I Won’t Make A Bad Hump Day Pun

SNL Season 7 Midseason Sample

Episode #10 of SNL Season 7 is one of those that’s hard to judge, as the Peacock stream edits the episode down to less than a half hour. What’s remaining is OK I guess, but who knows what the deleted portions of the episode look like. John Madden was the host, and it fits the usual format when the host is not a professional entertainer - stock up on material that fits into his wheelhouse and don’t ask him to do too much heavy lifting.

This episode aired in early 1982, Madden’s persona was already established to some extent. He had successfully marketed his old image as the crazy Raiders coach ranting on the sidelines into a string of ads as part of the classic Miller Lite campaign, and he had quickly risen up the broadcast ranks. He had just announced his initial Super Bowl as the #1 analyst on the CBS team, and he maintained that top slot throughout the remainder of his career regardless of which network he was working for at the team. But he wasn’t yet Full Madden; the introduction of the Madden video game was still a few years away. And he didn’t yet have the Madden Cruiser. In a filmed piece a camera crew followed him as he rode Amtrak from the Super Bowl to the NBC studio. A born raconteur, it humorously depicted him beginning to tell the same story to anyone in his path, but the film never actually rolled on to show him completing the story.

Overall the show wisely recognized the best way to use him would be to focus on making his sketches football heavy. The cold open featured Madden interviewing players in the losing Bengals’ locker room from the previous week’s Super Bowl. Bonus casting points for recognizing the strong resemblance between Tim Kazurinsky and Bengals coach Forrest Gregg.

Since I’m poking my head in random episodes here and there I’m not necessarily seeing the initial airings of recurring bits. For example, this episode included the bit in which Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo portrayed an aging barfly and saloon pianist. This piece wasn’t meant to be played for laughs; they were essentially one-act playlets intended to show their strengths in creating and establishing characters. In this week’s edition of I Don’t Believe I Remember This Gag From 40 Years Ago, during SNL Newsbreak anchor Brian Doyle-Murray discussed the programs that Ronald Reagan intended to cut as a long list scrolled on the screen behind him. The list continued to roll on well after he completed reading his script to which he said “This went a lot faster in dress rehearsal.”

In my recap of the season premiere I neglected to mention the 2 new cast members who joined the ensemble. This was Christine Ebersole’s lone season on the show. She has gone on to have a long career as a distinguished Broadway actress and cabaret singer, so SNL wasn’t the ideal showcase for her talents. More successful was Mary Gross. She was the only member of this season’s cast to remain with the show all the way to the end of season 11, which means that with the exception of the season 6 finale, she was there for the entirety of the Dick Ebersol reign. A tall woman with a high-pitched voice, her niche on the show was that she specialized in awkward, nerdy characters. I never took much of a liking to her. I appreciate the incongruity of her Newsbreak pieces in which she would rant and rave, but that never did it for me. She did have an outstanding Mary Tyler Moore impersonation, however, which was used to good effect at times.

Next week I’ll take a look at the season finale, hosted by Olivia Newton-John. Looking forward to that one; ONJ was a big favorite of mine.

More Sports On The Other Side Of The World

Mere days after the conclusion of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, another major international competition is set to commence in the Eastern Hemisphere. The FIBA Men’s World Cup tips off this weekend, with the games spread across Japan, Indonesia and The Philippines. (As an FYI, the United States has been placed in a pool that will play all of their games, including any games in knockout rounds, in the Philippines.) Once again how carefully you choose to follow or watch the games depends upon how much you’ll want to disturb your sleep patterns.

Having said that, the schedule is not as daunting as it was for the football. The 3 pool play games for Team USA are scheduled for 8:30AM Eastern Time on Saturday, 8:30AM on Monday, and 4:30AM on Wednesday. Better, the championship final is scheduled for 8:30AM Eastern Time on Sunday, September 10. That’s a manageable timetable.

As for the tournament, the US stands a good chance of winning. Reining champ Spain appears to have a weaker squad than normal this year. Giannis Antetokounmpo is sitting this one out which eliminates Greece as a contender. And, although there was a possibility a few months ago of France putting together a nightmare frontcourt consisting of Embiid/Gobert/Wembanyama, but as it turns out Rudy Gobert is the only of the trio who will suit up for France this tournament, so they’re not as big of a threat. Team USA is not sending their A team either, as many of the top players are resting up this offseason so that they will be in fresher shape for next year’s Olympics. The players on the current roster can use this as an opportunity to impress the decision makers and put themselves in a better position to make the Olympic squad. Anthony Edwards in particular has been very impressive in the exhibition games played so far. And history shows that players that do well internationally often Make The Leap in the subsequent NBA season.

As for the FIFA results, good job by Spain. It’s worth noting that this is the second consecutive World Cup in which the winning squad had very public disputes with their own national federations. Just throwing this out there, maybe it’s a good idea for the organizations to fully support their national teams. And the results of the tournament figure to be a great boost for the future of the women’s game. A first time champion, more newcomers advancing, more parity, more close games, fewer embarrassing blowouts. Having perennially strong squads to set the bar high is a good thing; boring predictability is not.

My Contrarian Corner

Looking back at Dwight Gooden’s magical 1985 season the other day also brought back memories of a narrative surrounding his career that just won’t die. Most people can recite the Cliffs Notes version of Gooden’s career arc. He was a young phenom with unlimited talent whose surefire path to Cooperstown was destroyed by his cocaine usage. There’s nothing inaccurate about that, but it omits some crucial details that would form a more well-rounded explanation as to what went wrong.

Yes, his career was marred by multiple drug suspensions, but it’s just as true that in 1989 he suffered a terrible shoulder injury that robbed him of his best stuff. His fastball was no longer as explosive. His curveball no longer had the same bite. After 1989 he was essentially a mid-rotation starter, still capable of making productive starts but at the same time finding himself as a pitcher who would struggle if he would be unable to find the right feel for one of his pitches on a given day. The last time he made an All-Star team was in his age 23 season; the last time he received Cy Young votes followed his age 25 season.

Using 20/20 hindsight it seems obvious that he was doomed by his heavy usage. He averaged 234 innings in his first 5 seasons, and that includes the 1987 in which he was suspended for the first 2 months. No organization would dare give a young pitcher such a heavy workload these days. Of course that leads to one of those Rorschach type questions. As a fan, which would you prefer? Would you give him the workload that young pitchers face currently? It would mean that those early seasons would not have been as special, but it would likely increase the chance that he could have been healthy enough to pitch effectively into his thirties. At the same time, there’s no guarantee that a decreased workload would have preserved his arm. There’s no right or wrong answer to that question, it’s an eye of the beholder situation. But to circle back to my original thesis, I continue to insist on this point. Gooden’s substance abuse did tarnish his legacy, but I honestly don’t believe that his career would have turned out much differently without the cocaine.

You could also say the same thing about Darryl Strawberry. He too dealt with serious physical issues well before his substance abuse caught up to him. He had a strong season his first year with the Dodgers in 1991, but then suffered a fairly significant back injury. He only averaged 33 games per year over the following 6 seasons. The back was just as big of a factor in his downfall as his personal problems were. Doc & Darryl both serve as classic cautionary tales, but let’s be fair. There were also external factors that kept them out of the Hall Of Fame, not just their personal problems.

The Strikes Continue To Take Their Toll

We’re months into the dual writers’ and actors’ strike and there’s little sign of progress for either. This is of course continuing to take terrible peripheral tolls as well, as there are all sorts of industries that depend on ongoing production for business. We’re also beginning to see a specific type of ramification that will only increase the longer the strikes last.

Back when COVID shut down productions, it didn’t take long for networks and streaming services to cancel programs that had been previously renewed. In some cases it was due to the reality that COVID restrictions would make filming difficult and/or too cost prohibitive. In others it was due to shooting delays running long enough that actors’ contracts were starting to expire.

Similar decisions will eventually be made about current shows. Amazon has already pulled the plugs on planned second seasons of shows that had been renewed - The Peripheral and A League Of Their Own. These won’t be the last unless unexpectedly quick settlements happen.

In the larger scheme of things premature cancellations of TV shows aren’t as important as some of the other devastating effects of the strikes - loss of income for crew members, catering services, surrounding businesses, etc. I can’t see real progress being made until some of these billionaire studio heads start to have trouble making payments on their second yachts. A recent study shows that box office numbers are roughly 15% lower than expected, at least partially due to striking actors being unable to promote their projects. Gosh, it’s almost as if one can see measurable value from the contributions of writers and actors.

Until We Meet Again

That’s all for now. See you all on Friday. Anything newsworthy happening between now and then?