Announcement regarding the future of SNL reviews

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I still haven't bothered watching the beginning of the Kerry Washington show; I did watch the Lady Gaga episode but I don't think I'll be posting a post-mortem on the show.  I actually found myself a little distracted and eager for the show to end last night, and not in any mood to regurgitate details of the show for my review, which would have been another variation of "the cast is strong, but the writing lets them down".  Even Lady Gaga, whose whole raison d'etre is to draw attention to herself, seemed like she was grasping at straws with her performances: the dry-hump with R. Kelly almost seemed like a parody of the lengths she goes to in performances.  My response to this was simply "And....?"

I see the show still has these bright spots, but the fact is I don't feel like staying up until 2am my time just to watch SNL anymore.  If there's something going on in the real world, I'd rather do that than watch something that will be mostly made available online the next day anyway.  There's always the chance something infamous may happen in the live show, or the audience may be witness to the birth of a new classic, but when was the last time either happened?

I watch it because it's a routine more than anything.  I may tune in to see a particular guest or to see if there's a big change after Seth Meyers finally leaves the show, but the show just doesn't have the importance it once held for me.

I would have thought that the thing that would have turned me off the show would be another disastrous season on the level of the Janeane Garofalo/Michael McKean year, but I honestly have no problem with the cast in general; most of them are very strong performers who find ways to work with whatever they're given.  I just don't know if SNL is really the best use of their talents anymore.  Landing a spot on the show is an achievement and a way to get name recognition, but I can't get over the feeling that they rein themselves in to belong to the institution.

I still plan on completing my 1982-83 reviews, but afterwards I'm going to take a long break from dissecting the show.  I'd rather watch to be entertained than watch to analyze; I have other priorities, and there are only so many hours in a day.