OT: Must-See TV: SNL 40th Anniversary Special
As today is a slow day in sports (and the 2nd consecutive slow day on the MGoBoard) I thought I'd go OT on y'all.
I have been looking forward all week to watching NBC tonight for the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special, which, of course, will be telivised live. The SNL Red Carpet Special at 7pm should be interesting as an appetizer, but the main course will be served for 3 hours starting at 8pm. I believe 40 cast members will be featured, including 5 of the original cast members from back in 1975, and also including most of the biggest stars of the show spanning all four decades.
I have myself spent time watching, all week long, the 'countdown' back to Episode #1 on VH1 Classic (Channel 337 on DirecTV). I wasn't aware of it until this week, but I found out that VH1 Classic started their countdown about 3 weeks ago. Yesterday was an all-day Steve Martin Lovefest, as they showed several episodes that he hosted, mainly from the 70's. Today, they're concentrating on Year One (1975-76) episodes culminating in the very first show, with George Carlin as guest host, from 5:30-7pm.
The other two of the final 3 episodes yet to be rebroadcast have Richard Pryor, and then Paul Simon/Art Garfunkel as guest hosts; I'm particularly looking forward to seeing featured Musical Guest Gil Scott-Heron (you may remember him for "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised") on the upcoming 2:30 pm episode.
I've had a great time watching all the Gerald-Ford bashing today, in particular the episode showing right now with Ford's Press Secretary Ron Nessan as the guest host. I love Ford the Michigan Man and President, but this stuff is hilarious. Plus other classic skits, such as "Bass-O-Matic", which was shown about a half-hour ago.
Enough of my blathering, though. Time to get back to watching.
February 15th, 2015 at 7:35 PM ^
In terms of former U-M students (not necessarily grads) - Gilda Radner and Mike O'Brien were cast members, and Tom Brady, Lucy Liu and Madonna hosted. Who am I missing?
February 15th, 2015 at 7:56 PM ^
Michael Phelps and Ann B. Davis were hosts as well.
February 15th, 2015 at 8:12 PM ^
February 15th, 2015 at 8:22 PM ^
I watched the first seasons till Micheals was gone. Luckily I discovered SCTV. Then bars came along on Sat. nights. Then adult stuff. Thankfully I did learn from SNL how to chill on a bad acid trip.
February 15th, 2015 at 8:54 PM ^
I was hoping for a new celebrity jeopardy, that was some good stuff.
February 15th, 2015 at 10:32 PM ^
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February 15th, 2015 at 9:15 PM ^
February 15th, 2015 at 9:27 PM ^
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February 15th, 2015 at 9:32 PM ^
Chevy Chase is looking a little rough
February 15th, 2015 at 9:58 PM ^
February 15th, 2015 at 10:36 PM ^
His red carpet interview sounded like he's starting to lose it. Depressing.
February 16th, 2015 at 2:19 AM ^
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February 15th, 2015 at 9:56 PM ^
February 15th, 2015 at 10:07 PM ^
Eddie Murphy still looks about the same.
Love the Jepardy sketch and Bill Murray singing the "Jaws" theme song.
February 15th, 2015 at 10:11 PM ^
So this is just like a real episode of SNL, heading for a nosedive after Weekend Update.
February 15th, 2015 at 10:11 PM ^
So this is just like a real episode of SNL, heading for a nosedive after Weekend Update.
February 15th, 2015 at 10:17 PM ^
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February 15th, 2015 at 10:44 PM ^
February 15th, 2015 at 10:49 PM ^
February 15th, 2015 at 10:52 PM ^
I know he is popular. But WTFl?
February 15th, 2015 at 10:54 PM ^
February 15th, 2015 at 11:04 PM ^
Dan Akroyd: Never made it.
February 15th, 2015 at 11:26 PM ^
February 15th, 2015 at 11:29 PM ^
Wayne's World just happened. Even though Myers and Carvey pretty much hated each other for almost two decades. What else did you want?
February 16th, 2015 at 12:31 AM ^
February 16th, 2015 at 4:20 PM ^
Agreed RobM, thought there would be more replays from the early days, especially with John Belushi. More skits and less of the other stuff would have been great. As it turned out it was way too long.
February 15th, 2015 at 11:03 PM ^
That digital short could have basically just been an entire montage of every sketch Jimmy Fallon ever did.
February 15th, 2015 at 11:16 PM ^
I remember staying up late when I was 12 to watch SLN! Thought it was great through '82, then again in the late 80s through the mid 90s. Have not watched it much in recent years. '75 is when Bo made a surprise announcement of Rick Leach as his starting QB. Leach did well in his first game against WI but we played fairly poor against un-ranked Stanford and Baylor at home who we only tied! By game 3 Leach played very well and upset # 5 MO, actually blew them out 31-7 at home! Michigan lost a close one at home against OSU, 21-14. And of course, I remember watching the '76 Orange Bowl where Michigan lost a tough fought defensive battle against OU!
February 15th, 2015 at 11:38 PM ^
...when they're trying to be funny.
And funny people aren't as funny when they're trying to be funny for other funny people.
The best parts of this show were simply the clips they showed of old shows.
February 16th, 2015 at 12:01 AM ^
February 16th, 2015 at 1:57 AM ^
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February 16th, 2015 at 2:41 AM ^
Also see the 2000 election, when the Gore campaign made him sit down and watch the parody of his first debate performance (the "lockbox" night).
Honestly, if they sold a box set of the 2000 election sketches, end to end, including the post-election presidential special with both Bush and Gore appearing on the show themselves, I'd be first in line. The whole thing was positively brilliant.
February 16th, 2015 at 11:58 AM ^
SNLs heyday was the Hartman, Myers, Miller, Carvey, Sandler, MacDonald, Farley, Spade years transitioning into the Ferrell, Oteri, Rudolph, Fallon, Parnell years.
It's been downhill ever since. There have been a few guys coming out of there like Samberg and Hader, but I haven't laughed at SNL in a very long time except when Louis CK hosted.
February 16th, 2015 at 3:37 PM ^
That 15 year span from around 1985 to about 2000, SNL would be consistently good week-to-week. Each episode there'd by 3 or 4 skits that were hilarious. You'd watch the full 90 minutes because it was worth it. After Ferrell left, the quality just got awful. You'd tune in and suffer through the first half hour just to see Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon do "Weekend Update", because that bit was consistently funny, but then you'd go to bed because you knew the rest of the show would be awful.
I mean, it's easy to romanticize the more recent incarnations of SNL if you pull from a best-of compliation, and certainly players like Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg, and Bill Hader have done some funny bits, but the show is nowhere near as entertaining as a whole as it was back in the late-80's and the 90's. Nowadays, the best bits that come out of SNL are the shorts that wind up on YouTube like "Dick in a Box".
February 16th, 2015 at 6:11 AM ^
Hitting 40 isn't an achievement when it's sucked for half it's tenure. The past 20 years it's been terrible.
Hopefully now that they've hit a milestone and had one last hurrah, they can put it out to pasture.
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February 16th, 2015 at 10:52 AM ^
Past 20 years it's been terrible?
Nope.
February 16th, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^
How about the past 10 to 15 years? I mean aside from "Dick in a Box" and Tina Fey and Amy Poehler fisking Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton, what has SNL done recently that is great?
February 16th, 2015 at 6:42 AM ^
February 16th, 2015 at 12:49 PM ^
Kayne Pest showed up.
In my opinion the two best SNL guy's were Belushi and Hartman..
Ironically both are dead.
February 16th, 2015 at 3:01 PM ^
What's ironic about that?
Now, the short film with an old John Belushi visiting the graves of his castmates - that's ironic.