FADED GLORY

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 2^nd or 3^rd 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.