Lucky Wednesday The 13th

Belated SNL Recap

I always defend SNL while at the same time acknowledging the legitimate criticisms of the show. The past few seasons have admittedly not been a golden age, but I give the show credit for cutting back on two of the perennial issues - over reliance on repeating bits & the impulse to bring in big name guest stars at the expense of the large cast. Both of those tropes returned this week, which I’ll get to in a minute.

Josh Brolin made for a game host; he provided what you would want. He was willing to make himself look silly, and he fully committed to the bits. If only the material was better… Case in point came with the first post monologue sketch. Brolin and Heidi portrayed a married couple in a bank that was being robbed. They seized the opportunity to work a sort of creepy cosplay with the robbers. It was a one-joke premise, but the one joke wasn’t strong enough to sustain itself.

Best sketch of the week? Nothing really blew me away, but I suppose I’ll have to go with the pre-taped piece involving a shrimp tower. It had the right mix of Sarah’s weirdness and Brolin’s intensity.

As for the surprise cameo of the week; as soon as Katie Britt made the country collectively say “WTF!” it was obvious that she would be the feature of the cold open. Instead of using one of the talented women in the cast to portray Britt, they went with Scarlett Johansson. Don’t get me wrong, it was a well written piece, and ScarJo did a terrific job. But what if Orange Napoleon chooses her as a running mate? Will the show call her back? They’ve already been without a Kamala Harris for a few years. (For the record, Punkie portrayed the VP this week for the first time.)

We also saw the return of Ego’s Lisa From Temecula. As with many recurring sketches, it suffers from diminishing returns. There are only so many ways she can violently shake a restaurant table but I give Ego loads of credit for this. One of my pet peeves is excessive breaking. I understand that a cast member sometimes can’t help it, but look at it this way. If you went to a Broadway show and the actors would constantly crack up, wouldn’t you be pissed? Be professional, keep it together. So far Ego has managed to remain in character throughout the Lisa sketches. Props to her.

It wasn’t until 45 minutes into the show that musical guest Ariana Grande performed her first song, which is usually a sign that Update will be short this week, and it was. No correspondent pieces this time. Since the show was fairly blah, it was tough to come up with an Employee Of the Week. I award it to both Ego & Heidi frequently, so I’ll spread the wealth this time and give it to Bowen. I didn’t much care for the Moulin Rouge sketch, and yes he broke at times, but he had to do some heavy lifting to sing that many songs, especially when sharing the screen with an accomplished singer such as Grande.

So, a fairly middling, non-offensive episode. I’m sure several years down the road Josh Brolin will be brought back to host and I will once again be surprised that he had hosted so many times. The show is taking a couple of weeks off and will return on March 30 with Ramy Youssef as host. THAT is one I’m really looking forward to.

Ballot Breakdown - Oasis

When I discussed the Dave Matthews Band, I mentioned jam bands as an underrepresented genre in the Hall. The same could be said for BritPop. Yes, there are a multiple of British acts already inducted that played pop music, but when it comes to the actual genre, I can’t think of any. That would change with an induction for Oasis.

A separate question is if they’re the most deserving. Blur was just as good as Oasis, but they are hurt by the fact that they did not make as big of a splash stateside. Now, there are acts in the Hall that made larger impact on the other side of the pond than in the States, so perhaps an Oasis induction would grease the skids for Blur or even for Pulp. We shall see.

I wouldn’t say that they ever quite achieved Biggest Band In the World status, but at their peak they made a strong argument for being named Biggest Band In Europe. Their debut album made a big splash overseas, and also made strong inroads in the American alternative rock scene. Because of that there was a lot of excitement surrounding the release of the followup, which received similarly strong radio play on some of the more adventurous American radio stations. That is until the album’s second single was released and brought their popularity to a whole new level.

Wonderwall was an instant classic. Multiple hooks, enigmatic lyrics, and that lovely piano at the song’s coda is just wonderful. The Gallagher brothers were tailor made for the American press; they had the quintessential IDGAF attitude. It was always easy to get a provocative quote from either of the two. The dynamic between them was something to behold as well.

If you look at the history of rock bands, there are common factors that make some more combustible than others. It helps to have two alphas in the band. Sounds like Oasis to me. It helps when the chief songwriter is not the lead singer. Sounds like Oasis to me. It helps when there are siblings in the band to stir up that natural rivalry. Sounds like Oasis to me. Add all that to the fact that both Gallagher brothers are such volatile personalities and it’s little wonder that the intrapersonal relationships in the band have been so contentious. On a side note, when they were big, I always looked at Liam as the more disagreeable of the two. He was your classic peacock frontman, whereas Noel silently played guitar. The years have shown that Noel is the one who is much more of a pill, I believe the Brits would describe him as “cheeky.” Google Noel Gallagher Michael Hutchence and see what you find.

I haven’t talked about their music enough, so let me say that they fully deserved the success that they achieved. For all of his faults, Noel was a master song craftsman, and one of the main reasons they were so often described as “Beatlesesque” is the tinge in Liam’s vocals that made him sound like a John Lennon doppelgänger, just a bit more nasally. Their American success didn’t last very long. By the time their third album came out - which I like almost as much as the first two - American audiences had moved in other directions. They did remain massive in their native UK until their breakup, regularly selling out stadiums.

If you’ve been paying attention to my writeups then you will know that my criticism over the committee’s tendency to still nominate rock bands from the 1970’s is that there are many deserving rock bands of a more recent vintage. Oasis is one. They would hate the honor, but they would be a worthy addition.

If elected, would they perform at the ceremony? - No, no & no. Both Gallaghers have expressed complete and utter disdain towards the institution. I could almost envision their writing the type of rejection letter that the Sex Pistols did, but that would require a collaboration, which ain’t happening. Maybe one of the non-Gallagher members would show up to collect a trophy, but that’s it. And no one would dare to perform in their honor. That’s just asking for mean tweets.

Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hit - Wonderwall

My Personal Favorite - I’m almost tempted to avoid the obvious choice and go with D’You Know What I Mean?, but no need to overthink things. Wonderwall is undeniable.

A Couple Of Musical Losses

I was a big fan of the first 2 World Party albums; several tracks remain in my personal heavy rotation. So I was sad to hear that Karl Wallinger had passed away over the weekend. He began his career as a member of The Waterboys, and after leaving the band he formed World Party, of which he was basically the only permanent member. They so perfectly merged a 60’s feel with a modern sound; if paisley could make a sound it would sound a lot like World Party. Their recorded output eventually became sparse, and Wallinger suffered an aneurysm around 20 years ago which temporarily hampered his speech. Once he recovered he returned to the touring scene, but it had been almost a decade since he most recently performed live. Wallinger was 66, and he left behind such wonderful music.

Eric Carmen also passed away early this week. As a solo artist he had such hits as Hungry Eyes from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, and All By Myself, which was one of the sappier ballads from a decade that produced a plethora of such schmaltz. I prefer to remember him by his work as lead singer of The Raspberries. In their brief career they cranked out banger after banger of power pop, most memorably with Overnight Sensation (Hit Record) and Go All the Way. Carmen was 74.

50 Years Ago - Good Times

Good Times premiered 50 years ago & is one of those shows that has maintained a constant cultural footprint ever since. On the other hand, that success owed a lot to the fact that it sharply veered from its original intention, much to the displeasure of the 2 leads. Is that a fair trade off?

Good Times started as another spinoff from the All In the Family tree; the Florida Evans character was Maude’s maid in the early seasons of that show. It took a bit of retconning to transplant her & her family from Tuckahoe New York to a Chicago housing project, but now we had housewife Florida, her hardworking, job juggling husband James, and their 3 children - underachieving J.J., brainy Thelma, and youthful militant Michael, in addition to Florida’s neighbor & best friend Willona.

Like many Norman Lear productions, it attempted to deal with serious issues in a comedic way, such as budding artist J.J.’s painting of a Black Jesus modeled on their neighbor Ned the Wino, or Michael’s criticism of the cultural bias in standardized testing. As the wino character suggested, there was a bit of stereotyping inherent in some of the recurring characters - there were also occasional appearances by a local numbers runner & a crooked alderman.

The first couple of seasons were much different in tone than the later ones. It’s probably a stretch to describe the initial set of episodes as a seriocomedy, but it is accurate to say that seasons 1-2 & seasons 3-6 were for all practical purposes entirely different shows. And that is due to the breakout character.

Jimmie Walker was already a successful standup comic when he was cast as J.J. (He was also in his mid-20’s, making him an unlikely high school student. He & his TV father John Amos were only separated in age by 8 years.) Good Times quickly became the J.J. Show, and no episode would be complete with his “Dyn-O-Mite!” catch phrase. That is not what Esther Rolle & John Amos signed up for, and they pushed back.

Amos would wind up being fired between seasons 3 & 4, with his character being killed off screen. That led to one of the more iconic moments in TV history. Florida remained stoic throughout his funeral, and the brutal reality finally hit her as she was holding a large punch bowl, which she proceeded to slam on the floor while screaming “Damn! Damn! Damn!” Rolle remained with the show for an additional unhappy season, eventually being written out as her character remarried at the end of season 4, with her moving to Arizona with her new husband to help him recuperate from lung cancer. By this time J.J. was considered an adult, so he was the guardian to his siblings with Willona promising to check in on them.

By this point the show also dealt with the standard issue with a young cast, now that Michael was a teenager they wanted to add a new child to the cast. Introducing Janet Jackson as Penny! She was the abused child of a single mother in the projects who Willona winds up adopting.

Rolle returned for the sixth & final season - her second husband had succumbed to the cancer. The series ended with everything tied into a neat bow, but the finale showed why super sized finales for long running shows are necessary. Ideally you want to give each main character a proper sendoff, but Good Times squeezed too much into a 30 minute slot. In no particular order: Willona got a new job which would allow her & Penny to move into a nicer neighborhood. Florida was happy for her friend, but sad that they would no longer be neighbors. Thelma was suspicious that her husband Keith was cheating on her. (Long story short, he was a rookie running back for the Bears who accidentally tripped over J.J. which caused a serious injury before he signed his NFL contract.) As it turned out he was secretly rehabbing his knee & was healthy enough to sign with the Bears and now had enough money to allow him to move with Thelma into a high class neighborhood, coincidentally in the same building where Willona is moving to. Struggling cartoonist J.J., who had been trying to sell a superhero character he had created called Dynoman, finally found success by changing it to a superheroine named Dynowoman, modeled on his sister. He used part of the advance to buy a new apartment for Florida & Michael. You guessed it - also in that same building. It was a nice way to end the show with such a happy moment; Florida & Willona leaping in joy. It was just terribly overstuffed.

So, would the show have been better off sticking with the original, slightly more serious vibe? Without Jimmie Walker becoming the dominant star it’s less likely that it would have survived for 6 seasons. Further proof that it was the correct commercial decision, if not the correct creative decision, is that you can still find reruns of the show on cable networks to this day.

You Can Not, You Will Not, Force Me To Care About The Royal Family

OK, maybe I lied. I have complete and utter disdain for the very concept of monarchy; it’s the most anachronistic institution imaginable. I don’t even have much use for those that are largely ceremonial and are heads of state in name only. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t give a second of thought to the whereabouts of Kate Middleton were it not for the fact that the royals have botched this story…. royally.

I get that she underwent a medical procedure and has the right to recuperate in private. Even someone in her position should be allowed to only release as much medical info as she is willing to share. Yet the radio silence is jarring. Not even a press release thanking her loyal subjects for the well wishes they have sent Kate’s way? The most logical explanation is that this family is so incapable of expressing basic human emotion - remember how long it took them to respond to Diana’s death - that they have inadvertently generated a motherlode of conspiracy theories.

So, thanks Windsors, now I’m wondering what’s going on. Is her recovery going poorly? Was her original surgery for a more serious matter than what was originally announced? Is she actually dead and the family is scrambling to find a lookalike replacement? Is she being held captive in the Tower Of London? Who it really her who was that bad at Photoshop, or someone else? The possibilities are endless.

Closing Laughs

I see that the custodial staff is clicking the lights on and off, which means it’s time to call it a day. Have a great day everyone & I’ll see you all again on Friday.