
Existentialist Weightlifting
SNL Up Close: 1988-89
When the Writer’s Guild of America went on strike in March 1988, the Winter Olympics had just finished, both the Republican and Democratic primaries were underway, and Saturday Night Live was in the middle of its 13th season. Despite the anticlimactic finish to the year (Judge Reinhold / 10,000 Maniacs), the show was continuing its resurgence.
SNL Up Close: 1987-88
By the summer of 1987, Saturday Night Live had survived leadership changes, cast and writer turnover, and the threat of cancellation several times over; for the first time in years, the show was in a period of stability. New performers such as Dana Carvey, Jan Hooks and Phil Hartman quickly made their mark with characters such as the Church Lady and the Sweeney Sisters, and the writing had noticeably improved, with a renewed emphasis on political satire. It would make sense that the new season would look very similar to the last.
Classic SNL Review: March 21, 1987: Bill Murray / Percy Sledge (S12E14)
Sketches include “Contract”, “New York Telephone”, “One Night Stand”, “Donahue”, “Nick Slammer”, “It’s A Girl”, “Il Returno De Hercules”, “Tough Parents” and “Taxi”. Percy Sledge performs “When A Man Loves A Woman”.
Classic SNL Review: December 6, 1986: Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, and Martin Short / Randy Newman (S12E06)
Sketches include “Stumblebums Anonymous”, “Couch Cushions”, “The Devil & Ed Grimley”, “A Christmas Wish”, “Mastermind”, “The Eggshell Family”, “The Pat Stevens Show”, “Church Potluck Luncheon”, and “Halsey & Roarke: British Customs”. Randy Newman performs “Longest Night” and “Roll With The Punches”.
SNL Up Close: 1986-87
Lorne Michaels’s first year back at Saturday Night Live after a five-year hiatus wasn’t what you would call a success. While the writing staff included a mix of SNL veterans and unknowns that would soon establish themselves on the show, the new cast (which included movie stars Anthony Michael Hall and Randy Quaid) never quite clicked, and the ratings and reviews were less than favorable. The show was on the brink of cancellation that spring, but NBC president Brandon Tartikoff decided to give Michaels and SNL another chance.
Classic SNL Review: April 12, 1986: Oprah Winfrey / Joe Jackson (S11E14)
Sketches included “Backstage”, “John Cougar Mellencamp’s Looking At America”, “The Pat Stevens Show”, “Cabrini Green”, “The Wart Hog”, “I Play The Maids”, “Actors On Film”, “Craig Sundberg, Idiot Savant”, “The Cute Shop”, and “One-Shoe Emma”. Joe Jackson performs “Right and Wrong” and “Soul Kiss”.
Classic SNL Review: March 22, 1986: George Wendt and Francis Ford Coppola / Philip Glass (S11E13)
Sketches include “Pep Talk”, “The Honeymooners: The Lost Episodes”, “Commercials”, “Mystery Playhouse”, “That Black Girl”, “Whale”, “Actors”, “Ghost of Thespians Past”, “Vietnam Sketch”, “Suitcase Boy” and “Finale”. Philip Glass and the Philip Glass Ensemble perform “Lightning” and “Rubric”.
Lorne's Missing Links: Steve Martin's Best Show Ever and The New Show
Lorne Michaels stepped away from Saturday Night Live after the show’s fifth season, and his creation was kept alive by other producers, writers and actors for the next five years; when he returned to the show in 1985, he had a whole new cast, but many of the behind-the-scenes personnel were those who had been associated with his original five year tenure, and there were a handful of additions that would shape the show’s tone and look for years to come. Because the Jean Doumanian and Dick Ebersol eras each had their own specific directions and mostly unique personnel. one wonders what the show would have been like if Michaels had stuck around during that time. There are a few hints of what a Michaels-helmed SNL would have looked like in two of his TV productions during that period: Steve Martin’s Best Show Ever, a special Martin did for NBC in November 1981, and The New Show, Michaels’ ill-fated return to weekly network television
SNL Up Close: 1985-86
In four seasons, executive producer Dick Ebersol had brought Saturday Night Live back from the cancellation, had the hottest comedian in America in the cast, and oversaw its transition from a live incubator of new comic talent to an increasingly prerecorded showcase for established comedians. By 1985, though, Ebersol found himself tired of the show’s grueling schedule, and, after toying with staying with a mostly-prerecorded version of the show that wouldn’t premiere until the next January, decided to step away. Brandon Tartikoff, president of NBC Entertainment, had to consider his options, and fast.
SNL Season 40: A post-mortem
After Brooks Wheelan, Noel Wells and John Milhiser were fired from Saturday Night Live last July, I wrote a particularly visceral piece blasting Lorne Michaels and company for only making cosmetic changes to the show's makeup instead of trying to fix SNL's deep-seated problems in the writing department. The 2013-2014 season was not very good; and was the first year where I was deliberately skipping episodes. Of course, my curiosity got the better of me after checking out the fan reaction on the SNL message boards (which, admittedly, are not the kindest to the cast and writers either), but there were very few shows that felt worth the time investment of watching live. Despite talk from producers that this year would reflect some lessons learned, the big issues with last year weren't resolved at all: the show's problems only seemed to entrench themselves further.
Fired Rookies, Designated Stars and the Troubling SNL Status Quo
Brooks Wheelan, Noel Wells and John Milheiser have all been fired from Saturday Night Live last week. That’s one half of the cohort of featured players brought in at the beginning of the 2013-14 season. Despite trumpeting their collective SNL debut in the season premiere with two sketches devoted to the new hires, it felt like the show lost faith in them by the end of November...
SNL Season 36: Still ill.
I wrote last year about how SNL was showing signs of severe creative fatigue, with an over-reliance on recurring material, and a higher number of disappointing shows than in seasons past.I mentioned that unless the show took steps to fix some of these very noticeable signs of wear, the show is only going to get worse. SNL is still sick.I would argue it's a bit worse than last season, ever so subtly.There weren't any violently obvious symptoms like with last season, but the times when it appears to be firing on all cylinders are fewer and further between.
The staleness has been lingering for years now and the stench is starting to get pungent.At least when the show was at its worst they took quick emergency measures to fix the show.I do hope for next year that the creative powers-that-be realize they need to operate, or we're going to watch the show suffer and decay even further.
SNL 35.22 Alec Baldwin (and season 35) post-mortem
Last week, I presented the possibility that the SNL cast and writers would have used up all their energy on the Betty White show.This week seems to have confirmed that theory, with an episode not only underwhelming by Alec Baldwin's usually high standards but for a season finale in general.I don't know if they were expecting that Baldwin's presence alone could elevate mediocre material (to be fair, he did help somewhat) or if it was just exhaustion on everyone's part, but either way the finale was another letdown in a season full of them.