I watched a special tonight about SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE,
another documentary talking about how great the show was, is and always will
be. It’s about the 2nd or 3rd special celebrating the
show and its longevity this year. There were a few things that surprised me
about the show that I don’t think they intended.
The first was noticing the absolute change of the show from
the beginnings (which I am old enough to remember, the show starting in my late
teens) to now. It made me think of the advent of punk music. First there was
rock n’ roll and it got so overproduced and slick that it made the ground
fertile for punk music, a no nonsense balls to the wall head on rock sound. But
punk faded and straight forward rock n’ roll was the result, moving to hair
bands and then more straight forward rock n’ roll. SNL is just like this.
When it began it was that answer to overproduced comedic
television. The year before in 1974 we had HAPPY DAYS, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE
PRAIRIE, THE BOB NEWHART SHOW, THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW and CHICO AND THE MAN.
There wasn’t much counter culture on display. That made the ground fertile for
the “take on the establishment” first year of SNL. For five years that was the
case. And then the original cast and Lorne Michael, the producer left. The next
group that came in were terrible. They didn’t learn from the first five years
and instead did jokes that revolved around sex and drugs and weren’t funny.
Think Beavis and Butthead but less funny. Two standouts, Eddie Murphy and Joe
Piscopo survived those years and were brought in with the next group.
This group did much better, sparking a resurgence in the
show. The performers brought some great characters. They also included the
great Phil Hartman who was to carry the show for years until his untimely
death. Then it was so so only to rise from the ashes once more. The rises and
falls continued though and the show began to really go downhill in the past few
years. Yes, there are standouts in the group (Go Kenan Thompson!) but on the
whole no one current strikes me as star material.
That’s another thing that made SNL fade from the rebel show
it once was to a more mainstream vehicle. The casts were always less about a
team effort that made a funny show and became more of a launch pad for actors
who wanted to become movie stars. Some were funny enough to make the transition
smoothly but again, the actual show stopped being a reflection and parody of
our culture and became more mainstream.
In talking with people I continue to be surprised by the
number of people who don’t watch it, the majority of those being young people.
While they still bring on musical guests that a young crowd would want to
listen to, for the most part young people that I’ve talked to don’t watch with
any regularity, some of them not even aware of the show except for the name.
Rather than being a groundbreaking show it’s become a nostalgia act. But they
don’t even know it.
The cast members still think they’re relevant. They pat
themselves on the back for the political humor they toss out, claiming to be unbiased
but always leaning left. The crowd loves that but then again this is a New York
crowd. When you’re preaching to the choir and they sing with you, you think you’ve
reached the masses. In truth, you’re only reaching the same people week after
week. You’re missing the forest for the trees.
The program talked about how perfect the show is for the
modern age, the age of the internet. I have to agree. I find when I watch the
show now I’m lucky to find a 5 minute segment that makes me laugh. When you
take that 5 minute segment and put it online anyone who clicks gets to see the
one good skit of the entire hour long show. The other 55 minutes aren’t worth
the time. It’s almost as if the show has become a parody of the show it once
was. Which is sad.
Like the conditions that gave rise to punk music, the show
has lost its edge. The qualities that made it subversive when it began are long
gone. Rather than the punk rock edge the show has turned into that overproduced
slick sound that made punk necessary to clear the palette. Where the original
shows were the Clash the new shows are late Fleetwood Mac.
While congratulating themselves for doing such a great job
perhaps the show needs to step back and take an actual look at itself. Stop
telling yourself how good and relevant your show is. It needs to realize it’s
no longer funny. It needs to realize that there is a vast world out there
beyond the sidewalks of New York, a world that could care less what plays as
funny in New York and wants something, hungers for something, that’s fresh and
funny. A total overhaul is needed. That or it needs to end painlessly rather
than hang on until the audience consists of so few people it’s not worth doing.
SNL as it is today has left the ground wide open for a new program to come
along and do it the way they once did. As a fan of long ago, I find that sad.
