Saturday, April 22, 2006
Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update
I just recovered from the experience of watching a rerun of a recent episode of Saturday Night Live. Aside from the trauma of not being able to fast forward through the warblings of Ashlee Simpson -- note to self: only watch SNL on tape from now on -- I also had to deal with the frustration of watching Weekend Update.
What the heck happened to this once-great franchise?
I remember decades ago when the jokes seemed timely, topical, and -- most importantly -- moderately funny. Now I don't even recognize anything that would actually qualify as a joke, and the graphics which are designed to get most of the laughs just look like really bad Photoshops.
Perhaps it's just that I've changed. Perhaps I'm spoiled after several years exposure to always-available and always-funny content from The Onion, ScrappleFace, The Nose on Your Face, Point Five, Potfry, Caption This and so many more that I just don't recognize that SNL's Weekend Update is exactly as funny as it's always been: not very.
But just in case things really have been going downhill, I'd like to offer a suggestion to the SNL staff in charge of Weekend Update: troll the blog-comedy-sphere and steal the best stuff. Or better yet, ask permission and give a "link" somewhere in the show to the sites you feature. It would be a win-win. Publicity for very funny people who should have a bigger audience, and your show would start to be funny once more.
And in case I don't see you again for awhile, best of luck.
If you really, really liked this -- or even really, really hated it -- there's lots more:
What the heck happened to this once-great franchise?
I remember decades ago when the jokes seemed timely, topical, and -- most importantly -- moderately funny. Now I don't even recognize anything that would actually qualify as a joke, and the graphics which are designed to get most of the laughs just look like really bad Photoshops.
Perhaps it's just that I've changed. Perhaps I'm spoiled after several years exposure to always-available and always-funny content from The Onion, ScrappleFace, The Nose on Your Face, Point Five, Potfry, Caption This and so many more that I just don't recognize that SNL's Weekend Update is exactly as funny as it's always been: not very.
But just in case things really have been going downhill, I'd like to offer a suggestion to the SNL staff in charge of Weekend Update: troll the blog-comedy-sphere and steal the best stuff. Or better yet, ask permission and give a "link" somewhere in the show to the sites you feature. It would be a win-win. Publicity for very funny people who should have a bigger audience, and your show would start to be funny once more.
And in case I don't see you again for awhile, best of luck.
