Dear Saturday Night Live: Please...no more specials.

[vi5]

Honestly it seems like every 5 minutes they are having some kind of anniversary special or self congratulatory celebration of something or other. Let it go.

We know, we know. You were funny 30 years ago. Even 10-15 years ago. And there are still occassional flashes of humore. But please get over yourselves. We can see almost all the good skits on video or dvd or whatever. We don't need to see them again with endless voice overs and pontifications as to how important it all was.

[peekaloo]

1. Maybe they should rerun the show hosted by Milton Berle.

}(

[Dogmudgeon]

2. I'll inform Mr. Michaels immediately

He's been dreading your review, really.

Well, at least the other shoe has dropped.

--p!

[vi5]

8. Thank you....

I had been hoping that it wouldn't come to this.

[Occulus]

3. SNL is completely irrelevant now

Mad TV, Chapelle's Shhow, TDS- those are where the humor is these days. SNL's golden years are looooong over.

[DS1]

4. Dear Saturday Night Live: Please...no more shows

Take a handful of talent and punch it into a lump of shit and you'll end up with a bigger lump of shit.

Idiom-DS1, 2005

[underpants]

5. Nausea. Violent, gut-churning nausea

"Nausea. Violent, gut-churning nausea. That's the only way I can describe the revulsion I felt as I watched last week's episode of the show called "Saturday Night Live". Vulgar, snide, purile. Devoid of either taste or intellectual content, let alone humor. "Saturday Night Live" displays in show after dreadful show, its sniggering contempt for even the appalling standards of network television. What kind of world are we living in, that this is considered entertainment? As I sat stunned by this abomination, quite literally sick to my stomach, it occurred to me that your cast and writers resemble nothing so much as a collection of spoiled children throwing a party the weekend Mommy and Daddy are away. Well, NBC, perhaps its time Mommy and Daddy came home, assumed their parental responsibilities, and removed this weekly affront to the mind and spirit from our television screens.
Signed: Charlton Heston."

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/89/15heston.phtml

[hfojvt]

6. what bugs me is if you get a "best of ..." DVD

they seem to include one of each of the person's skits, even some that are really lame-o or gag-o.
I think as time goes on, we forget how we had to watch an hours worth of the show to get the one or two funny skits.

[WI_DEM]

7. I'm willing to make an exception since this special is about the

first five years--really the true Glory years of SNL.

[vi5]

10. Actually I find those years pretty boring...could be my age....

I didn't really start watching until the 80's. Even going back over those original skits does nothing for me. I'm sure they were revolutionary at the time. But in hindsight and without that shock of the new I don't find them all that funny.

[Beaverhausen]

12. I agree- the first years were amazing

the writers and actors were fearless and edgy.

The show sucks now. It's just mean...not funny.

[yellowdogintexas]

23. Yeah, I am going to have to watch that one, for sheer

nostalgia. I may even tape it if my kid is not home.

Our in house in jokes are full of old SNL stuff, like "Oh Never Mind" and "You Don't Know Where it's Been" and Land Shark, etc.

So our kid grew up hearing all these and of course we explainedthem to her.

Well one night they were doing old SNL stuff and the Land Shark skits came on ...we dragged her out of whatever she was doing, under protest, she was about 10 ..so she could see the famous Land Shark..

she absolutely loved it, laughed out loud. So she hung aroung for Roseann Rosanadana too. She liked that too.

She truly appreciates the difference between SNL and later versions of same.

[Az]

9. There used to be a dead horse there

But years of persistant whipping have erased even the outline of its carcass.

[Dogmudgeon]

11. SNL -- more lives than Morris

1975: SNL debut with the Not Ready For Prime Time Players
1977: Chevy Chase leaves the cast of SNL. SNL is declared dead.
1980: SNL is declared dead; "it was good when it started".
1981: Mass firings of cast members: "SNL is finally dead"
1983: John Belushi dies. "SNL has died with Belushi."
1986: SNL is declared to be dead.
1987: Billy Crystal leaves the cast of SNL. "SNL is dead."
1990: The "Best Cast Ever" gets bad reviews. SNL is declared dead.
1993: The end of the "Best Cast Ever". "SNL is finally dead."
1997: Chris Farley dies. "SNL died with Farley".
1995: Lorne Michaels undergoes emergency surgery to remove an ingrown hair. "SNL can't possibly survive this. It is now officially dead."
1998: Darrel Hammond's impressions of Bill Clinton causes the Smart Set to declare: "SNL sucks. It is dead."
2000: After hiring the first female SNL cast member who doesn't look like a porn star (Rachel Dratch) the critics agree: "SNL must die!"
2002: In the wake of 9/11 and nationwide hatred for Jimmy Fallon among males 16-26, SNL is given the last rites by Fr. Guido Sarducci.
2003: Al Gore hosts an episode of SNL. The verdict: "SNL is dead!"
2004: First all-female SNL Weekend Update team debuts. "SNL will never recover ... it is DEAD!"
2005: SNL continues to be dead, and continues to be aired by most NBC affiliates at 11:30 PM on Saturday nights.

--p!

[vi5]

13. To be honest with you I don't think it's dead...

nor do I think it will ever die. I don't think that the early years were as great as people like to think or the new ones as bad as people like to think.

I simply just want the never ending stream of back patting retrospectives to stop.

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. I just posted that too. There's a great article on this in People. How

everyone has been claiming since its inception that somehow SNL isn't what it used to be. Sigh....

[Dogmudgeon]

16. People mag said the same thing?

Well, great minds think alike. Which leaves us with the question of how I thought of it, too.

--p!
... is this thing on? ...

[bmovies]

20. No, its not dead.

its pining for the fjords.

[bmovies]

19. and in other news....

Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

[ScreamingMeemie]

14. You know...I read an article, a great article, that claims that people

have been claiming SNL is "not what it used to be" for its entire run. I tend to agree with them. It's the same stuff, just a different year. Sometimes I laugh...sometimes I don't...just like 30 years ago.

I hate talking about this.

[sir_captain]

17. Why do you care so much?

People have been complaining that SNL is "not funny anymore" forever. If you don't want to watch it--DON'T WATCH IT. You're pontificating on what is and is not funny the same exact way you're accusing the show of doing--ironic, huh?

[vi5]

18. Actually not at all. I still think it's funny....

I'm not one of those people pining for the good old days. I don't think the good old days of that show were as great as people like to make out nor are the recent years as bad as people like to make out.

I just think that these endless back patting retrospective shows about the "good old days" of SNL just feed this false mythology.

[spanone]

21. Dear SNL....no more shows. Period.

[Borgnine]

22. The only one I really liked was there 25th anniversary special.

And as for the "SNL is dead!" debate, I think their current cast is the best they've had since the early '90s. Every cast gets bashed, then as soon as a few people leave, suddenly those episodes that were spat on are treated as the last good period. Personally, I think it's just nostalgia. Yes, the original five years produced some of our comic legends (Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, John Belushi, Dan Akyroyd, Gilda Radner, etc.), but the show was just as hit and miss as it is today. And quite frankly, after the dismal mid-to-late '90s period, I find myself laughing more now than I have in a long while.

SNL isn't dead. It just can only get a fair shake retroactively.