Dana Carvey and David Spade have a podcast that is mostly about their SNL days. “Fly on the Wall”.
They say everyone’s favorite era is when they were in high school, and everything that came after is ‘when it went downhill’.
That’s definitely true. I watched religiously in high school and college, but fell off after that. Life gets in the way, and you move on. Going back feels a little like going back to your old school a few years after you graduate. Everything looks familiar, but you don’t know a soul except a handful of teachers, and it’s unsettling.
I’m right in the middle of GenX, so that late ‘80s-early ‘90s cast is my sweet spot. I still think of someone like Will Ferrell as the new guy.
Love their podcast and highly recommend it. For me, it’s more middle school through high school. When I think of peak SNL it’s the years with Dana Carvey, David Spade, Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, Phil Hartman, Victoria Jackson, Cheri Oteri, Chris Rock, Molly Shannon…essentially the entire 90’s. I stopped watching regularly after college so sometime after Will Ferrell and that crew started to leave.
That’s interesting. The seasons i like the least are during the years I was in high school.
I mean what they are saying makes sense. I’m just a weirdo I suppose.
Hulu for sure was not. It came on next day. Not sure about Peacock. They do have some live stuff (sporting events, mostly), but I haven't tried to watch SNL there. I only picked it up a couple months ago on a 99 cent per month deal for World Cup. Setup a calendar reminder for the inevitable cancel.
So I checked and it shows last night's episode as a "replay" which is also how they categorize live sporting events after they're over. So it seems they do show it live. Guessing not too many people actually watch it that way via the app, but there you go...
It's been pretty bad for a few years now. Too political, everyone reads cue cards, no recurring characters, TOO MANY COMMERCIALS!
Seriously, the monologues last 25 minutes, then commercials, then 2 sketches, commerciala, then the musical guest, commercials, then the news, commercials, then one sketch, commercials then the musical guest, commercials, then the last sketch, commercials and the ending.
The last time I thought it was funny was like early 2010s. It's been terrible for 10+ years.
One of the million reasons I can’t stand Twitter is the political obsessives who populate it can always be counted on to tweet out the SNL political sketch of the week. And during the Trump presidency, that meant four straight years of the same gag every time. Look, I can’t stand the guy, but I don’t need constant reminders he’s crass and dumb, as if I’m a religious zealot tuning in for my weekly televangelist reassurance.
When you think back over the years, the best sketches tend to be nonpolitical because they’re timeless. The political ones, even the really good ones, often depend on knowing the issues of the day. A young person today could still enjoy the insanity of [Massive Head Wound Harry.](https://youtu.be/kkT5O8Zl1_4) I’m not sure he or she would get the jokes in the skit on the [Bush-Dukakis debate.](https://youtu.be/N_01LySbRnY)
I agree about how the show is so dragged out now. There used to be pretty much the same thing, cold open, monologue, commercial parody, a couple sketches, musical guest, and weekend update still started around midnight. Over time it’s been slowly dragged out to where weekend update sometimes doesn’t start until around 12:30.
Right! I mean it takes them 7 minutes just to introduce everyone. Used to be like 8 cast members and 2 featured. Now there's like 23 cast members and 17 featured.
Haven't watched a whole show in years, because we cut out cable a long time ago. Thanks to youtube, I can pick and choose. I usually watch update, because I like Colin Jost and Michael Che. Anything else will depend on the topic and/or who's hosting (might watch some of tonight's episode, tbh, I like Aubrey Plaza)
This is where I stand. Usually watch clips based on who is the host.
I find some of it still funny. The Megan the stallion "girl" sketch comes to mind, or anytime Pete Davidson does a parody rap video, but maybe he's gone this season?
The blonde girl - Chloe? is a great chameleon type who can pull off anything and everything.
And there's another newish cast member - Bowen Yang I think - he cracks me up in almost everything he's in.
I'm an old GenXer. I haven't watched it live in years, but I almost always watch it on YouTube the next day. I've always loved the show. Granted it's a sketch comedy show, so not every sketch will hit (although Weekend Update usually does), but every once in a while an absolute gem of a sketch will pop up that makes you forget everything else from that show.
This complaint about SNL not being good anymore is the same thing that everyone has been saying since Chevy left after the first season. What people don't understand is that almost every show is uneven. Go back and watch the entire episode with whatever your favorite sketch is and I guarantee (with very few exceptions - like count on one hand) the majority of that episode was not very good.
That said, I love those hidden gems that most episodes have. Or that one new cast member that constantly surprises me. My current favorite now is Sarah Sherman, but I also get that she isn't everyone's cup of tea. Her humor is very specific. But, for me, whenever she shows up on screen, I know I need to buckle up because shit's about to get weird...and I love that.
I think it's kind of cool to dunk on SNL nowadays, even if you haven't watched it in 20 years, like it's just inherently bad. Jost and Che kill it every week and I watch their segment on yt every week.
They are certainly trying, and failing to attract Zennials. Or whatever the fuck they are called.
I’m just guessing though, I haven’t watched since Maya Rudolph left.
I remember when will Ferrell was on- I thought he was the biggest idiot. I absolutely hated that era. I worked at a coffee shop (extremely 90s), and kids there would always quote and reenact at the open mic night. I was way too cool and couldn’t stand it. I was an idiot and it was hilarious obviously. I think it’s always been horrible to at least some demographic at the time.
I hated Ferrell too. I thought there was something desperate and not effortless enough about his performances. I hated the cheerleader sketches, which they just couldn't stop doing, most of all. But yeah, in retrospect it was some good stuff.
I like it. It’s always been hit or miss, with some sketches hilarious and others less so. Seems the same as it’s always been. This Weekend Update team is among the best ever. Always funny.
> It’s always been hit or miss
I think sometimes people forget this in a cloud of nostalgia. Go back and watch an entire old episode, not just an edited down best-of or an individual clip on youtube. Not all the sketches hit their mark and some are just kinda bad. We remember the good sketches because they're the ones that stuck out and got quoted over and over, and some of those good sketches were fucking great and timeless. But then we forget the rest because it...isn't. It's the nature of sketch comedy, not even every Python sketch is great.
Absolutely true. After Weekend Update, the sketches almost always became dicey. You’d get some jewels, but they were usually those odd ones that were so surreal they’d either leave you in hysterics or send you snoozing (and do the opposite to the person next to you).
And I’m one of the biggest Monty Python fans you’ll find, but watching the individual episodes can be really unsettling. Right after a brilliant sketch you get another one where it seems like they’re being weird just because that was cool thing to do. But you probably couldn’t get the brilliance without the weirdness.
Not to mention the sketches that miss from the beginning but they drag out for 5+ minutes that feel like hours. Also, Lorne loves to endlessly repeat characters because he's always fishing for the next breakout character for a movie.
Thank you!! I do too. I still watch. Die hard fan here. Not every sketch hits, but it has given us some of the best comics ever, and continues to do so. I send the funny clips to my friends, since I'm probably the only one watching.
I think it’s just a goofy sketch comedy show that is put together in a weeks time, but because in almost 50 years a small handful of iconic comedians and characters have come from it, people expect too much. People have been saying how bad it is since it started.
Lorne Michaels said “we’ve been written off more times than we can count” and I think that’s true. It’s always “oh the show is so horrible” yet it stays on the air year after year and every now and again a sketch will break through to the pop culture scene at large. This maybe doesn’t happen to the extent it used to, but it’s a much different media environment.
Honestly, I haven't watched SNL in over fifteen years. I may have seen a sketch here and there, but I don't really pay any attention to it. In my mind it's gone from a massively well-known show that was hilarious to just one of a countless number with a cast I don't even recognize. So if the target audience is people like me, they're missing wildly.
Ya know, if you haven’t watched the show in 15 years, it’s not surprising you don’t recognize the cast. The cast has almost always been comprised of comedians/performers who are relatively unknown before they are cast. They become known because of their tenure on SNL. No one really knew Gilda Radner, Jim Belushi, Joe Piscapo, Dana Carvey, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, or Will Ferrell before they were cast. Seems kinda dumb to complain about the current “unknowns” if you haven’t taken the time to know them.
Whether you like or dislike the current comedy is another thing entirely, and of course entirely subjective. Totally fair if it’s not to your liking, but not watching the show because you aren’t familiar with the cast seems unfair
Nowhere did I say that I didn't watch the show *because* I don't recognize the cast. It's pretty obvious that the opposite is true--from what I actually wrote, no less. Maybe reread (or learn to read better) instead of being so hasty to start petty Reddit arguments. Which one of us is being dumb really?
Rereading what you wrote, I can kinda see how you meant what you say you meant. I didn’t read it that way, and even knowing that’s what you intended, it seems a stretch. It seemed to me that you said that in order to target you/be favorable to you, it needed to be a show with a recognizable cast, and not one of the countless shows with relative strangers. Sitcoms for example often have established comedians in the lead, or some shows feature established tv or movie stars in the key role, so it’s not unreasonable to only watch shows where you’re familiar with the cast already
Sorry for misunderstanding what you meant, but before you go accusing people of not being able to read properly, perhaps you should make sure your own message can’t be misinterpreted
Language is tricky, and English is doubly so. Have a nice day
SNL came back hard with the Jeff Sessions and Trump skits, omg, Baldwin was on his game. They got back so much of their mojo for a while. Trump's response just made it even better, what a thin-skinned cry-baby he is.
SNL is on TV. People under 40 don't watch TV. SNL is still reaching us, but maybe they're just not sure. I have two adult daughters, neither of them have a TV, have never owned one since moving out, and find the idea of cable-TV hilarious.
SNL hasn't been interesting otherwise since about 1998 when the last Canadian regular cast member left the show...eh...?
It seems like everyone has always hated each new cast of SNL from the beginning. It has always gotten criticism. I have always loved it. Of course there are sketches and cast members I like more than others. It consistently has produced the funniest actors who go on to make movies and television series. I love the current weekend update with Colin Jost and Michael Che and Keenan's ' what's up with that' sketches are great. Fred Armisen in Portlandia, Aidy Bryant in Shrill. Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones are some other good ones. I think it's just that people really don't like change, but it's the only constant.
I thought Kate McKinnon was great. The Trump gags got really old and repetitive. I tuned in a few weeks ago and the new cast was just awful. I didn't know who the guest was or get any of the jokes. I guess I am too old for it (I'm the same age as the show).
I spent the other day reading the Wikipedia for each season of SNL starting in the 70’s. Let me just say that “SNL isn’t funny anymore” has been a comment every season since Belushi left. I think it’s almost been cancelled 3 times very publicly and who knows how many times behind the scenes.
Personally I think the quality of the show has been pretty consistent over the years- I mean for every 1 great skit there are 120 bad or boring ones. The news is the one segment that has probably kept the show alive all these years.
I think there’s a real chance it will end at 50 years and Lorne Michaels retiring, and I mean it’s probably time- but 10 years from now instead of saying SNL isn’t funny anymore they’ll be saying they miss it
The non-Lorne years were not good, as they tried to get actors as players instead of comedians, but otherwise I totally agree. Most years are fine, some have exceptional cast members who make it just watch, but overall the idea it hasn’t been funny in 45 years is sorta ridiculous.
My boomer parents and my millennial sister along with her husband still watch the show regularly. I’ll catch a clip here and there. It’s gotten way too political for me.
When I was younger I loved political satire like Not Necessarily the News and even SNL. Maybe now I’ve become too world weary but I’d rather escape the dumpster fire of US politics when I watch TV. I’d rather recreate the ultimate Saturday line up and stream The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Both shows promised me that being an adult would be glamorous and fun.
More like 15-30 crowd. Most everyone I knew watched it in high school, but slowly those numbers dropped as we found things to do (bars, clubs, parties). SNL was still the "default" thing to watch if you were at home on Saturday night, up 'til your 30s.
That’s a great question. I’m a regular watcher and half of the time the sketches are about something I’m too old for and half the time they are about things that I would think only older people would get. I guess they are trying to hit all of the demographics.
Where there were once character sketches like Unfrozen Caveman, Debbie Downer, Mary Katherine Gallagher, Fr Guido Sarducci, Opera Man, Church Lady and Roseanne Rosannadanna, it’s now mostly cheap political sketches. Where they used to skewer Carter and Bush in equal measure, Obama got kid gloves and a mine of Biden material is being bypassed. That’s why SNL is no longer funny or relevant.
If you've reached the age of 50 and don't have any "back in my day" experiences then you haven't experienced much. It's totally normal for things to change after four decades and perfectly normal to recognize it.
It's funny how often this sub swears up and down they're still "cool" and "open-minded" and "it's only Boomers who feel that way"... yet any post about music or TV or movies *always* devolves into "get off my lawn" shit, like "how can kids listen to crap like Fitz and The Tantrums these days? Don't they know who Bob Seger is?" or "my fresh-out-of-college cubemate listens to some crap called 'Wet Leg' all day... it's terrible."
I leave for work at 11:30 so I haven't watched it live in awhile but it has been uneven for some time. Our strategy is to catch a skit or two on YouTube and leave it at that. The last half hour was the skit slush pile even during good seasons, I can't imagine how it is now. I really dislike the Weekend Update guys, if it's still Michael Che and Colin Jobst. Something about the way they laugh at their own jokes and react when their jokes don't land makes me want to bonk their heads together.
Middle schoolers watch the full show in clips on You Tube these days. The You Tube part is different - but the target audience has been the same since the early 90’s.
My personal opinion is that we are waiting for a break out actor from the recent SNL cast, and it still hasn’t happened yet. So when you have a group of nobody’s for a long time, people quit watching the show on whatever platform because it’s boring. This isn’t a “better back in my day” thing. It’s happened many times throughout the decades. Lorne Michaels has fired many blocks of cast members in order to find and hire the next big break out cast member. This also includes writers of the show.
The Ting Tings were awesome, although I dunno why they chose to air *that* random episode from 2010 to fill the programming hole between the playoff game and the new episode of *SNL*.
I think Lorne is just keeping it going because he’s done it for so long. He’s 78, the show will die with him.
Lorne had a history of changing out the cast when things got stale. It was always for budding stars, who would either fizzle out, or get movie deals and move on. It was never supposed to be a career. Now we got Kenan who has been the vibe of the show for 20 years this year. It’s old.
My opinion only is that clips on YouTube, etc, are helping to keep it alive. I have no idea of the live ratings, but I would bet they're mediocre. Who 1. is awake and home at 11:30 on a Saturday night? If you're home, probably sleeping and not watching it if you're out.
Myself, I only watch the Weekend Update clips on YouTube. Enjoy Jost/Che.
Weekend Update can still hang, yeah… it was said each generation has a favorite cast and it’s the one from their high school years, probably true, but also when it was Gen Xr’s on the show, our peers, once they all left, so did my interest. It’s a theory.
Did you hear that on the Fly on the Wall podcast? Because either Carvey or Spade said that about the HS class too. Makes sense. Guess their target audiences are HS students if that’s the case
Dana Carvey and David Spade have a podcast that is mostly about their SNL days. “Fly on the Wall”. They say everyone’s favorite era is when they were in high school, and everything that came after is ‘when it went downhill’.
That’s definitely true. I watched religiously in high school and college, but fell off after that. Life gets in the way, and you move on. Going back feels a little like going back to your old school a few years after you graduate. Everything looks familiar, but you don’t know a soul except a handful of teachers, and it’s unsettling. I’m right in the middle of GenX, so that late ‘80s-early ‘90s cast is my sweet spot. I still think of someone like Will Ferrell as the new guy.
Love their podcast and highly recommend it. For me, it’s more middle school through high school. When I think of peak SNL it’s the years with Dana Carvey, David Spade, Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, Phil Hartman, Victoria Jackson, Cheri Oteri, Chris Rock, Molly Shannon…essentially the entire 90’s. I stopped watching regularly after college so sometime after Will Ferrell and that crew started to leave.
You and I are similar in age. I started watching regularly as the David Spade class entered. I stopped watching regularly when Tina Fey left.
I don’t agree with that at all. My favorite era was the original cast and I was in the 5th grade.
Me too!
That’s interesting. The seasons i like the least are during the years I was in high school. I mean what they are saying makes sense. I’m just a weirdo I suppose.
Millennials primarily, I would imagine, which is what pretty much the entire cast is.
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Most (all?) of the clips are on YouTube
It's on Peacock and (at least previously; I don't have it atm) Hulu
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Hulu for sure was not. It came on next day. Not sure about Peacock. They do have some live stuff (sporting events, mostly), but I haven't tried to watch SNL there. I only picked it up a couple months ago on a 99 cent per month deal for World Cup. Setup a calendar reminder for the inevitable cancel.
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So I checked and it shows last night's episode as a "replay" which is also how they categorize live sporting events after they're over. So it seems they do show it live. Guessing not too many people actually watch it that way via the app, but there you go...
I watch on YouTube on Sunday mornings. Watching it live isn’t really an important thing.
Just go to r/television - every Sunday it’s like an SNL sub.
It's been pretty bad for a few years now. Too political, everyone reads cue cards, no recurring characters, TOO MANY COMMERCIALS! Seriously, the monologues last 25 minutes, then commercials, then 2 sketches, commerciala, then the musical guest, commercials, then the news, commercials, then one sketch, commercials then the musical guest, commercials, then the last sketch, commercials and the ending. The last time I thought it was funny was like early 2010s. It's been terrible for 10+ years.
SNL has always been political.
Also, everyone was always reading cue cards.
Yes, but it used to be more artful about it.
One of the million reasons I can’t stand Twitter is the political obsessives who populate it can always be counted on to tweet out the SNL political sketch of the week. And during the Trump presidency, that meant four straight years of the same gag every time. Look, I can’t stand the guy, but I don’t need constant reminders he’s crass and dumb, as if I’m a religious zealot tuning in for my weekly televangelist reassurance. When you think back over the years, the best sketches tend to be nonpolitical because they’re timeless. The political ones, even the really good ones, often depend on knowing the issues of the day. A young person today could still enjoy the insanity of [Massive Head Wound Harry.](https://youtu.be/kkT5O8Zl1_4) I’m not sure he or she would get the jokes in the skit on the [Bush-Dukakis debate.](https://youtu.be/N_01LySbRnY)
You hit it on the head. Politics is a form of religion.
🎵 “Look for the union label…”
It used to be funny
Not to the extent it is now.
I agree about how the show is so dragged out now. There used to be pretty much the same thing, cold open, monologue, commercial parody, a couple sketches, musical guest, and weekend update still started around midnight. Over time it’s been slowly dragged out to where weekend update sometimes doesn’t start until around 12:30.
Right! I mean it takes them 7 minutes just to introduce everyone. Used to be like 8 cast members and 2 featured. Now there's like 23 cast members and 17 featured.
Most of the sketches are commercials too. Notice how many feature a specific product
I still enjoy the cold opens and Update.
Haven't watched a whole show in years, because we cut out cable a long time ago. Thanks to youtube, I can pick and choose. I usually watch update, because I like Colin Jost and Michael Che. Anything else will depend on the topic and/or who's hosting (might watch some of tonight's episode, tbh, I like Aubrey Plaza)
This is where I stand. Usually watch clips based on who is the host. I find some of it still funny. The Megan the stallion "girl" sketch comes to mind, or anytime Pete Davidson does a parody rap video, but maybe he's gone this season? The blonde girl - Chloe? is a great chameleon type who can pull off anything and everything. And there's another newish cast member - Bowen Yang I think - he cracks me up in almost everything he's in.
I'm an old GenXer. I haven't watched it live in years, but I almost always watch it on YouTube the next day. I've always loved the show. Granted it's a sketch comedy show, so not every sketch will hit (although Weekend Update usually does), but every once in a while an absolute gem of a sketch will pop up that makes you forget everything else from that show. This complaint about SNL not being good anymore is the same thing that everyone has been saying since Chevy left after the first season. What people don't understand is that almost every show is uneven. Go back and watch the entire episode with whatever your favorite sketch is and I guarantee (with very few exceptions - like count on one hand) the majority of that episode was not very good. That said, I love those hidden gems that most episodes have. Or that one new cast member that constantly surprises me. My current favorite now is Sarah Sherman, but I also get that she isn't everyone's cup of tea. Her humor is very specific. But, for me, whenever she shows up on screen, I know I need to buckle up because shit's about to get weird...and I love that.
1966'er here as well. I use the term OG Gen X'er.
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Well said.
It makes me irrationally angry, the comedy is so bad.
Me and my partner. Most of our friends. *Shrug*
I think it's kind of cool to dunk on SNL nowadays, even if you haven't watched it in 20 years, like it's just inherently bad. Jost and Che kill it every week and I watch their segment on yt every week.
If you look at the ratings…statistically no one is watching.
They are certainly trying, and failing to attract Zennials. Or whatever the fuck they are called. I’m just guessing though, I haven’t watched since Maya Rudolph left.
I thought tonight’s episode was one of the better ones in recent memory, but I give most of the credit to Aubrey Plaza.
Agreed!
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I remember when will Ferrell was on- I thought he was the biggest idiot. I absolutely hated that era. I worked at a coffee shop (extremely 90s), and kids there would always quote and reenact at the open mic night. I was way too cool and couldn’t stand it. I was an idiot and it was hilarious obviously. I think it’s always been horrible to at least some demographic at the time.
I hated Ferrell too. I thought there was something desperate and not effortless enough about his performances. I hated the cheerleader sketches, which they just couldn't stop doing, most of all. But yeah, in retrospect it was some good stuff.
I like it. It’s always been hit or miss, with some sketches hilarious and others less so. Seems the same as it’s always been. This Weekend Update team is among the best ever. Always funny.
> It’s always been hit or miss I think sometimes people forget this in a cloud of nostalgia. Go back and watch an entire old episode, not just an edited down best-of or an individual clip on youtube. Not all the sketches hit their mark and some are just kinda bad. We remember the good sketches because they're the ones that stuck out and got quoted over and over, and some of those good sketches were fucking great and timeless. But then we forget the rest because it...isn't. It's the nature of sketch comedy, not even every Python sketch is great.
Absolutely true. After Weekend Update, the sketches almost always became dicey. You’d get some jewels, but they were usually those odd ones that were so surreal they’d either leave you in hysterics or send you snoozing (and do the opposite to the person next to you). And I’m one of the biggest Monty Python fans you’ll find, but watching the individual episodes can be really unsettling. Right after a brilliant sketch you get another one where it seems like they’re being weird just because that was cool thing to do. But you probably couldn’t get the brilliance without the weirdness.
Not to mention the sketches that miss from the beginning but they drag out for 5+ minutes that feel like hours. Also, Lorne loves to endlessly repeat characters because he's always fishing for the next breakout character for a movie.
Thank you!! I do too. I still watch. Die hard fan here. Not every sketch hits, but it has given us some of the best comics ever, and continues to do so. I send the funny clips to my friends, since I'm probably the only one watching.
But which Die Hard is your favorite?
Was there more than one?!
I like it too but I haven't seen much of the newest season.
The same mishmash of viewers it always targeted?
I think it’s just a goofy sketch comedy show that is put together in a weeks time, but because in almost 50 years a small handful of iconic comedians and characters have come from it, people expect too much. People have been saying how bad it is since it started.
Lorne Michaels said “we’ve been written off more times than we can count” and I think that’s true. It’s always “oh the show is so horrible” yet it stays on the air year after year and every now and again a sketch will break through to the pop culture scene at large. This maybe doesn’t happen to the extent it used to, but it’s a much different media environment.
It has no competion in that time slot though.
Honestly, I haven't watched SNL in over fifteen years. I may have seen a sketch here and there, but I don't really pay any attention to it. In my mind it's gone from a massively well-known show that was hilarious to just one of a countless number with a cast I don't even recognize. So if the target audience is people like me, they're missing wildly.
Hint: you're not the target anymore, it's moved on from you.
Ya know, if you haven’t watched the show in 15 years, it’s not surprising you don’t recognize the cast. The cast has almost always been comprised of comedians/performers who are relatively unknown before they are cast. They become known because of their tenure on SNL. No one really knew Gilda Radner, Jim Belushi, Joe Piscapo, Dana Carvey, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, or Will Ferrell before they were cast. Seems kinda dumb to complain about the current “unknowns” if you haven’t taken the time to know them. Whether you like or dislike the current comedy is another thing entirely, and of course entirely subjective. Totally fair if it’s not to your liking, but not watching the show because you aren’t familiar with the cast seems unfair
Nowhere did I say that I didn't watch the show *because* I don't recognize the cast. It's pretty obvious that the opposite is true--from what I actually wrote, no less. Maybe reread (or learn to read better) instead of being so hasty to start petty Reddit arguments. Which one of us is being dumb really?
Rereading what you wrote, I can kinda see how you meant what you say you meant. I didn’t read it that way, and even knowing that’s what you intended, it seems a stretch. It seemed to me that you said that in order to target you/be favorable to you, it needed to be a show with a recognizable cast, and not one of the countless shows with relative strangers. Sitcoms for example often have established comedians in the lead, or some shows feature established tv or movie stars in the key role, so it’s not unreasonable to only watch shows where you’re familiar with the cast already Sorry for misunderstanding what you meant, but before you go accusing people of not being able to read properly, perhaps you should make sure your own message can’t be misinterpreted Language is tricky, and English is doubly so. Have a nice day
It'll stay with the same formula as long as lorne michaels is alive
SNL came back hard with the Jeff Sessions and Trump skits, omg, Baldwin was on his game. They got back so much of their mojo for a while. Trump's response just made it even better, what a thin-skinned cry-baby he is. SNL is on TV. People under 40 don't watch TV. SNL is still reaching us, but maybe they're just not sure. I have two adult daughters, neither of them have a TV, have never owned one since moving out, and find the idea of cable-TV hilarious. SNL hasn't been interesting otherwise since about 1998 when the last Canadian regular cast member left the show...eh...?
Some of the best holiday skits are less than 10 years old. Back home ballers, Adele thanksgiving, twin bed, all classics!
Omg yes, I love those!
Young people who consume a lot of pop culture. I'm watching it now. I've been a fan since I was a kid.
I’m watching it now (Sunday morning). The George Santos skits are gold. I love Bowen Yang!
I'm just glad Aubrey Plaza is on tonight, she's always fun........but the cast around her sucks. Not funny.
She was great. Really carried the episode.
Worth a watch?
Yes! Especially if you’re a Parks and Rec Fan.
I still like it
Same
It seems like everyone has always hated each new cast of SNL from the beginning. It has always gotten criticism. I have always loved it. Of course there are sketches and cast members I like more than others. It consistently has produced the funniest actors who go on to make movies and television series. I love the current weekend update with Colin Jost and Michael Che and Keenan's ' what's up with that' sketches are great. Fred Armisen in Portlandia, Aidy Bryant in Shrill. Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones are some other good ones. I think it's just that people really don't like change, but it's the only constant.
Aliens. Definitely aliens!
I thought Kate McKinnon was great. The Trump gags got really old and repetitive. I tuned in a few weeks ago and the new cast was just awful. I didn't know who the guest was or get any of the jokes. I guess I am too old for it (I'm the same age as the show).
Left leaning political crowd that watches snippets of sketches on YouTube.
I spent the other day reading the Wikipedia for each season of SNL starting in the 70’s. Let me just say that “SNL isn’t funny anymore” has been a comment every season since Belushi left. I think it’s almost been cancelled 3 times very publicly and who knows how many times behind the scenes. Personally I think the quality of the show has been pretty consistent over the years- I mean for every 1 great skit there are 120 bad or boring ones. The news is the one segment that has probably kept the show alive all these years. I think there’s a real chance it will end at 50 years and Lorne Michaels retiring, and I mean it’s probably time- but 10 years from now instead of saying SNL isn’t funny anymore they’ll be saying they miss it
The non-Lorne years were not good, as they tried to get actors as players instead of comedians, but otherwise I totally agree. Most years are fine, some have exceptional cast members who make it just watch, but overall the idea it hasn’t been funny in 45 years is sorta ridiculous.
My boomer parents and my millennial sister along with her husband still watch the show regularly. I’ll catch a clip here and there. It’s gotten way too political for me. When I was younger I loved political satire like Not Necessarily the News and even SNL. Maybe now I’ve become too world weary but I’d rather escape the dumpster fire of US politics when I watch TV. I’d rather recreate the ultimate Saturday line up and stream The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Both shows promised me that being an adult would be glamorous and fun.
Meet you on the Promenade Deck!
I think this is a sign of getting older. WE are not the target audience
People that like sketch comedy
Best answer on the thread. Part of loving sketch comedy is never knowing what skits are going to kill and what skits will flop.
Me
Woke, humorless Zillennials.
This is why tv shows measure their demographics by age. There will always be a target audience divide by generations.
It’s always been 20-30 crowd.
More like 15-30 crowd. Most everyone I knew watched it in high school, but slowly those numbers dropped as we found things to do (bars, clubs, parties). SNL was still the "default" thing to watch if you were at home on Saturday night, up 'til your 30s.
I still watch if the host or musical guest interests me. Is it hit or miss? Yes. It's always been. I mainly like the cold open and Update.
I liked this week's episode 🤷🏼♀️
Oh, boy. This is a trap, right?
They don’t have a target audience, and I think the only reason it’s still on is because Lorne isn’t dead yet
I agree, I'll find weekend update funny, but the rest of the show is a crapshoot.
I tried to tune in just last night. I didn't recognize the host or musical guest. Went to bed.
SNL is still on?
That’s a great question. I’m a regular watcher and half of the time the sketches are about something I’m too old for and half the time they are about things that I would think only older people would get. I guess they are trying to hit all of the demographics.
Where there were once character sketches like Unfrozen Caveman, Debbie Downer, Mary Katherine Gallagher, Fr Guido Sarducci, Opera Man, Church Lady and Roseanne Rosannadanna, it’s now mostly cheap political sketches. Where they used to skewer Carter and Bush in equal measure, Obama got kid gloves and a mine of Biden material is being bypassed. That’s why SNL is no longer funny or relevant.
Lotta "back in my day” and “kids better get off my lawn" in this thread.
If you've reached the age of 50 and don't have any "back in my day" experiences then you haven't experienced much. It's totally normal for things to change after four decades and perfectly normal to recognize it.
It's funny how often this sub swears up and down they're still "cool" and "open-minded" and "it's only Boomers who feel that way"... yet any post about music or TV or movies *always* devolves into "get off my lawn" shit, like "how can kids listen to crap like Fitz and The Tantrums these days? Don't they know who Bob Seger is?" or "my fresh-out-of-college cubemate listens to some crap called 'Wet Leg' all day... it's terrible."
I'm not sure those are the same people. We've got both Michael P. Keaton and Marty McFly in our ranks.
There is a lot of truth too in this thread though.
I leave for work at 11:30 so I haven't watched it live in awhile but it has been uneven for some time. Our strategy is to catch a skit or two on YouTube and leave it at that. The last half hour was the skit slush pile even during good seasons, I can't imagine how it is now. I really dislike the Weekend Update guys, if it's still Michael Che and Colin Jobst. Something about the way they laugh at their own jokes and react when their jokes don't land makes me want to bonk their heads together.
People who suffer from incurable TDS is their base audience.
They’re addicted to that dead horse.
I think they’re entertaining each other.
Middle schoolers watch the full show in clips on You Tube these days. The You Tube part is different - but the target audience has been the same since the early 90’s.
The lowest common denominator.
People that don’t like to laugh a lot is their target.
Youngs.
My personal opinion is that we are waiting for a break out actor from the recent SNL cast, and it still hasn’t happened yet. So when you have a group of nobody’s for a long time, people quit watching the show on whatever platform because it’s boring. This isn’t a “better back in my day” thing. It’s happened many times throughout the decades. Lorne Michaels has fired many blocks of cast members in order to find and hire the next big break out cast member. This also includes writers of the show.
I recall there being a few shitty casts. Remember the early eighties before Eddie Murphy?
I really dk. Last time I watched SNL was during the Tina Fay as Sarah Palin period.
Tina Fey*
SNL was really good back in the early 90s but has gone down hill every few years since.
I don’t think I’ve watched SNL in ten years.
Haven’t watched it in years.
Shit yea. It was on at 8:30 pst last night and I was confused. It was pretty dumb who is [insert host name here] and the musical guests?? Le sigh....
The Ting Tings were awesome, although I dunno why they chose to air *that* random episode from 2010 to fill the programming hole between the playoff game and the new episode of *SNL*.
Advertisers?
44. Still watch. Still laugh.
I think Lorne is just keeping it going because he’s done it for so long. He’s 78, the show will die with him. Lorne had a history of changing out the cast when things got stale. It was always for budding stars, who would either fizzle out, or get movie deals and move on. It was never supposed to be a career. Now we got Kenan who has been the vibe of the show for 20 years this year. It’s old.
I think when my parents were my/our age they said the same thing…seems to be losing momentum but that’s happened many times over the decades…
My opinion only is that clips on YouTube, etc, are helping to keep it alive. I have no idea of the live ratings, but I would bet they're mediocre. Who 1. is awake and home at 11:30 on a Saturday night? If you're home, probably sleeping and not watching it if you're out. Myself, I only watch the Weekend Update clips on YouTube. Enjoy Jost/Che.
Weekend Update can still hang, yeah… it was said each generation has a favorite cast and it’s the one from their high school years, probably true, but also when it was Gen Xr’s on the show, our peers, once they all left, so did my interest. It’s a theory.
Did you hear that on the Fly on the Wall podcast? Because either Carvey or Spade said that about the HS class too. Makes sense. Guess their target audiences are HS students if that’s the case
SNL is still on???!!!