RIP Norm Macdonald

For the record, Rolling Stone did rank them all in 2015 and Norm was seventh ... from bottom.

'Saturday Night Live': All 145 Cast Members Ranked

 

That's nuts. He's funny just looking at him. He was as good at delivering lines and moments as any of them without even mentioning Weekend Update.

 

It might have been Shales' oral history of SNL that asked various cast members who their favorite other NRFPTPs were. (Yes, I have this and the Red, Green, and Hateful books...)

Dan Aykroyd said is favorite later gen player was Horatio Sanz.

 

I looked up The Norm Show and it had quite a cast of past and future sitcom regulars. I recall an episode where Norm was trying to bait his boss into saying something racist to get him fired. The boss, Max Wright, wouldn't take the bait but then said someone "gyped" him and Norm claimed to be a Gypsy.

From Wiki: The show focused on the life of Norm Henderson (Norm Macdonald), a former NHL hockey player who is banned for life from the league because of gambling and tax evasion. To avoid jail time for these crimes, Norm must perform five years of community service as a full-time social worker. Other characters in the show included fellow social workers Laurie Freeman (Laurie Metcalf), Danny Sanchez (Ian Gomez), and Danny's sometime girlfriend and former prostitute Taylor Clayton (Nikki Cox). Norm's boss on the program for the first several episodes was named Anthony Curtis (Bruce Jarchow). This character was quickly replaced by a new boss, Max Denby (Max Wright), whom Norm frequently antagonized and pranked.

The second season of the show added Artie Lange as Norm's half-brother Artie, and Faith Ford as Shelly Kilmartin, Norm's probation officer and love interest.

 

Yeah - I didn't want to mention that article, because I remember it being pretty bad and click-baity, ha. I mean, they had him behind people who only lasted less than a season.

 

Simmons had Daniel Kellison on his pod for a segment on Norm - it's about 25 minutes and worth listening to, since Kellison was a long-time Norm friend and the guy who produced one of his last endeavors, the excellent Netflix and YouTube podcast-to-video show that's unfortunately been scrubbed off parts of the Internet.

Anyway - They mentioned that Norm's "dream" project was to do what seemed to be a normal sitcom through about five episodes. Norm would be playing an innkeeper, similar to one of Bob Newhart's shows. Then, at the end of the fifth episode, his wife would be brutally murdered at the end of the episode. Fade to black, and from that episode on, it would abrupt shift in tone to a Matlock-like detective show. (This will shock you, but they couldn't get a network to bite on the show.)

 

In a way it sounds Kevin Can F--k Himself.

 

I’m a big believer that major characters should be killed off in any type of show. Even better if it’s not the season finale cliffhanger. Just kill one off in a car crash or something.

 

That sounds like a show that would be roasted by critics and ignored by viewers (though having a few cult fans), and then 10 years later everybody says it was the most brilliant thing on TV and ahead of its time.

 

The continued success of "Grey's Anatomy," vs. every other drama that seemingly gets stale after X years, would seem to agree with you. But kind of like NFL coaches, I imagine TV executives are pretty risk averse. "This show has worked with this cast, we can't possibly change it!" So instead, we're going to keep people alive on shows like "Heroes" and "Outer Banks" even when it becomes absolutely ridiculous.

 

I'm also fine with movies and books that have ambiguous endings. That's more real life than everything wrapped up in a neat bow.

And I've never seen Grey's Anatomy, so I'll take your word for it.

 

ER had plenty of characters go, but so many doctors can have sex in the supply closet before it becomes repetitive.