‘Saturday Night Live’ losing steam
These are dangerous times.
There are fears that the deadly Ebola virus could spread worldwide. There’s ISIS, which, so far, has been contained to carrying out its brutality in most places of which we’ve never heard. Although, Lindsey Graham, that bombastic Republican Senator from South Carolina believes ISIS has far more ambitious plans. “This president needs to rise to the occasion before WE ALL GET KILLED BACK HOME,” Graham recently said.
I’m not ready to spend my days and nights under my bed, yet. But, if those stories about the breaches of security at the White House are true, I think the first family might be considering it.
The Secret Service has been so inept at trying to protect President Obama of late that the director has decided to seek employment elsewhere. These are, for the president, and many of us, dangerous times, indeed.
But I’m still not too worried about ISIS, Ebola or the immediate health and welfare of high ranking government officials. My real concern, these days, is about the demise of the TV show, “Saturday Night Live.”
Yep! It looks like that real American institution is about to plunge into self-inflicted obscurity. SNL has aired 767 episodes since its inaugural telecast on Oct. 11, 1975. It gained immediate acceptance as a funny, fresh and irreverent vehicle that has launched the careers of dozens of the nation’s most popular comedic talents. Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, John Belushi, Dan Akyroyd, Billy Crystal, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Dana Carvey and Will Ferrell have each become household names thanks to the weekly goings-on at Studio 8H at NBC’s Studios in New York.
But after taking in the threadbare premiere of the 40th season of SNL, I have to wonder how long the show’s creator, Lorne Michaels, will want to keep the show alive. I can’t say the show wasn’t funny. I can only say I didn’t laugh at any of it. Gone is the searing satire that was once the show’s hallmark. It’s been replaced by stale potty humor, that was, for me, hard to watch.
Admittedly, the show isn’t aimed at a nearly 66 year-old man. They’re aiming younger. I get that. And I certainly understand that I was in the show’s demographic back in 1975, when I was approaching my 26th birthday.
Yet much of the show’s humor back then was full of references about everyday life in America. That helped draw audience members from a broad spectrum. SNL simply took the images of overly-pristine family life (“Leave it to Beaver,” Father Knows Best,” “Ozzie and Harriet”) and they turned them on the ear. It was the ’70s. It was a time when un-pristine images of American life (“All in the Family,” “Maude” and “The Jeffersons”) were enjoying rising popularity.
“Saturday Night Live” fit right in. Each week, you’d tune in to see who’d get skewered. Fans of the show were rarely disappointed. Even the pre-taped commercial parodies were so well done, when, on commercial breaks, you didn’t know if the real commercials were, well, real.
All of that seems to be missing in 2014. I had some question about me just being some old fogey, who between shouts of, “Hey kids, get off my lawn,” is simply out of step with the times. So, the morning after that 40th anniversary show, I scoured the internet for its reviews. At best, the show’s reviews were only given faint praise.
Most of the people who posted their opinions below those reviews were far less forgiving than I’ve been. Somebody named Rita wrote: “SNL season opener was a painful disappointment. Casting? Writing? What is going on?” below one review at the Hollywoodreporter.com. “Yes, the show these days relies heavily on cheap sex jokes,” wrote “Jake.” Somebody calling themselves “humanoid51” wrote a rather typical comment, “The show was horrible and unwatchable; SNL has run its course and should quit while they are ahead.”
It’s unfortunate that a show that has been so good for so long, has devolved into such mediocrity. Let’s hope it gets fixed – or cancelled.
Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net Copyright 2014 Al Owens
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