I don't agree that it was bad from the start. I think the original cast was very funny and innovative.
Leftists still think they are the rebellious outsiders fighting the establishment even as they are the establishment. The most edgy and rebellious thing to be right now is conservative. Trump and Musk are the rebels.
It stopped being really funny at the end of the 90s. My parents had the original cast of Belushi, Ackroyd, Curtin, and Chase; we had Farley, Spade, Sandler, and Rock. They were real comedians who made comedy an art form and we still quote their characters today. By the 2000s SNL lost its mojo and the new casts just didn’t have the staying power and the hilarity; SNL was simply getting boring. Even long term shows have to innovate and understand their audience, sadly SNL has not; likely because Lorne Michaels has been there far too long and the overall trend in late night tv moving to left night tv. You know it is bad for networks when a cable show (Gutfeld) has higher ratings than the crap on network tv. Who actually finds Kimmel, Colbert, or SNL funny? It’s a mixture of left night and the hosts and casts being boring and unfunny; result, ratings bomb. NBC should cancel SNL and put on reruns of Friends or Cheers; far funnier and their ratings would probably go up; no television show is indestructible; as Silvio from the Sopranos once said, “you’re only as good as your last envelope.”
It was very funny and somewhat spontaneous initially. Hard to maintain that momentum for 50 years. But I haven't watched it for 30 some years. Like everything else produced by the establishment entertainment complex, it became politically correct, condescending, and pedantic.
It turns out that Cultural Marxism isn't funny. Who knew?
SNL quit being funny in my estimation 35 or more years ago. Enjoyed Jane Curtain & Gilda Radner. Better for a show like that to quit while ahead! Way too late now. Wonder whose $ has subsidized it all these years?!?🤡🌎
I watched every episode in the first five years, There have been good actresses and actors since then but SNL stopped being relevant the night Belushi died
SNL had some spectacularly funny skits during its early run. The Pepsi Syndrome, Frank Garvey-Male Prostitute, Canus-The Fragrance For The Man Who Loves His DogJewess Jeans, James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub, The Black Shadow, Quien es mas macho?, The Refrigerator Repairman, The Catskills Lounge Entertainer.. Dan Ackroyd, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray- later, Eddie Murphy, early Will Ferrell were gifted.
When the show became blatantly political, selective, mean spirited and obsessive, it was over.
I don’t know that even Johnny Carson would be the guy we remember if he had a show today. The world is infected with a contagion that kills the soul. It’s become so steeped in sickness that once revered entertainers are destroying their legacies at warp speed. I used to love the Rob Reiner collaborative mockumentaries. Can’t even count the number of times I watched “ This Is Spinal Tap”,” Best In Show” , et al and laughed until my sides ached every time. I can’t watch them anymore. Ditto anything Norman Lear, Dick Van Dyke,Robert Redford, Brian Cranston, Oprah, Chappelle,Whoopi, Disney, Streisand, Tyler Perry, DeNiro,Cusack,Ferrell,Midler,Cher,Baldwin,Ben Stiller…
Can’t listen to Stevie Wonder,anything with Sondheim or Bernstein scores, Talking Heads,Eurythmics,Green Day…
Between the antisemitism, Islamism, misery and hatred of America..Actually, hatred of all things living , they’ve destroyed the premise of entertainment.. the escape from what ails us.
Nietzsche said of Wagner, “ He is sick. Everything he touches becomes sick. He makes music sick”
These bastards have not only made entertainment sick. They’ve made it moribund.
It is also possible that SNL was the result of emerging technology. The video camera was now no longer the cumbersome device occupying vast amounts of studio care and floor space. Overhead shots possible and routine. And also digitalized signals were easily communicated and processed live. It was live and didn't take up the same resources that other live television broadcasts required. Patching it into the networks was not difficult and worth the risks. Noticeably not mentioned by you is Laugh In, a truly great TV show, but never live and full of lots of fun outtakes. Laugh In died a dignified death, publicly anyhow, something a rolling performance like SNL finds hard to do.
But for all the rest about its history? Black comedians? Canadians? Women comedians? The good old days never were what they used to be. But they had to be.
I don't agree that it was bad from the start. I think the original cast was very funny and innovative.
Leftists still think they are the rebellious outsiders fighting the establishment even as they are the establishment. The most edgy and rebellious thing to be right now is conservative. Trump and Musk are the rebels.
It stopped being really funny at the end of the 90s. My parents had the original cast of Belushi, Ackroyd, Curtin, and Chase; we had Farley, Spade, Sandler, and Rock. They were real comedians who made comedy an art form and we still quote their characters today. By the 2000s SNL lost its mojo and the new casts just didn’t have the staying power and the hilarity; SNL was simply getting boring. Even long term shows have to innovate and understand their audience, sadly SNL has not; likely because Lorne Michaels has been there far too long and the overall trend in late night tv moving to left night tv. You know it is bad for networks when a cable show (Gutfeld) has higher ratings than the crap on network tv. Who actually finds Kimmel, Colbert, or SNL funny? It’s a mixture of left night and the hosts and casts being boring and unfunny; result, ratings bomb. NBC should cancel SNL and put on reruns of Friends or Cheers; far funnier and their ratings would probably go up; no television show is indestructible; as Silvio from the Sopranos once said, “you’re only as good as your last envelope.”
It was very funny and somewhat spontaneous initially. Hard to maintain that momentum for 50 years. But I haven't watched it for 30 some years. Like everything else produced by the establishment entertainment complex, it became politically correct, condescending, and pedantic.
It turns out that Cultural Marxism isn't funny. Who knew?
When shows like SNL purport to lecture us about politics the response is to switch stations
SNL quit being funny in my estimation 35 or more years ago. Enjoyed Jane Curtain & Gilda Radner. Better for a show like that to quit while ahead! Way too late now. Wonder whose $ has subsidized it all these years?!?🤡🌎
I watched every episode in the first five years, There have been good actresses and actors since then but SNL stopped being relevant the night Belushi died
SNL had some spectacularly funny skits during its early run. The Pepsi Syndrome, Frank Garvey-Male Prostitute, Canus-The Fragrance For The Man Who Loves His DogJewess Jeans, James Brown Celebrity Hot Tub, The Black Shadow, Quien es mas macho?, The Refrigerator Repairman, The Catskills Lounge Entertainer.. Dan Ackroyd, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray- later, Eddie Murphy, early Will Ferrell were gifted.
When the show became blatantly political, selective, mean spirited and obsessive, it was over.
I don’t know that even Johnny Carson would be the guy we remember if he had a show today. The world is infected with a contagion that kills the soul. It’s become so steeped in sickness that once revered entertainers are destroying their legacies at warp speed. I used to love the Rob Reiner collaborative mockumentaries. Can’t even count the number of times I watched “ This Is Spinal Tap”,” Best In Show” , et al and laughed until my sides ached every time. I can’t watch them anymore. Ditto anything Norman Lear, Dick Van Dyke,Robert Redford, Brian Cranston, Oprah, Chappelle,Whoopi, Disney, Streisand, Tyler Perry, DeNiro,Cusack,Ferrell,Midler,Cher,Baldwin,Ben Stiller…
Can’t listen to Stevie Wonder,anything with Sondheim or Bernstein scores, Talking Heads,Eurythmics,Green Day…
Between the antisemitism, Islamism, misery and hatred of America..Actually, hatred of all things living , they’ve destroyed the premise of entertainment.. the escape from what ails us.
Nietzsche said of Wagner, “ He is sick. Everything he touches becomes sick. He makes music sick”
These bastards have not only made entertainment sick. They’ve made it moribund.
Daniel: I watched the SNL flic when it came out and was - like you - underwhelmed. That I was dodging scores of incoming rocket alerts while I was in our “Safe Room” at the time may have had something to do with my review, tho. https://open.substack.com/pub/davebender/p/and-live-from-new-york-its-bringbringbringbringb?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=b4yv.
It is also possible that SNL was the result of emerging technology. The video camera was now no longer the cumbersome device occupying vast amounts of studio care and floor space. Overhead shots possible and routine. And also digitalized signals were easily communicated and processed live. It was live and didn't take up the same resources that other live television broadcasts required. Patching it into the networks was not difficult and worth the risks. Noticeably not mentioned by you is Laugh In, a truly great TV show, but never live and full of lots of fun outtakes. Laugh In died a dignified death, publicly anyhow, something a rolling performance like SNL finds hard to do.
But for all the rest about its history? Black comedians? Canadians? Women comedians? The good old days never were what they used to be. But they had to be.
Good riddance.