Programming Note
I’m going to enjoy time with family, so I will not send out a newsletter on Friday this week. Feel free to search the archive if you need a Tending the Herd fix that day. As you were.
Classic SNL Recap - Season 15 Premiere
Our journey through the history of SNL brings us to season 15. Season 15? Imagine that! This was the first time that NBC produced a splashy anniversary special, which Dennis Miller snarkily referred to in an Update joke in which he presented a montage of the greatest moments from the show’s second 15 years. It was of course a few clips from the first half hour of this specific episode. “Wow, some of that stuff really holds up well.”
No cast changes this year - Mike Myers was still a featured player, although he would get his official promotion to the main cast later in the season. Bruce Willis hosted this week, with Neil Young as musical guest. It’s a shame that musical acts are edited out of the Peacock stream, as this was one of the high points in Young’s career. His latest album was Freedom, a major creative comeback to cap off a decade in which the quality of his output was what I will charitably call inconsistent.
About those Peacock streams… One of my recurring frustrations is how heavily edited the episodes are, usually due to the costs of music rights. But this episode, oof. Whoever edited this one must have been having a bad day. At least three times the stream cut a sketch off before its ending. Even more absurdly, for some reason it included only the final 5 seconds of a Sprockets sketch. There was no cohesion, which makes judging this one a challenge.
The episode did include an appearance from one of my very favorite Phil Hartman characters, Gene the Anal Retentive Guy. This week’s edition, which is sadly not on YouTube, was Home Improvement With the Anal Retentive Carpenter. The format of these sketches was simple; his TV host never actually did what he was supposed to because he was too distracted by his insistence that everything needs to be in its correct place before he could proceed. In this case he used a mnemonic device to arrange his tool bet and he spent most of his time sawing off a piece of wood that had a knot in it and he then meticulously disposed of the discarded wood. Man, Hartman was so perfect.
Willis was the guest on this week’s edition of Wayne’s World. He portrayed the coolest senior in Aurora High, the guy who determines the word of catchphrase that all of the cool kids will use this year. He exclusively revealed this year’s word, which was “sphincter.” He then made a prank phone call to Wayne’s mother, pretending that he was a teacher of Wayne’s who needed to speak with him, a Dr. Sphincter. This was one of several pieces which played on Willis’s wise guy persona. In another piece he was a passenger on an airplane that was being hijacked. He constantly made wisecracks, after which the hijackers would shoot a passenger, followed by another wisecrack, and so on.
A topical cold open has long been a standby of the show. This episode from 1989 aired shortly after an Oval Office address from George Bush in which he illustrated the DC drug problem by holding up a bag of crack that he said was purchased only a few blocks away from the White House. In this sketch, Dana Carvey’s Bush did the same, except this time he said the drugs were purchased in the Oval Office. He also said that his family members (including Jeb!) were prepared to serve as front line soldiers in the War On Drugs. Barbara Bush carried a cyanide tablet with her at all times just in case.
I also liked this one, it was one of the better commercial parodies the show has done. It was a takeoff on a series of very artsy ads for Calvin Klein perfume that were ubiquitous at the time. It perfectly mimed the pretentious vibe of that ad campaign.
Next time I’ll check in with a look at the midpoint of Season 15, hosted by Ed O’Neill. Fingers crossed that that episode was not edited as haphazardly as this one was.
Ballot Breakdown - Luis Tiant
If only there were a way to quantify the pure joy that a player exudes there would be no question about Luis Tiant’s candidacy. I spoke about it when he died last month but those of us who were lucky enough to have seen him pitch will forever have the image of his pitching delivery etched in our brains. Simply put, he made the game fun, and there’s a lot to be said for that.
But is that enough? He started off with a splash, winning 21 games with an ERA of 1.60 for Cleveland in 1968. That’s impressive, even considering that this was the Year Of the Pitcher. Advanced metrics bear that out, he also led the AL that year in WAR, ERA+, & FIP. It wasn’t just a product of a low offense year, he was a legitimately great pitcher having a legitimately great season. He suffered through a few down years due to injury, before reestablishing himself beginning in 1972. That 1972-1976 period in Boston is what most people think of when they picture him, and he solidified himself as an ace with an outstanding performance in the 1975 World Series.
Long story short, when he was great he was spectacular, but were there enough seasons at that level? It pains me to say it, because saying anything bad about Luis Tiant should be against the law. But I just don’t see him as one of the 3 most deserving names on this ballot.
My Fake Ballot
The Eras Committee will meet in less than 2 weeks and I have not yet been asked to serve on the panel, so I suspect that it will not happen. Maybe next year. So instead here are my hypothetical choices. Now, if I were on that hypothetical Earth 2 this would not necessarily be my actual ballot. The committee is a true secret ballot. Not only does the Hall make it clear that voters are not permitted to divulge the specifics of the discussions (listen carefully to any interview with a voter after the results are revealed; everything they say is very generic) but they are not allowed to publicly say who they voted for. So this is pure conjecture on my part; I’m fairly sure that they hold a straw poll before conducting the formal vote. That way the panelists have a sense if any of their potential votes would be wasted ones. Which is my roundabout way of saying that I know whom I would vote for but if I had a sense that no one else is supporting one of my guys I could easily choose to vote more strategically instead.
My first choice is obvious. There were multiple opportunities to induct Dick Allen while he was still alive; it sucks that if he gets in it will have to be posthumous. I am a firm “yes” on him. Next, I would make it a point to vote for a Negro League figure. Both candidates are tough for a non-historian to properly evaluate. John Donaldson spent the bulk of his career in the pre-Negro League era, so there are few statistics on his record. Vic Harris is considered more of a manager for the purposes of this ballot. It’s a coin flip, but I’ll go with Harris. That leaves one more available spot. There is a part of me that leans towards wishing to honor one of the living candidates, but I feel that the credentials of any of those three are dwarfed by Ken Boyer. Therefore, I would select Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, and Vic Harris.
The actual committee will meet and vote on Sunday December 8, with the results announced that evening on MLB Network. We shall see if they are as wise as I am.
Chart History
This week on the Billboard Hot 100, A Bar Song (Tipsy) by Shaboozey has spent its 19th non consecutive week at #1. That places it in a tie with Old Town Road by Lil Nas X for history’s longest reign at the top of the charts. It’s noteworthy that the co-champs are both songs by hip-hop artists that lean towards country. Each have the sort of crossover appeal that lends itself to massive popularity. The big difference between the two is that country radio has embraced the Shaboozey tune whereas it largely ignored Lil Nas X.
For fear of putting on my Grumpy Old Man hat (in my day, Physical spending 10 weeks at #1 Meant Something, Dammit!) Billboard’s methods in putting the chart together frequently change as the ways in which audiences consume music change as well. Streaming numbers make up a big component of the chart, that’s why when a megastar such as Taylor Swift releases a new album every song debuts on the next week’s chart. It also means that there is little churn at the top. Hit songs can burn out on the radio; not so much when a listener at home keeps a song in one’s personal rotation for months. It’s more difficult to become a hit, but those that do tend to stick around for a long time, which lends itself to these marathon runs at the top. It’s not just at the very top, either. Lose Control by Teddy Swims is currently in the top 10 for a 45th week, placing it second all-time behind only Blinding Lights by The Weeknd which spent 57 weeks in the top 10.
How likely is it that Shaboozey will break the record? Two things to keep in mind. First, Christmas music is about to take over the charts. Mariah Carey and/or Brenda Lee will soon return to #1; however this week is probably a little early for that. The bigger factor comes from Kendrick Lamar. Not only did he drop a surprise album last week that everyone is listening to on repeat, but Drake proved that he has worse lawyers than George Bluth does. For some reason they were unable to convince Drake that filing his bizarre lawsuit was a terrible idea. Once again The Streisand Effect has been activated, and Not Like Us has returned to the front and center of the public discourse. Kendrick stands a good chance of hitting #1 in the week before Mariah Season officially kicks in, which would put a halt on Shaboozey’s run at the top. Well played, Drake. He is putting on a master class in publicly humiliating oneself.
Non-Peak TV - Thicke Of the Night
The television graveyard is filled with the remains of those who took on Johnny Carson. As a wise man once said, “you come at the king, you best not miss.” One of the more infamous failures was an unassuming gentleman from Canada named Alan Thicke.
Thicke Of the Night was a syndicated talk show which premiered in 1983 and aired in most markets directly against The Tonight Show. The hype machine in the lead up to Thicke’s premiere was running in overdrive. He was a popular talk show host in his native country! He was a talented comedian! And America, you’re already familiar with his work! He co-wrote the theme songs to Diff’rent Strokes & The Facts Of Life! He is bound to succeed where so many others have failed! Exclamation points!
I made it a point to watch the first episode, and it was nothing special. Thicke made sure to pay proper respect to Carson in his opening remarks. As a host, he was fairly bland. What I had forgotten until I did research in preparing this piece is that in its earliest stage the show was a synthesis of talk and sketch comedy. There was a pretty impressive roster of funny people in the cast - Fred Willard, Richard Belzer, Arsenio Hall, Gilbert Gottfried, among others. Beyond the premiere I didn’t see the show during this phase; if I was going to sneak in late night TV viewing on a school night it certainly would not be to watch Thicke Of the Night.
Before too long, the comedy segments were reduced and it had the format of a standard talk show. It was at this time that I caught a handful of episodes and it still wasn’t very good. The show seemed to make a special effort in proving to America that Thicke was an all-around entertainer, but it always felt as if everyone was trying too hard to make him a thing.
What I remember most about the show was the frequent appearances of Wally George. He was a notorious daytime talk show host based out of LA; his shtick was that he was extremely combative and would scream at his guests. Years before Morton Downey Jr. emerged, George made it a point to berate and belittle any liberal that would dare appear on his show. Years before Jerry Springer his shows often ended with an all-out brawl on stage. Placing him along with Thicke’s easygoing demeanor made for an odd mix. Thicke could be seen shaking his head as George would yell at audience members.
The show was mercifully cancelled after only one season. He failed to make Johnny Carson break a sweat, the king stayed the king. Alan Thicke was an easy punchline for a time and he could have very easily faded into a Yahoo Serious-esque obscurity. That’s why a lot of people were puzzled to see that he was cast as the lead in a sitcom only one year later. Well, he had the last laugh. Growing Pains was a big success, and Thicke worked steadily up until his death a few years ago. He made a poor first impression to American audiences, but he turned out all right in the end. And that’s a fact of life.
Closing Laughs
I’m thankful for all of you. Here’s wishing that the lot of you have a peaceful and relaxing Thanksgiving. See everyone again on Monday.
