Last Saturday's SNL was the WORST I have seen in YEARS.

[UdoKier]

It was subpar even for Mad TV.

Are the regular writers on strike or something?

Even Hilary Swank was discombobulated.

AWFUL.

And 50 Cent? A new low even for a show where lame musical acts have been the norm for decades...

[shoelace414]

1. I FF through the musical acts.

[kerrywins]

2. the strokes, white stripes....

list goes on and on...they've had all of em on....keane....

how many times can they have the same bands on?

they've had some great music on that show....

[No Mandate Here.]

3. NBC ran a "first Five Years 1975 - 1980 SNL" special last night

I was amazed at how many of the bits I remembered. Those were the only really good years of SNL, IMHO.

RIP Gilda and John

[mistertrickster]

7. Isn't it true? Even decades later, those skits had so much freshness

and originality. Now we get "Merv, the Perv" and flatulence jokes. Most of the time I just tune in for Weekend Update and let the rest slide.

How the mighty have fallen.

[Drifter]

12. Indeed ...

I watched it (even though I did not intend to). I was almost crying through the whole thing.

Cheers
Drifter

[Merlot]

20. Both fun and sad to see the beginings of SNL

They were so talented and outrageous. All the drug humor. And the great musical acts. The classy choices for hosts.

I gave up on SNL when they had the olsen twins, lindsay lohan, and paris hilton as hosts.

Still like the Weekend update, because of Tina Feys lefty humor, but that's about it. Other than that, the show dosen't come off as very liberal.

on edit: but did you see All Frankens early hair?? it truly had a life of it's own!

[DS1]

4. 50 cent was laughing all the way through the second bit

(which I admit, is the only one I watched) because he knows his music sucks :D

[underpants]

8. Watchit or he will shoot you

or himself or something like that anyway someone is going to get shot, so you know it's real.

[redqueen]

5. I said pretty much the same thing to my husband.

The news was awful, and it was the high point of the show.

[smirkymonkey]

6. What was up with Hillary Swank?

You would never, ever have guessed she was up for an Oscar judging from her performance last night. She seemed kind of wasted or something.

What happened to her?

[UdoKier]

13. That lame "City Court with Aaron Neville", she did a horrible accent.

It was half Oklahoma hick, half New Jersey high-hair chick - weird.

[hfojvt]

9. it has bothered me in the last 4 years

that they seem to be pro-Bush on SNL.
I cannot remember very many skits to back up that claim, but it was a feeling I got. One I remember was after Powell did his lying presentation at the UN about Saddam's WMD, SNL did a skit on that - mocking the UN.
I did think it was kinda funny when Tina Fey was the Democratic spokesperson on a spoof "Hardball" and Chris Matthews said things like "Republicans want to put Osama on the Supreme Court" and Tina says "well, it's about time" and Chris says "Republicans want to make 'Baby got back' our new national anthem" and Tina says "Democrats have always liked that song".
Of course, I do not watch SNL anymore since I always work Saturday nights. Given the quality of the recent shows, it is not something that I really miss either.

[UdoKier]

11. Tina's probably the most left-wing of anyone on the show.

She makes plenty of biting anti-Bush jokes.

Darrell Hammond is the most freeper-ish, IMO, though he does a good Clinton imitation.

[Dogmudgeon]

15. You're confusing Tina Fay with Amy Poehler

It was Poehler in that skit.

--p!

[Ernesto]

10. Nothing lasts forever, I guess

SNL has had an exceptionally long run and it's hard to let go.
On the other hand, I ain't exactly a "30 something" any more.

[priller]

14. I changed the channel to Elimidate

Sadly, it was much more entertaining.

[tridim]

16. I took DU's east coast feed advice

and skipped it. One benefit of being 2 time zones away. :) There have been a few decent shows this season.

[Dogmudgeon]

17. SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE IS DEAD

Yeah, I've been hearing that since 1976, or whatever year Chevy Chase left the show.

Every year. No exceptions.

SNL has been consistently good or better. And its critics have consistently whined that the show has been going downhill.

So it doesn't give you the same thrill as it did 30 years ago. Whose fault is that?

Same thing with music, too. The 60s were SO great. Except for those of us who actually remember them.

--p!

[UdoKier]

18. I don't think it's dead and (here comes some heresy)...

I don't think that the 1976~1980 seasons were all that much better than many of its other good stretches. It goes up and down. This season has been kinda weak, but last Saturday was EXCEPTIONALLY bad.

But I cut SNL some slack usually. It's much better than most of the other "comedy" on TV today.

[Ernesto]

21. WRONG

I remember the 60's quite well. The music was fresh & unfettered by corporate radio & record industry influence. Remember (if you can) a little thing called "album rock" that was taking over the FM market place. It took very little time for the profit motive gang to invade & destroy the creativity that thrived in those days. "Formula acts" are now the only ones making it. Why else would Brittany Spears be so prominent in the media today?
What the hell do you think John Fogarty has been complaining about for decades?

[Dogmudgeon]

22. No profit motive in the 1960s?

You're joking, right?

Pop music was started as a profit-making enterprise. Music moguls took the full measure of the mania over Bing Crosby and Paul Whiteman and Jan Peerce, and tried the same trick with Frank Sinatra. It worked, and an industry was born.

There was a lot of innovation and excellent music in the 1960s, but there was a huge amount of crap, too. Still, Rock and Roll was all about the money. Remember Frank Zappa's satiric We're Only In It For The Money ... ? Or how about the failed attempt to import French Ye-Ye music, turning filet mignon into ground chuck and Peggy March into the cover girl for financial exploitation? (If you doubt me, find a copy of her "I Will Follow Him" and compare it to Pet Clark's original Chariot.) What do you think the Brill Building was occupied for?

Hey now wait a minute!
Now wait just a minute!

Hey hey we are the Monkees
You know we love to please
A manufactured image
With no philosophies

We hope you like our story
Although there isn't one
That is to say there's many
That way there is more fun

You told us you like action
And games of many kinds
You like to dance, we like to sing
So let's all lose our minds!

We know it doesn't matter,
Cause what you came to see
Is what we'd love to give you,
And give it one, two, three!

But there may come three, two, one, two
Or jump from nine to five,
And when you see the end in sight
The beginning may arrive!

For those who look for meaning,
And form as they do facts,
We might tell you one thing
But we'd only take it back

Not back like in a box back
Not back like in a race,
Not back so we can keep it,
But back in time and space!

You say we're manufactured,
To that we all agree,
So make you choice and we'll rejoice
In never being free!

Hey hey we are the Monkees,
We've said it all before
The money's in we're made of tin
We're here to give you more!

The money's in we're made of tin
We're here to give you--

*BANG!!*

*SCREAM!!!*

GIMME A W!

W!

GIMME AN A!

A!

GIMME AN R!!

R!!

WHAT DOES THAT SPELL!!??

WAR!!

And if you think Barry Gordy was motivated by bringing revolution to the streets, think again -- every major Motown artist who knew him can testify that Gordy was a ruthless capitalist, which fortunately helped turn the once-ghettoized "cullid" music into Soul, R&B, Urban Harmony and eventually Funk and Hip-Hop.

Want some non-formulaic music? It's blossoming on the Internets, as our Wise and Courageous Maximum Leader would call them. There is even some leaking out into the mainstream. Or, alternately, you can try a streaming music station. Since I'm from Philly, let me suggest WXPN at xpn.org -- it may or may not be your cup of tea, but it's much better than anything else on the air in Philadelphia or most other major "markets".

As for John Fogerty, I'm glad he's still around, but his last album was pretty poor (in my opinion -- I don't presume to speak to the ages). I can forgive Mr. Fogerty for not being perfect -- he's a far, far better musician than I am -- but it's not because he was part of the 1960s. It's because he's John Fogerty. In 2004, just like he was in 1967.

There was plenty of crap on the radio in the 1960s. There is still some decent music on the radio today.

In conclusion, I'd like to thank you for allowing me this opportunity to rant. :)

We now return you to our weekly program in prgress, SNL Used To Be Good But Now It Sucks.

--p!

[terrya]

19. NBC should give Robert Smegel anything he wants....

because if HE leaves the show, SNL will officially be completely worthless.

[Sgent]

23. I love Tina Fey

as a commedian, but her writing has to go.

She has been the head writer for the last two years, and SNL has continuted to disappoint.

The last really good skits IMHO were the Gore/Bush skits around the 2000 election.

[Cooley Hurd]

24. Agreed... painful to watch.

However, the retrospective shown on Sunday was great - very well done.

I miss Gilda and John...:(