First Five Years"

Marking the 30th Anniversary of NBC's "Saturday Night Live," this behind-the-scenes look at the birth of Saturday Night Live is told by the people who lived it.

Viewers will get a rare, intimate look at the formative years of the show in new interviews with creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels; the show's original stars, including Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman and Garrett Morris; hosts such as Candice Bergen, Elliot Gould, Buck Henry, Eric Idle, Steve Martin, Penny Marshall and Lily Tomlin; writers (Al Franken, Jim Downey and many others), as well as original crew members and musicians (including original musical director, Oscar winner Howard Shore and Paul Shaffer).

These are the stories fans haven't heard - all presented in a funny, fast-paced, nostalgic format, framed by the legendary musical performances from that iconoclastic era (artists include The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, The Grateful Dead, Patti Smith, The Band, Blondie, George Harrison, Paul Simon, Ray Charles, Bette Midler, Randy Newman, The Blues Brothers as well as John Belushi's inimitable imitation of Joe Cocker).

In addition to the never-before-seen insights, the special will feature classic and hilarious footage from the 70's as well as recollections from SNL stars of recent years (Dana Carvey, Jimmy Fallon, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Norm Macdonald, Tim Meadows, former writer Conan O'Brien, and Molly Shannon) discussing the show's influence on them.

[cine]

how did tina fey get that scar?

my fist.

[modage]

This Sunday, February 20th @ 9/8pm, "SNL: The First Five Years"

tonight... in a few minutes...

The Hollywood Reporter says:
... This painstakingly constructed two hours from filmmaker Kenneth Bowser ("Easy Riders, Raging Bulls") rises far above the level of clip reel, coming closer to art in assessing just what those magical five years were about, anyway. It altered the course of TV comedy, all right. But it wasn't pretty. ... fast-paced, interview-heavy ... noteworthy for its gathering together of those who lived those years together in the trenches. Many of the people who made it happen usually are loathe to talk about the good ol' days, either because narcotics have blurred their memories or it's no longer relevant to their lives today. But here, even writers such as Jim Downey, Al Franken and Rosie Shuster are only too happy to take the journey back and reflect on what remains the most profound period of their careers. There is plenty of creator/exec producer Lorne Michaels, who remains a notably dull interview. More interesting are the reflections of original Not Ready for Prime Time Players Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase (who famously bolted for the movies after a year, replaced by Bill Murray), Laraine Newman and Garrett Morris. ... The special doesn't shy away from the tales of drug use/abuse, neither glorifying nor apologizing for it. It was what it was. And as we can see from the clips, the show's early greatness wasn't simply a result of the times in which it arrived. ...

USA Today gives it four stars (out of four) and says:
... must-see documentary ... a two-hour film that is as smart, novel and entertaining as SNL itself ... neither a sappy trip down memory lane nor a casually thrown together collection of highlights. Instead, it's a TV rarity: a thoughtful, critical look at a TV classic that attempts to explain the show's influence and celebrate its achievements while owning up to its problems. ...

The New York Post says:
... NBC didn't attempt a - God forbid - reunion show. ... Instead, there's this terrific documentary, "Live From New York: The First Five Years of Saturday Night Live," by Kenneth Bowser - so good it debuted at the Miami Film Festival earlier this month. ... With many of the original stars and guest hosts, as well as clips of musical guests from George Harrison and Paul Simon to The Grateful Dead and Blondie, and clips from the most unforgettable, ground-breaking, and screamingly funny stuff ever on TV, this show is definitely a keeper. ...

i had thought it was going to be (from the ads) a clip show, (which i still would've watched), but according to these blurbs gathered by aicn, its going to be much more interesting.

[Pwaybloe]

Did anybody watch this?  I missed it.

[ono]

I did.  It was pretty good.  Swank admitted she wasn't good at comedy and then went on to do a pretty great job despite it.  I really enjoyed the soap opera sketch with cry choreography.

Oh, and if you're referring to the SNL five years documentary, I watched that, too.  Very interesting stuff, just like the reviews said, and a few good new insights into the behind-the-scenes stuff.  Informative, but I don't know if there was too much revealed that the hard-core SNL fan wouldn't know already.