SNL: late 70’s – early 80’s or early-mid 90’s?

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  1. I’m not old enough to remember the 70′s SNL. I vote 90′s by default.

    Comment by Tracy M — June 30, 2009 @ 12:37 pm

  2. Some credit is due to the 84-85 season with rent-a-stars Martin Short, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer. Without them, the show would likely have died. Or you might want to call that season “Saturday Night Filmed,” as it generated a disproportionate number of show’s classic short films.

    I voted for the late-70s, early 80s because they (except for 80-81–yuck) are what made the show worth saving in 84-85. I only watched intermittently after that.

    Comment by Last Lemming — June 30, 2009 @ 2:38 pm

  3. I saw a bunch of “classic” episodes back when NBC was re-running them in the Saturday night time slot. I thought they had pretty much the same ratio of hits to misses as everything I’ve seen since I started watching in 91 or so. As far as I’m concerned, there was no heyday. I like the current show as much as any other period. Which is to say, it’s about 20% funny, but entertaining enough to watch when I’m up that late. Weekend Update is usually pretty good, except when that one supremely unfunny dude did it in the late 90′s (I think he was post-MacDonald, pre-Fey; Can’t remember the dumb guy’s name).

    Comment by Tom — June 30, 2009 @ 3:27 pm

  4. Dennis Miller?

    Comment by Chad Too — June 30, 2009 @ 4:08 pm

  5. Colin Quinn was the post-McDonald anchor.

    There are certain litmus tests that can be applied to measure one’s sense of humor. Some are obvious like The SImpsons and Seinfeld, while others are not so obvious like Norm McDonald as Weekend Update anchor. Don Ohlmeyer does not have a sense of humor.

    Norm on Michael Jackson:

    After the announcement that Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley planned to divorce, Macdonald joked about their irreconcilable differences on Weekend Update: “She’s more of a stay-at-home type, and he’s more of a homosexual pedophile.” He followed this up a few episodes later with a report about the singer’s recent collapse and hospitalization. Referring to a report of how Jackson had decorated his hospital room with giant photographs of Shirley Temple, Macdonald remarked that viewers should not get the wrong idea, adding, “We’d like to remind you that Michael Jackson is, in fact, a homosexual pedophile.” The joke elicited audible gasps from some audience members. He responded to this by saying, “What? He is a homosexual pedophile.”

    Comment by Tim J — June 30, 2009 @ 4:30 pm

  6. The mid-90′s were pretty rough for SNL. They tried to go with some recognizable names like Chris Elliot, Michael McKean, and Janeane Garafolo (shudder) and failed miserably. This was coupled with Myers, Nealon, Farley, etc. leaving in a somewhat awkward fashion.

    Lorne Michaels was well justified in blowing up the show and bringing in a whole new cast in ’95. That cast would rival the late 80′s/early 90′s cast (Carvey, Hartman, Lovitz transitioning to Farley, Sandler, and Spade) as the best ever.

    Comment by Tim J — June 30, 2009 @ 4:37 pm

  7. I love the classic stuff. But the stuff from around 89-94 was amazing. There was very little crap. There were some good guys from the mid 80′s. (Billy Crystal, Robert Downy Jr., Eddie Murphy, etc.) But that one period never was matched.

    Comment by Clark — June 30, 2009 @ 6:17 pm

  8. Yeah, Colin Quinn. By far the worst.

    Comment by Tom — July 1, 2009 @ 8:04 am

  9. What’s weird is that there were some pretty talented folks at SNL the last 10 – 14 years. Will Ferrel is nothing to sneeze at. Plus some pretty good sketches. But the show was so uneven. I think the writing was the biggest problem.

    Comment by Clark — July 1, 2009 @ 9:26 am

  10. But hasn’t it always been uneven? Have you watched any old complete episodes recently?

    I suspect that the “best” years of SNL are only superior in our memories. I always remembered In Living Color as pretty funny, until a few years ago when I saw a re-run episode and it was pretty lame start to finish. Same with Black Sheep.

    It’s also probable that a lot of us are only acquainted with the highlights of the earliest SNL. We don’t often see complete episodes with all the duds included.

    Comment by Tom — July 1, 2009 @ 11:29 am

  11. And I agree that there have been some good cast members recently. And I think there are good current cast members. Fred Armisen and Kristen Wiig can be really good.

    Comment by Tom — July 1, 2009 @ 11:33 am

  12. E! tends to rebroadcast a lot. So I think I’ve seen a reasonable cross section over the years. While not every skit was a hit it frankly was a ton more consistent than what’s come since about 95.

    Comment by Clark — July 1, 2009 @ 11:49 am

  13. E! tends to rebroadcast a lot.

    E! only rebroadcases recent episodes that are hosted by Paris Hilton, Justin Timberlake, etc. I have yet to see them rebroadcast an episode from the 90′s or before although when E! first got the rights they did air the entire first season, and TOm is right, it didn’t hold up very well. Part of the problem is that SNL is topical so you’re removing the show from its context.

    Comment by Tim J — July 1, 2009 @ 3:55 pm

  14. The biggest difference between the late 80′s/early 90′s seasons and others wasn’t really the cast, but the writing. AL Franken, Jim Downey, Jack Handey, Bob Odenkirk, and Robert Smigel is an all-star writing cast. Not to mention Conan O’Brien for a couple of seasons.

    Comment by Tim J — July 1, 2009 @ 4:00 pm

  15. Similar to why the Simpsons was so great for a while.

    BTW – I’m sure I’ve seen Eddie Murphy episodes on E! as well as classic 70′s shows. But maybe my memory is playing tricks on me. I will say I was very underwhelmed at the episodes from the naughts I saw.

    Comment by Clark — July 1, 2009 @ 4:12 pm

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