Prolly loves Double Downs.

Waiting for MGMT!!!!

I was just about to make a thread about how much snl sucks now. The only thing holding the show up is the digital shorts. Most of the skits are absolutely cringeworthy, and weekend update was even awful. I guess I missed MGMT playing too, but I guess since they probably just played stuff from congratulations I guess I don't even care enough.

i dont think you need to make a thread about how it sucks. people already know

I still record it every week hoping for a funny Weekend Update, an even funnier digital short, and maybe an interesting musical guest. I'm getting more and more let down by Weekend Update and the shorts, but I'll keep DVRing until it all becomes unwatchable. The overwhelming majority of the sketches are AWFUL, with the only decent ones dumped in the last 15 minutes of the show. Kristin Wiig needs to leave to do movies - not because she is more talented than the rest of the cast, but because all of her characters are basically the same annoying people with varying wigs.

god i hate kristin wiig

the fact that they have an actress who only has one role to her career (i think), in which it was one of the most depressing and sad characters in recent film history as their host, shows the lack of talent available who actually wants to this the show.

or maybe it was because she and the film itself were nominated for Oscars.

duh.
my point was, and I know that SNL has done it dozens of time in the past...
Gabourey does not have any other acting credits to her resume. Sure, capitalize on the buzz of her oscar nod, but what has she shown in terms of comedic chops.....

SNL use to be a comedy show....kind of taking a big chance, bringing in someone to host who has never proved to any mass medium that she can be comedic....

but then again, maybe that's why SNL has been in the shitter for so long...

SNL has always been 90% terrible

I think SNL has been in the shitter for so long because they have no clue which sketches are garbage and which ones are good. If something is funny and/or unique, you'll never see those characters appear again. The recurring sketches almost always feature Wiig doing a "wacky" voice or Fred Armisen with his HORRIBLE Obama. The good thing is that I can tell within the first 5 seconds if the sketch will be bad, so my finger is on the FF button. It amazes me how fairly low-budget shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report manage to deliver good-sized laughs several times a week, but this army of comedians on NBC can't create more than 6 or 7 minutes of comedy once a week.

I haven't watched it yet, but this Gabourey Sidibe episode may be the final nail in the coffin.

the daily show does 22 minutes for four days, 10 or so of which is interview. And half of the 12 minutes is showing clips of Fox. SNL is an hour and a half. Take out the music, and I'd guess they have about 44 minutes to fill, roughly about the same amount as a week of the Daily Show.

I love the Daily Show and I don't know that I would call what they do easy, but i think it's much easier to be consistently funny in their formula than to do original sketch comedy. I think SNL is fairly bad at what they do, but I also think it's a fairly difficult medium to do every week, year after year.

It's pretty dumb that the show is as long as it is. One of the things that made Chapelle so great was that no sketch went on longer than it needed to. SNL rarely if ever has a sketch that ends when it should. I guess part of that is the live format and the nature of having to change sets and costumes, but that's no excuse. Stop making sketches too long.

Of course it's easier - it's commentary as opposed to acting. Plus, every week SNL gets a new, random, not necessarily good actor thrown in the mix.

I can't believe they've never shortened it to an hour. INtro --> skit --> music --> Week in Review-->Skit -->Music --> Outro

That way they really only need 2 strong skits. I haven't watched anything outside of political stuff in years, because it's just not funny, and most of the actors are TERRIBLE. Samberg's song skits are mildly amusing, but anything else he touches is in Stiller territory for me.

his Mark Whalberg was pretty great, but that was a rare situation where they had the good sense to end it almost right away.

I completely agree, but some of the biggest laughs on The Daily Show (for me at least) come from the "sketch-like" segments that are filmed outside of the studio, where there is less reliance on simply reacting to a funny/strange video clip and commenting on it. I imagine SNL is working with a much larger budget and cast of writers, but they only manage to generate the laughs of maybe 1/2 an episode of The Daily Show.

Why is Kenan Thompson still employed?

he's the only black guy that Lorne knows.

SNL is only as funny as the talent. It ebbs and flows. There will be a new cast eventually that will actually be funny.

this kinda rolls into people staying on far too long and becoming comfortable. the current cast has 3 of the 10 longest-tenured castmembers in SNL's history. they just need better new blood. i think the writer's staff had some decent turnover a couple years ago. i wouldn't be surprised if the same happened with the cast for next year.

there are also castmembers who aren't used properly. i think we can all agree that abby elliott is attractive, but nearly every sketch is her flaunting that instead of being funny. kristen wiig has a similar problem where she overplays in every sketch. her recurring characters are dreadful because of it.

yes and


I haven't watched an episode in over 20 years, it's not going to get any better

Awesome to have such a definite opinion on something you haven't watched for two decades.

Because "What Up Wit Dat?" and "Scared Straight" are awesome.

Also, deny that Armisen's Obama is bad. I think it's spot on.

if they didn't do a skit with her as biggie smalls, they missed a golden opportunity

I've seen various skits/clips though on hulu.com, asshole. Just not whole episodes.

i have to reiterate that i really hate the new mgmt. it was playing in a store today, and i heard a group of people asking what the fuck this crap was.

What the fuck is a clock?