I think that the "looks wholesome and sweet but says inappropriate things" thing is basically Betty's schtick these days (and there was a lot of that on display back in her Match Game appearances,) but there wasn't much of her other talents outside of a few good one-liners in the monologue. But would an 88-year-old woman playing the retirement home bicycle be a nod to Sue Ann Nivens or another example of seeming like a sweet old lady but being something else in reality?
I actually thought the NPR sketch was one of the highlights of the night. Sure, it's recycling a very well-known sketch, but it isn't one of the sketches that the audience found funny the first time so the writers decided to run the joke into the ground (like the whole MacGruber thing, which I didn't find that funny when I first saw it). I usually find it hard to compliment Ana Gasteyer or Molly Shannon on their comedic talents, but they (and Betty or Alec) really make the joke by playing it perfectly straight. Most of SNL's cast members over the last several years seem to play the straight man with a wink and a nod or try to oversell the joke, and for once they went for understated when it would work. What surprised me about the reaction to the show was that, at least as far as I saw, nobody in the gay blogosphere had a problem with the "She's a lesbian!" sketch. In fact, I saw it applauded in a few places for making the clueless sisters the butt of the joke. One site did go after them for prison rape references in the "Scared Straight" sketch, but I skipped over it as soon as I realized that it wasn't going to be funny, so I can't say much about it. On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 11:44, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: > I've been trying to think of what, specifically, disappointed me about > Betty White's SNL. Over the years, I've likened SNL's sketch stylings > to Jay Leno's monologue stylings: The same jokes rehashed with a few > names and pop culture references changed to give the illusion of > relevancy. I'm used to that and expect it, though I didn't expect > exactly how much the series would steal from itself. > > The Spanish talk show was basically "Sprockets" (right down to the odd > dancing between "guests"), which wasn't that funny a premise to begin > with. The NPR sketch was a total recycle of the one they did (could it > be 15 years ago?) with Baldwin; they just changed the specific > innuendo. The MacGruber sketches are exactly the same EVERY time. That > leaves us with a few sketches where the "comedy" came in the form of > an old woman saying inappropriate things. But the recycled material > wasn't even what most disappointed me. > > My primary disappointment was this: None of the sketches I saw Betty > White in had anything to do with Betty White. It could have been Julia > Louis-Dreyfus or William Shatner reading from the cue cards. They made > seemingly no attempt to utilize the range of Betty White's comedic > talent. She played the village bicycle on "Mary Tyler Moore," the ditz > on "Golden Girls," and the quick-witted comeback queen on "Match Game" > and "Password," but the SNL writers didn't tap any of that experience. > Yes, she's an old woman, but she's more than that, and they didn't > take advantage of what they had. > > Genuinely funny women are rare and more precious than gold. SNL had > one and they didn't know what to do with her. And that is > disappointing. > > -- > Kevin M. (RPCV) > > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > -- David J. Lynch [email protected] -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
