What's the Deal with Saturday Night Live?

Okay, the show has been bashed in the past and this thread is somewhat redundant, but anybody know how the show became so unwatchable, embarrassingly unfunny and awkward to watch. I almost have to turn away from the TV out of respect to the performers, nevermind the fact that it was taped three hours earlier 3,000 miles away.

An entire skit about people with funny names?
A Deal or No Deal take-off?

I just don't understand where the "joke" is supposed to be in the sketches anymore.

 

But it still makes NBC a lot of money.

 

The rest of the humor world has caught up with it, and within the constraints of network television it can't really raise the bar anymore. Plus, they just don't have the horses in the acting or writing areas.

 

In the 1980s, SNL had a couple of very talented people, surrounded by mediocrity and poor management.

But the first time it had real, funny and talented competition, was In Living Color (which is still hilarious in reruns). So, spring 1990 was when it started to bcome very clear that the Emperor had no clothes.

Now, they get one good idea, and they milk it. Celebrity jeopardy, for instance. Those black-and-white rap videos. They can no longer fill 90 minutes with worthwhile stuff.

To be fair, the shorter length likely helped In Living Color and MadTV seem better.

 

Ok, you raise a good point. Should SNL go down to an hour? Would things get better with a tighter show?

 

I hate to say it, but I don't get it.

 

You don't know a shark's dorsal fin when you see it?

 

ohhhhhhhhhhhh ok, I didn't see the bottom part until you said that.

 

SNL always has ups and downs. Every few years, they have a really talented group that remains intact until they all move on to bigger and better.

 

And the last such group was when?

The late 1970s. That was the last group that had the majority do bigger and better things afterward. The late 1980s and early 1990 group was entertaining, but they never really moved on to better things en masse.

The Will ferrell group had a couple of talented people, but som real dogs.