I watched this last night just to see Norm Mac. He still kills me.
I was a bit surprised there was no interview with Sandler but they did get Macdonald.
The Reynolds bit would have killed. I would have liked to see them talk about Hartman’s death as much as they talked about Farley’s. and they went way too quick through the early 90’s (90-93) for my taste. I mean the Bush/Clinton/Perot stuff was solid freakin gold. and it was almost just mentioned in passing.
Other than those nitpicks…very good show. I’ve liked all three of these features.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by RathBandu Still, it was nice to see they didn’t shy away from the more controversial stuff, although I was disappointed that there was no Seagal, Dice, Martin, or Sinead. |
Yeah, I know after commercials it’s only about 90 minutes but those incidents, along with the Martin Lawrence flap deserved a bit of attention.
I was also surprised that there wasn’t some talk about “In Living Color” and how that was pretty much the first network sketch show to get notice while “SNL” was on the air and ultimately convinced Chris Rock to jump ship.
They couldn’t dig up Ellen Cleghorne for an interview?
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Martianman How great would that Burt Reynolds bit have gone over? Makes me sad that Norm got fired before it could happen. |
I loved Norm’s explanation of the bit “…but then I got fired.”
The show was alright, but it was more a pat on the back rather than an examination of two era’s of SNL, for which I was hoping to see.
Did I miss it, or did they not mention the Garafolo-Mckean-Elliot season at all?
I dunno. I was disappointed. They showed some good bits, and some interesting interviews, but not enough good bits, and not enough interesting interviews. There was so much controversy and funny stuff during that decade, and they glossed over/ignored so much of it. Like the single sentence they devoted to Phil Hartman’s tragic death. Maybe they needed a full two hours for each half of the decade.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Paul755 … they went way too quick through the early 90’s (90-93) for my taste. I mean the Bush/Clinton/Perot stuff was solid freakin gold. and it was almost just mentioned in passing. |
My guess is that they did that since that cast had been covered at some length in the previous documentary.
Pretty good, like the other two. On a related note, I have the DVD of the “First Five Years” one, and it has a second, supplementary documentary almost as long as the first. Did they do one like that for the 80s? I’m hoping one might fill in some of the gaps from this one a bit better.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Ratty Did I miss it, or did they not mention the Garafolo-Mckean-Elliot season at all? |
They did, but they glossed over how those folks were brought in but were never given much of a chance to blend with the rest of the cast. The time spent on that season was dedicated mainly to how that was the end of Farley and Sandler.
I enjoyed this and was glad they didn’t shy away from talking about the network interference that resulted in the the firing of almost the entire 1994-1995 season cast as well as MacDonald from WU.
I also liked the brief discussion about creativity stemming from competition. Having many featured players increases the odds that the contract players won’t get lazy because there is always someone nipping at their heels. Currently there are no featured players in teh cast and only 11 contract players. It speaks volumes that the show currently sucks.
There’s no new blood to bring fresh energy to the show and the more experienced cast members just rely on their go-to skits & characters (I never need to see another Trump sketch from Hammond or Donatella Versace from Rudolph). Samberg was a breath of fresh air in the beginning, but he seems only to be able to create magic in digital videos and even his recent ones have declined in quality. Hader does great impressions, but only of people who are no longer relevant. That never stopped Ferrell though, who did his Harey Carey impression often and made work. I think we all can agree Hader is no Ferrell.
I’m really digging Wiig and Sudeikis, but they need to exapnd their repertoire. Target Lady and The Annoying Couple were midely amusing at best, but have stayed well past their welcome. Thompson and Armisan are pretty much useless, Poehler gets way too many sketches and Forte gets way too few.
I know that the show always goes through ups and downs, but the recent seasons have sucked more so than the usual dips. They need new blood and fast.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Chris Wood Frankly I think the cowbell sketch is way overrated. It’s one of those skits where they repeat the same punchline again and again, when it was only modestly amusing the first time. Walken is wasted. The Continental is a million times funnier, and yet you don’t hear anyone quoting it. |
If anything, the special reinforced that the cowbell bit is mostly crap. It got killed in dress a million times but suddenly made it because Ferrell wore a shirt that was too small? Yeah, that’s some comedy gold right there.
Walken is pretty good in it, though.
I won’t tolerate bashing the cowbell sketch. Sure, it’s only the fourth best Walken bit in the show’s history (Census taker, Centaur Porn and the Continental top it) but everyone’s delivery is aces. However “Don’t Fear The Reaper” has really been ruined forever for me.
Surprised there’s no love for Kevin Nealon’s stint on WU. I liked him the best because he kept his newsman schtick serious and never cracked up. My favorite bit was his straight-faced delivery of, “And for the fourth straight year, Kathie Lee Gifford has been voted the best mother in America. But the baddest mother is still Shaft. Happy Mother’s Day, Shaft.”
Nealon gets a lot of hate from when he was anchor but I never had a problem with him. He did it as more of a character instead of the usual route of being yourself doing the news.
It didn’t help that his tenure was in between the 2 best anchors they’ve had in Miller and Macdonald.
Nealon’s always been my favorite, actually.
Nealon’s stint was incredibly boring. The only part that is ever shown is the stuff with Sandler and while funny for a 12 year old in the early 90s, its far from good.
It was just different from what had been done. He never really broke from his deadpan character which just about all the other anchors do on a regular basis, or in the case of Jimmy Fallon, after every single joke.
But I’m a Nealon aplogist in general.
Yeah I liked Nealon on Update as well (loved Mr. Subliminal) Didn’t like Dennis Miller though.
I think Cowbell is overplayed but not overrated. Walkin and Ferrell sell it like no other.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Ratty Did I miss it, or did they not mention the Garafolo-Mckean-Elliot season at all? |
Why not? There was only one funny bit during that whole season…
Bathroom Monkey
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Paul755 Yeah I liked Nealon on Update as well (loved Mr. Subliminal) Didn’t like Dennis Miller though. I think Cowbell is overplayed but not overrated. Walkin and Ferrell sell it like no other. |
The primary thing that hurts Cowbell is the same thing that ultimately hurts most good comedy - unfunny people referencing it. If you didn’t find it funny the first time you saw it, it’s probably because you missed the sketch when it aired, and it had already been spoiled for you by idiots who’d managed to memorize it and could deploy it at will.
Considering his current status as Bush cheerleader, it’s amazing how funny Miller was on Update, skewering all sides pretty equally. Must have been the writers to some extent, though I’d have to think he underwent some sort of paradigm shift in the 90s - otherwise, I can’t explain how he and A. Whitney Brown, who leaned more explicitly left, didn’t come to blows at the time.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by DaveB Considering his current status as Bush cheerleader, it’s amazing how funny Miller was on Update, skewering all sides pretty equally. Must have been the writers to some extent, though I’d have to think he underwent some sort of paradigm shift in the 90s - otherwise, I can’t explain how he and A. Whitney Brown, who leaned more explicitly left, didn’t come to blows at the time. |
It was some time in the late 90s that he started getting noticeably more conservative, defending the Republicans, and (not coincidentally) I stopped finding him funny. It was about the same time that he had kids and I always connected the two.
I like Nealon (went to see him do stand-up once), but he was unbelievably dull doing the news. I felt sorry for him after a while. Of course those were lean years for the show in general.