On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 4:44 AM, Melissa P <[email protected]>wrote:
> Color me confused.**** > > ** ** > > Of course, the writers would think their work is great, i.e., funny.**** > > ** ** > > But just because they think they do a great job, doesn’t mean the audience > does.**** > > ** ** > > Take SNL, for instance. I’m sure the writers on that show also think > their work is great. Maybe some audience members agree. I don’t. > Frankly, I cringed at the toilet seat joke in last week’s 5-timer bit. How > stupid and unoriginal can you get?**** > > ** ** > > Dave could suffer from the same problem.**** > > ** ** > > Don’t get me wrong. I love Dave. I love that he was honored by the > Kennedy Center, because it was well-deserved. There are still many great > moments on his show, especially when he’s interviewing certain people.**** > > ** ** > > However, most of the time, what’s supposed to be pure comedy is just > silly, uncreative, and stale -- not clever, smart, and original, which is > what I prefer. > I disagree with the uncreative and stale part, but it is possible to be both silly and clever and original; indeed, David Letterman has earned his living combining those three elements over the last 30 years or so. What I have read and heard from writers on the show, who have not been operating from the mode of "I know the show stinks, but that is because all of the funny stuff I write keeps getting cut", is more that Dave does have a very specific sense of what he wants, and the writers are always trying to hit that sense. I don't think it makes the humor on that show stale or uncreative, but it probably does restrict the range of what gets on the air. Of ten jokes that don't even get to Dave because the writers think they are the kind of think Leno would do, maybe 7 really are lame and pedestrian, but 1-3 may have been really funny, but different from the kind of thing Dave typically does. My own judgement is that this keeps the crap ratio lower on the show, at the acceptable cost of a few funny lines. I know the charge that he has gotten lazy is common among some. If that means he does not come in on weekends and stay way after midnight working on those hilarious remote and complicated studio pieces that he used to do, then I guess there is some validity to the charge, though I think a better term than lazy would be something like grown-up, or matured. He clearly made a decision some time ago, maybe as far back as the by-pass (2000), certainly accentuated when he became a father (2003), and perhaps again when he faced some of his personal failings during the scandal (2009), to not spend as much of his time and psychic energy on the show. Conan has said that he made a similar decision when he re-booted his show for TBS. I think I mentioned here a few months ago that Jimmy Fallon, on the other hand, has said that at this point he is always willing to stay late after a show taping to work on some bit with the writers. He of course is trying to get to where Letterman and Leno already are (Leno has not really seemed to have the problem of spending too much time on the Tonight Show, I suppose because he has to make a living doing all of those stand-up gigs). In any case, one of the things I like about Dave is how his approach to his show has evolved as he has himself. I like his sensibility and while I wish he still had time to do all of those intricate remotes, I also wish I had time to stay up and watch every minute of every one of his shows. But we all get older and have complex responsibilities. I even like the filler stuff he puts into the Thursday night show that so many people seem to hate (I miss "Is This Anything"?, and I always got a kick out of Bruce and Linda on the Weekend Late Show, though maybe I will grow to like their new Entertainment show too). -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
