Sketches include "Dion's", "Unrequited Sex", "Airplane Restroom", "Unanswered Questions of the Universe", "Hello, Trudy!", "Older Sisters of the Young", "Pudge & Solomon", "Reverend Leroy", "Crazy Weinstein", "Shoe Tier", and "Subterraneans". Stevie Nicks performs "Stand Back" and "Nightbird". Joel Hodgson also appears.
Read More
The Flip Wilson / Stevie Nicks review will be posted next week, but I thought I'd weigh in on the controversy over Donald Trump hosting the show. I'd be lying if I said that it didn't bother me that the show booked him: he did the show in 2004 and was adequate for a non-actor, but this was before he made racist comments about Mexicans and misogynistic retorts to Megyn Kelly for calling him on his sexism, actions which have only endeared him to a frightening group of the American electorate. I remember being upset that the show allowed Chris Brown to appear as musical guest in 2011, but this seems much worse.
I realize that the first duty of the show is ratings and advertising revenue for NBC, with comedy as the byproduct that hooks the audience in, but this move just seems so incredibly crass on Lorne Michaels' part. It's not just a political disagreement that fuels my discomfort: by booking Trump, the show is legitimizing a political candidate that incites hatred towards an ethnic group. This controversy, so far, is at least giving the show extra attention: it's drawing protesters, and a group is offering money to anyone who heckles Trump in tonight's show, an act that has some precedence on the show (Andrew Dice Clay and Sharon Stone were heckled during their monologues, but security were quick to act and both segments were replaced with dress rehearsal takes in reruns). Various media outlets, from the A.V. Club to Rolling Stone, have also weighed in and said that to give Trump this platform is a bad idea.
I'm more concerned about the quality of the show. I get the impression Trump's sense of humor about himself has only decreased as his presidential ambitions come closer to fulfillment, and there are reports that he's vetoing "more risque" sketches to avoid alienating Iowa primary voters. SNL usually does better when the hosts surrender themselves fully to the process, but whatever the writers come up with this week has to serve the extra agenda of having Donald Trump look good.
The backstage atmosphere at SNL must be interesting this week. I'm sure there are people on the show that see Trump as just another politician or celebrity they have the opportunity to meet while doing their dream job (which I don't fault them for), but I wonder how many writers, performers and crew members have to bite their tongues so hard that a combination of blood and spit will be seeping out of their mouths tonight.
I can't tell anybody what to do, and I'm sure that the NBC, Lorne Michaels, and Donald Trump will get their ratings no matter how many people they've angered by this arrangement. I likely won't be watching the show myself, but Trump has nothing to do with it: I'm going to a party.
Sketches include: "Rain Delay", "Nightline", "Know Your Neighbor", "Carvel", "Mentl", "Casino Quintet", "Dreamland", "Clark Street Garage Band", and "Autograph". Big Country performs "In A Big Country" and "Fields of Fire".
Read MoreSketches include: "Cheer Squad", "Mister Robinson's Neighborhood", "Thirsty Guy", "History: The Real Story", "Dion's", "Coronet Man", "Dopeball", "Caffeine Achievers", "Kennedy: The Man Behind The Woman!", "Sarcastic Mother Superior", "Help Me - She's A Witch", and "Man On The Street". Mick Fleetwood's Zoo performs "Tonight" and "Way Down". Joel Hodgson also appears.
Read MoreSketches include: "Backstage", "Old Country Ski Lodge", "Village Of The Damned Little Rascals", "Eddie in New Jersey", "Phone Booth Confession", "Movie Contract", "Backstage with Ronald McDonald", "Poly-Rock", "Brothel Sprouts", and "Men Behind Bars". Men At Work performs "Doctor Heckyll and Mister Jive" and "It's A Mistake".
Read MoreSketches include "Calvin Klein Cream Pies", "Mister Robinson's Neighborhood", "Crazy Edelman", "What Would Frank Do?", "Small World", "Mom Was Right", "Spanish Class", "Autograph Hounds", "Book Beat", "The Amos 'N Andy Show", "Masterpiece Humor", and "Body Guard". Eddy Grant performs "I Don't Wanna Dance", "Electric Avenue" and "Living On The Frontline".
Read MoreSketches include "Brandon's Office", "Calvin Klein Cream Pies", "James Watt", "Jazz Riffs", "Feln's Discount Food & Clothing Warehouse", "Show Ideas", "Gumby & Pokey", "Man On The Street", "Larry's Corner", "Rent-A-Gun", "NBC: Be There", and "Terrible Day". John Cougar performs "Pink Houses" and "Crumblin' Down". Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert review tonight's show in progress.
Read MoreBy the summer of 1983, Saturday Night Live had re-stabilized, and had a genuine movie star in its cast: Eddie Murphy, who reached box office success with 48 Hours and Trading Places. However, the new season would prove to be his last, as it was only a matter of time before Murphy's burgeoning career would push him beyond SNL. To keep their star an extra year, NBC and SNL executive producer Dick Ebersol allowed Murphy to do the show on a part-time basis, with his appearances on his weeks off made possible by a bank of eleven sketches taped with the cast in Studio 8H on September 21, 1983.
Unlike the previous three seasons, there were no cast departures (though Gary Kroeger was fired and quickly rehired over the summer), and while Murphy was on his way out, he and Joe Piscopo still continued to be the focus of many sketches. Newer hires Kroeger and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, already contributing solid work, got a much-deserved boost in airtime, while Mary Gross began to be credited as a writer alongside Murphy, Piscopo, Tim Kazurinsky and Robin Duke. The sole new face in the cast was Jim Belushi, younger brother of John. Despite a commitment to a production of Sam Shephard's True West forcing Belushi to miss a handful of shows early in the season, he quickly became one of the show's dominant players.
The writing staff had comparatively more turnover: Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield left for Hollywood and rookie writers Paul Barrosse and Ellen L. Fogle were let go. Brought onboard for 1983-84 were Andy Breckman (poached from Late Night with David Letterman), Adam Green, Kevin Kelton (a former writer for SNL's one-time West Coast rival Fridays), and Michael Clayton McCarthy; founding SNL writer Herb Sargent also returned to take charge of the Saturday Night News segment. Of these new hires, Breckman proved to be an especially solid and prolific addition to the staff. Writer-producer Bob Tischler also began to have a stronger influence on what material made it into the show, which allowed for sharper material than what Dick Ebersol, more a "numbers guy" than a comedy writer, normally kept in the show.
Ebersol's control in other areas still remained, though, and the show still shied away from harder-edged political satire, to the dismay of several writers and performers: Tim Kazurinsky and Brad Hall both clashed with Ebersol about the material that made it to air. Hall was also removed from Saturday Night News mid-season, with the segment's anchor duties usually falling to whoever was hosting the show that week.
The second half of the season brought two more developments: the debut (and quick demise) of Lorne Michaels' new sketch show The New Show, and the show's increased use of pre-filmed sketches. The New Show's poor ratings and reviews only served to vindicate and reinvigorate the SNL staff, while the filmed sketches that appeared over the next year and a half (usually directed by regular film unit directors Claude Kerven and John Fox) would be some of the show's best-remembered work.
As with the previous three seasons, I will be posting sketch-by-sketch reviews; expect the new reviews of each show every weekend (as my schedule allows), with the Tartikoff review coming tonight or tomorrow. If anyone has information to contribute about the episodes, such as who wrote what, writer cameos, etc., I welcome it and will acknowledge my source in the sketch review.
The episodes (with links to episode summaries in the SNL Archives):
After Brooks Wheelan, Noel Wells and John Milhiser were fired from Saturday Night Live last July, I wrote a particularly visceral piece blasting Lorne Michaels and company for only making cosmetic changes to the show's makeup instead of trying to fix SNL's deep-seated problems in the writing department. The 2013-2014 season was not very good; and was the first year where I was deliberately skipping episodes. Of course, my curiosity got the better of me after checking out the fan reaction on the SNL message boards (which, admittedly, are not the kindest to the cast and writers either), but there were very few shows that felt worth the time investment of watching live. Despite talk from producers that this year would reflect some lessons learned, the big issues with last year weren't resolved at all: the show's problems only seemed to entrench themselves further.
Read MoreThis has always been an "in-the-middle" season for me; it has some good shows, some weaker shows, but none of the peaks or valleys of 1981-82, nor does it have that oddball feel the previous season had.
Read MoreSketches include "What's The Most Disgusting Thing You've Seen In New York", "Mister Robinson's Neighborhood", "Ledge", "Bald No More", "Vietnam Whiner", "Late Night with David Letterman" and "Birthday A Go-Go". Kevin Rowland & Dexy's Midnight Runners perform "Come On Eileen" and "The Celtic Soul Brothers". Harry Anderson also appears.
Read MoreSketches include "V.D.", "Kannon AE-1", "Stevie Experience", "Hitler: The Secret Diaries", "The Story of Stevie", "Dion's", "Cotton Land" and "Busboy". Stevie Wonder performs "Fingertips", "Overjoyed" and "Go Home". Michael Davis also appears.
Read MoreSketches include "Taking Care Of Business", "Sit On It!", "The Ladies Room", "The Exercises Of Love", "Our Generation", "Tootsie Cosmetics", "Magic Fish" and "Dung In The Oval Office". Michael McDonald performs "If That's What It Takes" (with Edgar Winter) and "I Can Let Go Now". Steven Wright also appears.
Read MoreSketches include "The Whiners", "The David Susskind Show", "The Enquirer", "Joan vs. Joan", "Oscars", "Calvin Klein Jeans", "Old Age Home", "Club Doolittle", and "Caribbean Gyno". Musical Youth perform "Pass The Dutchie" and "Never Gonna Give You Up".
Read MoreSketches include: "Buckwheat Dead", "Motown Upon The Swanee River", "Heil Hits", "The Mrs. T. Birthday Special", "I Married A Monkey", "Oil Is Us", "Pudge and Solomon", and "Wrong Number". Duran Duran performs "Hungry Like The Wolf" and "Girls On Film".
Read MoreSketches include: "The Scheme", "Funeral In A Cab", "Hospital Whiners", "Hotel", "Crime and Self-Punishment" and "A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney". Joe Cocker performs "Up Where We Belong" (with Jennifer Warnes) and "Seven Days". Harry Anderson also appears.
Read MoreSketches include "Super Bowl Party", "McKenzie Brothers", "Whiners V", "I'll Be the Judge of That", "Hitchcock Hygiene", "Guy Talk", "Porta-Dish", "Hell Bent for Glory", "Rent Ed McMahon", "Five Minutes to Reflect" and "The Biological Watch". The BusBoys perform "The Boys Are Back In Town" and "New Shoes".
Read MoreSketches include "Lily and Eddie", "Judith Goes Shopping", "Ernestine's House Call", "Speaking As A Woman", "Natural Resources", "Edith Ann and Friends", "Pudge & Solomon", "Tess In The Balcony", "Fantasy", "The Irish Radio Hour" and "Coffees Of The World". Purvis Hawkins (Lily Tomlin in drag) performs "We Care". Andy Kaufman, Barry Mitchell, Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas also appear.
Read MoreEddie Murphy fills in for scheduled host Nick Nolte; sketches include "Substitute Host", "Rubik's Grenade", "Merry Christmas, Dammit!", "Clysler-Prymouth", "I Came, I Saw, I Came Again", "Hairem Scarem", "Herpes Gone Bananas", "Joy of Christmas" and "A Special Christmas Message". Lionel Richie performs "You Are" and "Truly". Harry Anderson also appears.
Read MoreSketches include "The Tonight Show", "Ledge", "Rubbers", "Who Do You Prefer", "Truckstop Teases", "TV", "Pudge & Solomon", "Rules & Noodles", "The Inside Story" and "Handsome Men With Big Noses". Laura Branigan performs "Gloria" and "Living A Lie".
Read MorePersonal website of photographer and writer Bronwyn Douwsma.
I’m on the bus. It’s too early to be human and I haven’t had my coffee yet so I don’t really want to do much; maybe read or listen to music, things that help tune out the other people or the monotony of the commute. When I leave the suburbs, it's usually dark. I sometimes look out the windows, but more to see how far I’ve traveled than at anything interesting. By the time I arrive downtown, I can see the sun coming up over the harbour.
The year is winding down. I’m preparing to go to New Brunswick for my regular Christmas visit with the family; my travel arrangements up there have all been taken care of. I haven’t bothered with Christmas shopping yet; my cash flow was a little tight until my last paycheque came in, and my tolerance for the malls has dropped over the years. Everything costs too much money now.
If there was one word to describe the 13th season of SNL, it would be “consistent”. No longer on the bubble thanks to the previous year’s success, SNL in 1987-88 continued pretty much in the same direction as the last season with a little more confidence and a little less to prove.
Sketches include “Pumping Up With Hans & Franz”, “Wilson Trap Doors”, “Church Chat”, “Airline”, “Jorge Garcia, Nice Guy Dictator”, “The Cop & The Prostitute”, “When Great Minds Meet” and “Pirates”. 10,000 Maniacs performs “Like The Weather” and “What’s The Matter Here”.
Sketches include “Calgary 1988”, “Giant Businessman”, “The Bean Cafe”, “The Pat Stevens Show”, “Girl Watchers”, “Computer Panic”, “Casey Kasem Sings The Beatles”, “Delivery Room”, “Stand-Ups III”, and “The Pawn Shop”. Randy Travis performs “Forever And Ever, Amen” and “What’ll You Do About Me”.
“Dining With LaRue” sketches include “Promo: Take The Money And Run”, “Raised By Geese”, “Big Giant Restaurant”, “Relaxing With Raoul”, “National Council of Antique and Restricted Automatic Weapons”, and “Dining With LaRue”.
“The Flaming Turkey” sketches include “The Two Goofs Grocery Store”, “PSA: Mental Illness”, “Insights with Hugh Betcha”, “Promo: Meet The Pawnbroker”, “SCTV News” “Polardak ESP-1 Camera”, “Firing Squad” and “SCTV Big Cultural Event: The Flaming Turkey”.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted here.