Something has been weighing heavy on my heart for quite some time. It is an issue that affects all of us, and as a nation I think we should take notice. No, I am not referring to health care reform or the war in Iraq; I am speaking of the horrendous quality of the once-great Saturday Night Live.
SNL was conceived by producer Lorne Michaels during the early 1970s and debuted on NBC in October 1975. It was an instant commercial hit, and throughout the years it has jump-started the careers of many famous comedians: Bill Murray, Steve Martin and Will Ferrell, to name just a few. This fact alone gives the long-running program an impressive track record, but all of those famous names hit their prime on the show before the turn of the millennium. For at least the past decade, SNL has been steadily declining, and I believe it is only going to get worse.
The writing on the show this season - the show's 36th - has been some of the worst in recent memory. An episode will generate only one or two good chuckles during the entire 90-minute running time. People have claimed the writing on the show is intelligent, and that only sophisticated, well-read audiences will "get" the jokes. That is a load of crap. The majority of the jokes, if you can call them that, are lame and crass. They rely on juvenile humor and off-putting sight gags to generate laughs, and most fall flat.
For example, last week's host was Elton John, and the lazy writing room made every sketch revolve around his sexuality. Now that is not to say that there aren't a few gut-busters here and there - pretty much any Jay Pharoah impression comes to mind - but the laughs quickly turn to groans when the audience realizes that the same joke will be beat to death for an entire sketch. I'm sorry, but I am not going to laugh when a character says the same thing for six straight minutes. Something is clearly wrong when not even the live studio audience is laughing.
The other major problem plaguing SNL is its management. Michaels is notorious for discouraging improvisation and ad-libbing among the actors, and his stringent attitude has been even more apparent with this season's young cast. This is a huge shame, as his cast clearly has talent. Watch any other show or movie with the same actors and actresses; they are hilarious - Bill Hader in Superbad is particularly great. But on SNL they are trapped under a sea of bad jokes. Many of the best comedic moments occur when the actors are allowed to have some breathing room with their parts. Strict formula breeds repetitiveness and weak comedy, and the show could be much better if Michaels would loosen his iron grip.
Despite my disdain for much of the show's sense of humor, there have been some bright spots. Cast members such as Amy Poehler and Tina Fey brought the show many hilarious characters and moments that transcended the material. Even the more recent digital shorts, all penned by Andy Samberg, can be very funny at times - "Mother Lover" and "I'm on a Boat" had me in stitches. But these comic gems are not the norm. As long as Saturday Night Live is still hindered by poor writing and inflexible management, the laughs will be few and far between.
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