Nothing like showing us how you really feel. I get it. You hate Trump and you're irked that he got the platform of "Saturday Night Live" to pose on — just like Hillary Clinton a few weeks ago and all the many other politicians who've had a shot at hosting over the years. What was so bad about the episode?
Hank Stuever, the WaPo TV critic calls the episode "an anemic and halfhearted dud" and a "boring and misspent episode," but based on what? He says that the cast members seemed to lack the "desire to participate" or "play with him." There was one sketch that was about the cast doing a sketch while Trump was tweeting about them and feeling bad about that, and maybe that signaled how they really felt about him, but that doesn't make the show halfhearted and dull. That showed them going meta with whatever distance they felt they needed, which isn't necessarily dull.
Stuever seems to demand that the show do sharper political mockery, but the failure to insult and abuse a guest host doesn't mean there won't be stronger satire on other occasions or that the comedy we did get wasn't good. So what was such a "sorry" "bummer"? Well, Stuever didn't like the "You're a racist" yell from Larry David in the cold open. But that was great! And:
From there it was one dud after another — some of it featuring Trump, much of it not, the minutes slowing to a crawl. A sketch set in 2018, in a wildly successful Trump White House, fell apart quickly. “Weekend Update” did a fair job of playing a little offense.... The “Update” segment also made good use of Bobby Moynihan’s “Drunk Uncle” character — turns out he’s the ideal demographic for the Trump message...I'm sorry, Stuever, you have not marshaled the evidence that this was a sorry, boring, dud bummer. You're just pissed that Trump was showcased.
ADDED: Here's my earlier post on what I thought of the show.
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24 comments:
Does Hank Steuver regularly watch SNL? It hasn't been worth watching in over ten years, at least. "Sorry" would be an improvement.
No one believes the writers wanted to write anything funny for Trump, do they? Also, cast members probably weren't crazy about been in a skit with him. You can just imagine the machinations behind the scenes for this show. It wasn't funny because no one associated with the show wanted it to be funny.
"I'm sorry, Stuever, you have not marshaled the evidence that this was a sorry, boring, dud bummer. You're just pissed"
It's so nice of you to keep tabs on the MSM for us, but did you expect anything but a sorry, boring, dud bummer Prog reaction to even a mildly pseudo-conservative GOP-er on SNL?
To the press the issue of border control is nonsensical.
I look at the SNL appearance as Trump giving SNL the opportunity to prove to a larger audience that it can be a good show. The cast and writers failed. I also didn't find Hillary's appearance to be very funny either.
The Washington Post review is so that the people who didn't watch the show can give their opinion of the show Monday morning.
I am Laslo.
"With Donald Trump hosting, Saturday Night Live jumped to its biggest overnight rating since 2012.
According to NBC, SNL had a whopping 6.6 household rating on Saturday night, easily beating the season’s previous high: the 41st season premiere last month, hosted by Miley Cyrus and with a guest appearance by none other than … Hillary Clinton. In fact, Trump’s overnight rating was 47 percent higher than the Miley/Hillary episode. "
http://www.ew.com/article/2015/11/08/donald-trump-snl-ratings
via AoSHQ
From what I've heard SNL's overnight ratings for viewership for the Trump show were the highest that they've had in some time. SNL is a sorry excuse for a comedy show--hasn't been funny in years. So they get a ratings bump from an appearance by the Donald. That's what happens when you put a real clown on the show.
And as for our host's headline--I knew she was a late 50's and early 60's rocker!
"Sorry, sorry, sorry ..." was lifted from the refrain of "I Ran All The Way Home" by the Impalas. Aside from running all the way home "to make amends, after all we're more than friends", the Impalas wail, "Now I'm sorry, sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry."
I suppose Trump's appearance on SNL made the WaPo's television critic (another self appointed and over inflated grandee of the press) cry.
To which I say, "Buddy get a life. If the best you can do with your life is be a critic of television, your might ask your momma for a re-set and fresh start."
♫ Sorry, sorry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frame-less heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget ♫
That sidebar is almost certainly just a web-page-programming bug.
"Trump’s sorry night on ‘SNL’: An overhyped bummer for us all"
What do you mean "us all", kemosabe?
It sucked. But then, this show has sucked for decades now. It's unwatchable. Trump probably brought them numbers that I am sure, are double what they would typically do. But I'll bet those numbers fell off quickly and in large chunks.
I've wondered about this for years: is SNL that much worse than it was in 'the day' or is it just me, the older guy saying, 'get off my lawn'? Was the cast featuring John Belushi, Bill Murray, Jane Curtain, Gilda Radner, Dan Akroyd, Chevy Chase, et al. that much better? Was the writing featuring Michael O'Donoghue, Anne Beatts, Al Franken, Buck Henry, et al. that much better? As it turns out: Yes- by Grand Canyon sized levels. And its not a generational thing. Funny is funny. Humor is either there or it's not. This generation has a hard time with laughing at itself. Humor is not thriving these days (see articles on comics stopping campus tours). Censoring speech, on the other hand, is. And it's the college-aged viewers that always kept this show moving. Today's college aged people seem more focused on shutting down speech than laughing at it.
SNL has been cringe-worthy for years. Not just a few shows, but years worth. Just shit. One wonders why NBC keeps it on the air, but I figure it must get some viewers still. Though, this is NBC, the network that operates MSNBC, and no one watches that either. Instead of sitting around trying to come up with Hillary's or Donald's to boost their ratings, they might try finding some talent- in the writing staff and on stage.
I hadn't watched SNL in several years and a full episode since probably the early 90s. Didn't last much past Weekend Update, which was Ben Carson bashing. I see I'm not missing much.
Leftists live in a cocoon. They don't engage in ideas, they don't interact with "them" - and Donald Trump is one of "them."
The Larry David riff was a poke in the eye of the right people.
Give SNL credit for consistency. They haven't been funny since 2008 if not earlier.
Hosting on Saturday Night Live is like being a jockey on a dead horse. They should stop beating that horse and give it a decent burial.
SNL is not in the business of going for cheap laughs and appealing to a wide demographic. That's their intent, but sadly it is no longer their business........Trump didn't come off looking bad. That's what really irritated the tv critic. A NBC show where Hillary and Sanders came off looking worse than Trump. You don't see that very often. They'll make up for it next week, but savor it for the nonce.
That sidebar is almost certainly just a web-page-programming bug.
Agreed. The WaPo website deserves mocking for it.
"The minutes slowing to a crawl"
Yeah, I think that is why I stopped watching SNL on a regular basis in the early 80's.
I Am Number Four is an explosive suspense-filled ride that will take you to the edge of your seat and beyond.
- Amazon plot summary
It sounds like the book that once you put it down you can't pick it up again.
Who is Hank Steuver and why should I care about his opinion on anything?
I thought that part where the Mexican guy (Yeah, I know who he was!) gave Trump the check for the Wall was kind of funny.
@Chickelit
And when more jokes were left in sight
On that sorry, sorry night,
You used your pen, as bashers often do ...
But we could have told you, Wa-Po,
Trump's show was never meant for
Unsophisticated you.
@Leigh: Perfect! :)
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