'SNL': 'Comfort Food for...Scared, Self-Satisfied Liberals"

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Mark Jeffries

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Dec 13, 2024, 3:14:40 PM12/13/24
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From the left-leaning American Prospect, author Siddharta Mahanta says that Lorne has become "the very sort of out-of-touch, too-comfortable elitist the Lorne Michaels of 'Saturday Night' (the recent movie) was railing against" (Note:  Mahanta is pretty much a member of the Bernie left who throws around "neoliberal" and isn't wild about Obama):

John Edwards

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Dec 13, 2024, 5:37:10 PM12/13/24
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In other words: “A young man is now old and I am MAD ONLINE about it: MY COLUMN”

John

On Sat, Dec 14, 2024 at 9:14 AM Mark Jeffries <spotl...@gmail.com> wrote:
From the left-leaning American Prospect, author Siddharta Mahanta says that Lorne has become "the very sort of out-of-touch, too-comfortable elitist the Lorne Michaels of 'Saturday Night' (the recent movie) was railing against" (Note:  Mahanta is pretty much a member of the Bernie left who throws around "neoliberal" and isn't wild about Obama):

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Tom Wolper

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Dec 14, 2024, 12:08:07 PM12/14/24
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It’s deeper than that. The originators of SNL tapped a subversive comedic history from Paul Krassner, Terry Southern, Dick Gregory, Lenny Bruce, and others. They were also shaped by MAD Magazine, underground comix, and especially the National Lampoon. SNL didn’t specialize in political comedy early on. Chase’s Ford sketches were just slapstick and Aykroyd’s Carter only appeared rarely.

By the late seventies that type of comedy just ran out of gas and then hit a wall when Reagan was elected. It took SNL years to get back on its feet and the humor was no longer subversive.

I agree with the article that today’s SNL can’t do political satire very well. It’s mostly because the writers don’t come from a tradition of sharp political satire and the network fears going over a line.

Kevin M.

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Dec 14, 2024, 12:25:32 PM12/14/24
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When they rebooted MAD Magazine a decade or so ago, I said at the time that if I liked the new iteration, the magazines was doomed to fail, because MAD was always a hit with teens (and even preteens), so if I liked it, they wouldn’t. I liked it. And MAD went out of business. 

I feel the same about SNL. I’m an old fart; I’m not supposed to like it. In fact, SNL is supposed to be mocking the failings of my generation in a way that appeals to 18 to 24 year olds. I think SNL fails on both fronts. I dislike it AND it fails to resonate with the young’uns. 

There seems to be a core group who watch the show almost as an obligation, and there is a segment of mainstream media that obsesses over the series to an unhealthy extent. That’s what keeps it going. 

When Rush Limbaugh was alive, liberal media salivated over every bigoted and moronic thing he said, and then when he died it became apparent those were the only people paying any attention to him. I suspect when Lorne Michaels is put in the ground, we will learn the same is true of him (at least in the last few decades). He’s being propped up by critics. 

I think it was Mark Twain who defined a “classic” book as one that is often talked about but never read. The same seems to be true of TV. 

Kevin M. (RPCV)


Tom Wolper

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Dec 14, 2024, 2:48:25 PM12/14/24
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There was a time SNL was aimed at a young audience. Now I think they’re just happy for whoever is watching.

Kevin M.

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Dec 14, 2024, 2:55:49 PM12/14/24
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Kevin M. (RPCV)


On Sat, Dec 14, 2024 at 11:48 AM Tom Wolper <two...@gmail.com> wrote:
There was a time SNL was aimed at a young audience. Now I think they’re just happy for whoever is watching.

Yeah, the demographic vagueness is obvious from the clips I see… another word for that is desperation 

Doug Eastick

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Dec 14, 2024, 3:17:49 PM12/14/24
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I think it's true for all network tv (now referred to as Linear Channels).   They'll take whatever they can get. 




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PGage

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Dec 14, 2024, 10:22:29 PM12/14/24
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I’m not so sure. I find I do not recognize or understand a majority of the references in the non political sketches (and, as noted here, the political sketches are bloodless and vapid). Update continues more often than not to be the exception.

They may be unsuccessful in reaching young people, but I don’t think it’s because they aren’t trying.

I’m not sure what a contemporary version of the original SNL would look like. They were originally trying to be not Carrol Burnett; now I suppose they would have to be trying to not be SNL, probably something like Joe Rogan (sadly I find him to be not just objectionable but unfunny and stupid).

Even more sadly, where I live at least there are plenty of people who not only paid attention to Limbaugh when he was alive, but continue to pay attention to his successors.

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