Classic SNL Recap - Season 15, Episode 10
Ed O’Neill hosted the midseason episode in season 15. At the time Married… With Children was the chief target of the Couch Fainting Association Of America, with accusations that the show would be the cause of the American downfall. It was also the signature show for the then fledgling Fox Network. The Simpsons had only just premiered a month earlier, and it would be years before the network purchased part of the NFL contract. So, Fox was still fairly obscure; there were a significant number of smaller markets that didn’t even have a Fox affiliate yet. And even many of those that did were only found on the UHF band.
All of this was referenced in O’Neill’s monologue. Despite his show’s notoriety there were plenty of viewers who likely had no idea who he was, so he assured the audience that he was a legitimate host and not a contest winner. Then as he pointed out that the moral police was after both MWC & SNL, Dana Carvey and Jan Hooks came on stage to sheepishly request that he not reference his show in connection with theirs. The capper then came as he proclaimed that Fox would be here to stay, until Maury Povich emerged to ask that O’Neill not mention Fox either.
This episode aired in January 1990 and it was a reflection of its time for better or worse. The cold open involved George Bush visiting recently deposed Manuel Noriega in prison in a sketch that went nowhere. There was a cringy sketch in which Mike Myers portrayed a sleazy pitchman selling videotapes that promoted his real estate scam. The problem? His character was a Vietnamese refugee named Dennis Woo. Now, he didn’t go full yellow face, but he used an over the top accent that feels much too uncomfortable to watch today.
My favorite sketch this week is another timely one, which unfortunately is not found on YouTube. It involved a group of Romanian citizens attending the wake for deposed and executed dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. They all struggled to find anything nice to say about that monster. The episode also included a solid edition of Wayne’s World. The guest this week was O’Neill as a driving instructor, and he used the same borderline deranged tone that he would later use as the manager of Stan Mikita’s Donuts in the Wayne’s World movie.
This bit amused me as well. This was the first episode after the Christmas break, which made it the first SNL episode of the 90’s. Lorne Michaels himself came out to preview what the new decade would mean for the show; basic futuristic jokes about jet packs & robots. Two things make it stand out. First, I admire the mini-mullet that Lorne is rocking. Second, when I watch old sketches I get a kick out of seeing writers make cameos before they become famous. Look here - the NBC page who shows up is none other than Bob Odenkirk.
New episodes resume this weekend, so I’ll return to season 15 in a few weeks with a look at the finale. Candice Bergen hosted that one.
The Ballot Countdown
Newcomer #13 Carlos Gonzalez - A minor peeve of mine is the lack of originality that is used when bestowing nicknames to athletes. The laziest type is the simple shortening of their first name and the beginning of the surname into something cutesy - see ARod below. Carlos Gonzalez’s was one of the few that worked for me: CarGo is a good one.
He had a five or six year run in which he was one of the more superficially productive hitters in the game, but his numbers were elevated by playing half of his games in Coors Field. As a result, he had somewhat dramatic home and road splits. Not to completely dismiss his numbers, twice he had OPS+’s above 140, which shows that his imposing numbers were not purely a product of the high altitudes of Denver, and 3 seasons of WAR above 4 is nothing to sneeze at.
Those advanced statistics are all-star level, but not Hall of Fame level, especially considering how relatively brief his peak lasted. His hardware (2 Silver Sluggers, 3 Gold Gloves, 3 all-star nods, a batting title) adds up to a significant career, but he falls well short of any career milestone which would elevate his candidacy. At his best he was an excellent player, but nowhere near HOF caliber.
Holdover #N/A Alex Rodriguez - I could simply copy and paste what I said about Manny Ramirez and slightly change the wording here and there. If anything, Rodriguez’s story is even more deflating. You only needed to watch him play once to see how exceptional of a baseball player he was. Yet he chose to trash his legacy; hubris was his downfall.
The odd thing about him, and this is something that continues to manifest itself in his broadcasting career, is that he has always seemed to be strangely uncomfortable in his own skin. He often sounds like an alien when he speaks. I’m no psychologist but my interpretation is that he was such a precocious star that he never learned how to properly interact with other people. That doesn’t make him a bad person. It certainly doesn’t make him the Whitey Bulger of baseball, as Bill Madden once hyperbolically dubbed him. It does explain why it was hard for fans to fully embrace him even before his PED usage came to light; there was a phoniness about him which was hard to ignore.
So, based on what he did on the field he is an easy call. His career numbers are some of the greatest that the game has ever seen. But since he used illicit substances during the testing and suspension era, I would have to pass over his name on my fake ballot. I will give him this. He was never dull.
Hmmm…..
It’s been a couple of days so everyone has beaten me to the punch with their takes on MLB’s proposed Golden At Bat rule. Rob Manfred brought it up on a podcast a few days ago but the discourse really took off once Jayson Stark published this article spelling things out. I share the same thoughts that many people do. For all of my criticism over Rob Manfred, the vast majority of the rule changes that have been put in place during his commissionership have been tremendously successful. I don’t even hate the free runner rule all that much, although I believe it would be better to wait until the 11th inning to add the Manfred Man. But this one is a no-go for me.
First off, let’s all tap the brakes on this. Manfred isn’t one to casually toss ideas at the wall to see what sticks. The fact that he brought it up publicly and even used the term “buzz” - a word that I never imagined was even in his vocabulary - suggests that there is at least some support behind it amongst the ownership. But it will NOT be part of major league play for years, if ever. Any drastic rule change such as this would be tested in the minor leagues first.
In case you’re not up to speed on the proposal, the rule would allow for a team to place a batter out of turn once in a game. The thinking is that the Shohei Ohtani/Mike Trout matchup for the final out in the World Baseball Classic was so dramatic that the league wishes to make such a moment possible more frequently. But… The randomness of the batting order is one of the elements that makes the game so special. Sometimes you get Ohtani against Trout. Sometimes the last man at bat trying to prevent the Cubs from winning their first World Series in more than a century turns out to be Michael Martinez. And sometimes a guy like Brett Phillips comes through in such a moment and creates a special memory. The Golden At-Bat rule feels like an attempt to artificially create drama.
The devil is also in the details. Could it be used at any time in the game, can it only be used after the 7th inning, etc. I don’t want to see this rule take effect, but I wouldn’t have a problem if it were to be used in the All-Star Game. It’s similar to something I have advocated for previously in this space. It’s an exhibition game, why not go crazy? I really think the ASG would be a lot better if players were allowed to reenter the game. Who would you rather see hit in the 9th inning? Bryce Harper or a random Marlin? The All-Star Game no longer decides home field advantage in the World Series. It is a truly meaningless game; it’s for pure entertainment purposes only. It’s the ideal forum to institute some mild anarchy and let the fans see whom they want to see in crunch time so that the game is not the snooze fest that it has become. But let’s keep regular season ball as is.
The Oscar Mulligan - 1998
Best Picture - Shakespeare In Love
Other Nominees - Elizabeth, Life Is Beautiful, Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line
There were audible gasps when Shakespeare In Love was announced as the winner. It was a clever concept well executed, and the production design, costumes, and acting were all top notch. But it was cute, nothing more. It had little business winning, especially that year. The victory was one of the more benign signs of Harvey Weinstein’s dominance. If you want to know how he got away with heinous crimes for as long as he did, it’s because he essentially ran the town and could end a career with one phone call. Even those who knew all about him couldn’t speak out for fear of reprisal. Not to say that he strong armed people into voting for this movie, but he was clearly able to put all of his promotional muscle towards Oscar campaigns, and here was one result.
The 5 nominees this year were easily divided into 2 categories: Elizabethan Era & World War II. Moreover, each of the war movies were set in different areas - the Pacific Theater, the European Theater, and the concentration camps. All of the nominees had something to offer, even if America’s love affair with Roberto Begnini ended in record time. But this one is an easy call; there is one movie which clearly stands out from the rest of the pack.
Saving Private Ryan was bracketed by two of the most intense battle scenes ever filmed, and the opening D-Day sequence is often placed at or near the top of any list counting down the greatest scenes in film history. That scene shows precisely how skilled of a filmmaker Steven Spielberg is. It depicts the closest thing to hell on earth that has ever been seen, and it is shot to replicate the chaos of the Normandy invasion. But if you watch that, it’s presented in a way that the viewer still gets a strong sense of where everyone is as well as the progress that the Allied forces are making as they advance up the beach. Contrast that with, for example, an action scene that Michael Bay shoots. There is so much rapid cutting that it’s completely incoherent. Being able to make sense of what you’re seeing matters.
The opening scene is rightfully legendary, but the moment that haunts me the most takes place shortly before the film’s climactic battle. The soldiers have been preparing for the stand they need to take to guard a crucial bridge. In a final moment of respite they are gathering around, listening to an Edith Piaf record, as Ryan tells the story of the last night he spent with his brothers before they shipped out. Suddenly we hear the low rumbling of German tanks in the distance. The men wearily stand up and move to their positions, understanding that many of them would not survive the coming skirmish.
That’s just one reason why it is the deserving winner. Memorable scenes, compelling characters, and a strong rewatchability score are exactly the type of factors that make a film stand out. More than 25 years later people talk about Saving Private Ryan with much more enthusiasm than they do about Shakespeare In Love. That should have been the winner. Also, I still can’t believe that Jeremy Davies did not even receive a nomination. Damn, he was good in this one.
One last note on Shakespeare In Love and that involves Gwyneth Paltrow. The public turned on her a long time ago, not without some justification. She can be her own worst enemy; she practically defines the term “tone deaf.” But she was so good in that movie. The character required her to play her role on multiple levels. She was portraying someone pretending to be someone else in turn pretending to be someone else. That’s not easy, and she hit all of those layers perfectly. Still doesn’t excuse Goop, but there is a reason she was a big deal in the first place.
Closing Laughs
That should be enough for another day. Thanks for stopping by, please remember to hit that old “share” button, and we will talk again on Friday. Enjoy your day.
