On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 5:53 PM, David Bruggeman <[email protected]> wrote:
> Via The Atlantic, a suggestion that SNL is both stuck in the past and > avoids character (as a concept, rather than a noun). > > > http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/05/snl-needs-an-update/257472/# > > I checked out from the show a long time ago, so I don't know if there's > been some cherry-picking of sketches. But I do think the absence of any > discussion of Digital Shorts (whatever you might think of them) undercuts > the argument that SNL doesn't engage the media of today. I don't think the > DS refute the argument, but they should be addressed. > This had the form and shape of interesting criticism, but was largely bankrupt of the substance it promised. I in particular really dig the kind of quantitative analysis of the kinds of sketches they did - but without anything to compare that to, it is largely meaningless. Is 58% TV parodies high, low or just about right? We would need at least some attempt to estimate the percentage of TV parody sketches they had 10 years ago, or 20 or 30, to answer that question. If they had 75% TV parodies in the 1980s, and 58% this year, then that would suggest the show is moving away from television as the default mode of popular media, undercutting what seems like a central thesis of the piece. OTOH, if (as I suspect) this is about the same percentage of television parodies they have always had, then the question is not why SNL has changed, but why hasn't it changed? It may be that in 5 years (or even 3) things will have changed enough that this is a meaningful critique, but as of this season, SNL is a television show, and more people watch popular television programs than any single similar length program delivered solely on the internet. I have been among those who have been waiting for SNL to get Marc Maron to host the show, but I don't really think the answer to SNL's problems is to spend 58% of its time making inside jokes about uber-hipster online content that only a small fraction of its intended audience has really seen. I agree about the Biden-Bush sketch, but I don't think that supports the thesis about SNL ignoring new wave media. That happens when the commit to and explore a comic idea, even when risky, rather than relying on the safe and easy "laughs" that come from mimicking television formats. It was in the spirit (though of course not nearly as good as) of one of the all time best SNL sketches - Akyroyd's Jimmy Carter talking down a talk radio caller from a bad drug trip. -- 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
