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Classic SNL Recap - Season 1 Finale

The inaugural season of SNL ended in a way that it hasn’t since; with summer episodes. Rather than follow the standard September-May schedule, everyone came back for 2 late July episodes. Coincidentally or not, these were 2 notorious fiascos, and with the exception of a few instances in which there were special summertime editions of Weekend Update during Presidential election years, this concept has never been revisited.

Doug Hill & Jeff Weingrad’s classic backstage history of the early days tells this story well. The first of the 2 was hosted by Louise Lasser at the height of her Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman fame, and in the midst of a literal nervous breakdown. The host of the season finale was Kris Kristofferson, in a period of his life in which he was heavily drinking. That was so apparent here. It’s possible that he wasn’t tipsy during the live show - the natural cadence of his gravelly drawl always makes him sound drunk anyway - but between his flop sweat and his awkward line readings he didn’t seem all there. He was so uncomfortable that it’s hard to believe that he went on to become such a magnificent actor. (You should see Limbo; it’s my favorite John Sayles movie and he was outstanding as that sort of stealthy imposing crime figure.)

There’s not much of interest here beyond the train wreck element; I can’t even find any YouTube clips from the episode. There was more of an amateurish feel than normal, probably due to the fact that everyone was still in summer vacation mode. The lighting seemed off, and the camera shots were uncomfortably tight. Lots of recurring bits here - Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford, the requisite Francisco Franco joke. John Belushi’s samurai made an appearance. The character was a terrific showcase for Belushi, but it’s not a premise that has aged well. A white actor spouting vaguely Japanese sounding gibberish wouldn’t pass muster today. Plus, the premise is not as effective without Buck Henry acting as the foil.

Hard to pick out a highlight here; I admire the Waiting For Pardo sketch just for the conceptual oddity of the bit. There was a somewhat torturous sketch involving Kristofferson introducing the real Bobby McGee, who has gone on to become a mousy suburban housewife. There was also a charming bit at the end of the first song by the musical guest, Kristofferson’s then-wife Rita Coolidge. The song was called Hula Hoop, and as the song ended she walked to a different part of the stage to join Gilda Radner and Laraine Newman as they were hula-hooping. (As an aside, I can’t believe I’m only noticing this now, but Anna Kendrick looks so much like a young Laraine Newman. Someone needs to cast Newman as Kendrick’s mother, stat!)

Since there is little of interest to discuss about this week’s selected episode, now might be as good a time as any to discuss Saturday Night Live in general. It’s an old standby for people to complain about how the show is not as funny/edgy/groundbreaking/dangerous as it used to be. Fair enough, we are talking about a show that’s been around for 49 years. There’s clearly going to be some tread on those tires no matter how many times the cast and writing staff have both turned over.

At the same time there is an over romanticizing over the show’s past. We remember the extreme highs & lows while placing the average stuff in a lockbox. As a general rule of thumb, when an individual speaks of the glory days it’s used in reference to the first five years as well as whichever point in the show’s history when the speaker first began to watch the show. Well, when I collected the DVD box sets of the seasons with the original cast it was obvious that every complaint people ever voice about the show was evident even back then. Over reliance on recurring sketches? Check. Weeks when it was obvious that the host and cast did not click? Check. Premises that clearly cross the line? Check.

I can only speak for myself, but rewatching the first 5 seasons was liberating. I no longer felt the need to compare the current show to the utopian past that a lot of us have held in our minds. Appreciate the show for what it is. Even in a relatively bland season there are several cast members who are so compelling that you want to see what they do next. Even the very worst episodes (well, maybe not the Elon Musk one) will contain at least one sketch that’s a real keeper.

A last note on the backstage history book that I linked above. In the sections dealing with the show’s development a lot was devoted to Lorne Michaels’ theories & demands of what the show should be. It’s inevitable that the realities of needing to attract audiences had to soften his desire to create something different from what had ever been seen before, but some of his desires quickly faded away. He hated “funny” character names. He hated breaking. Best of all, the last thing he wanted was dependence on repeating bits. He was offended by the thought of audiences reflexively laughing at a recurring character. Whoops.

The show returns with a new episode this weekend, so I’ll do my next look back at a classic episode in a few weeks. The show triumphantly returned for season 2 with Lily Tomlin making her second round as host. And Chevy Chase’s time on the show was drawing to a close.

TV Of the 21st Century - Andy Richter Controls The Universe

I’ll be a little brief this time, because I’m talking about a show that ran for fewer than 20 episodes more than 20 years ago. I didn’t even see every episode, but each one that I did was very funny. It was a quirky, often surreal, comedy aired at a time when Fox ran several shows of this type. It tanked in the ratings, but you have to wonder if it would have stood a better chance had it aired during the streaming era. I can definitely picture Netflix nurturing this show for a 4-season run.

The show starred Andy Richter as a character named Andy Richter. He worked as an office drone in a large corporation while also writing short stories on the side. His imagination led to a series of fantasy sequences which is what gave the show its distinctive feel. Sometimes absurd, sometimes outright bizarre, always creative. As one would expect, it shared a strong comic sensibility with that of Conan O’Brien’s late night show.

There were some solid comedy ringers in the cast along with Richter. Jonathan Slavin might not be a household name, but you would definitely recognize his face. He specializes in wimpy oddballs. And Paget Brewster was her usual fantastic self in her role.

As mentioned, the show came & went fairly quickly, and because of that it did not make much of a cultural impact. It’s basically a footnote in Richter’s career; in the years since he has largely been either a supporting actor or someone who specializes in cameo appearances. But he did well here in his one real shot at a leading role. It’s yet another streaming orphan; although it looks like most of the episodes can be found on YouTube.

Originally aired on: Fox

Currently streaming on: Nowhere

New EGOT Alert

Some day a Mandela Effect will develop concerning the Emmy Awards. In the future we will all assume that Rhea Seehorn had won at least 4 Emmys for portraying Kim Wexler only to be shocked to learn that wasn’t the case. Nothing against Jennifer Coolidge, she is a national treasure after all, but those empty spaces on Seehorn’s mantle just ain’t right. She had to wait an extra 4 months for one final round of disappointment? On top of that, Better Call Saul accumulated a total of 53 nominations over its run, without a single victory!

This year’s ceremony was odder than normal. The Academy correctly chose to postpone the originally scheduled September ceremony due to the ongoing strikes. An awards show without any attendees would not have made for a very compelling television show. What that resulted in, however, was an evening filled with nominations from shows that aired as long as 2 full years ago; I almost expected to see a nomination or two from The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis. Or to put it this way, The Bear won its awards on Monday night from season 1; mere days after cleaning up at the Golden Globes & Critics Choice Awards for season 2. It was quite confusing.

That also made the In Memoriam section a bit tricky. Show producers had to narrow down 16 months of deaths into the montage. This segment is always followed by viewers screaming “how could you have left out ______!” This time it was even more difficult to figure out who would and would not make the cut. And in a related note, there were a couple of times where I thought to myself that I had not realized Person A had passed this year before remembering about the long delay between ceremonies.

I give the show producers credit; it moved at a brisk pace, ending right on time. Unfortunately that meant there were relatively few clips; most presentations simply showed a rapid montage of the nominees. The evening immediately started on a high note with the appearance of Christina Applegate. There were few dry eyes in the house. That was just the first of many warm ovations. The pre-show hype promised plenty of cast reunions of classic shows to celebrate the 75th edition of the Emmys. Those varied in quality; to use one example the Sopranos reunion only included Lorraine Bracco & Michael Imperioli.

As for the actual awards? There has been a noticeable change in voting patterns over the past few ceremonies, which I’m not sure is better or worse. They have gone from boringly predictable to… boringly predictable. Seemingly gone are the days when voters would lazily choose the same winners year after year. Look, John Lithgow or Tony Shalhoub or Modern Family win again. These days instead, voters fall in love with a show and hand it every award possible. This year, Succession, The Bear, & Beef each tallied near sweeps. There was more of a sharing of the wealth during the Creative Arts ceremonies that took place last week, but the endless parade on the prime time ceremony made for a dull telecast. We are probably in the early stages of the end of the Peak TV era, but even so there are So. Many. Shows out there. I get that voters have the same issues that most of us do; such a huge backlog of shows in the queue that it’s impossible to keep up with. But it’s still a bit disheartening to see so much worthy material passed over.

Finally, as the headline for this section states, we have our 19th EGOT. Elton John’s victory as one of the producers of his Disney+ concert special completes his collection. This also makes him the only EGOT in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, giving him something to brag about at Hall barbecues. Someone needs to come up with an acronym for that honor. REGOT? EGROT? EGOTHOF? It’s a work in progress.

Closing Laughs

Vivek, we hardly knew ye.

I’ve got some more Bluesky invite codes for anyone who is interested. Just give me a holla if you want one. See you all again on Wednesday, and thanks for reading.