Just a few months ago, Saturday Night Live was just about the hottest show on television. Lorne Michaels built entire shows -- even special primetime editions -- around Tina Fey's spot-on Sarah Palin, Darrel Hammond's doddering John McCain, and Amy Poehler's ticked-off Hillary Clinton.
Now Fey and Poehler are gone and we're left with Fred Armisen's awful Barack Obama and a string of lame sketches brightened only by an occasional Kristen Wiig character. But sometimes even Wiig is hard to take (the 'annoying wife skit' this week was only about a one degree deviation from several other Wiig characters I can think of right now).
And in this Age of DVR, I'm sure few of us have a huge problem with product placement on shows, as long as it works. I consider it a small price to pay, and barely even flinch anymore when the Friday Night Lights gang meets up over at Applebees. But Pepsuber? Was that supposed to be funny? The MacGruber sketch hasn't been funny in a long time (ever). The only remotely interesting thing about that series of Pepsuber sketches was trying to figure out if that was really Richard Dean Anderson in the mullet wig.
I had high hopes for this week's installment because I love Steve Martin and he's an SNL legend (he has hosted 15 times). But most of the sketches were unwatchable, and it wasn't Martin's fault. I can't imagine anyone making some of those sketches funny. I'm still amused by Laser Cats, but disappointed by most of the other SNL Digital Shorts of late.
SNL always goes through periods of highs and lows, but rarely have the highest highs and the lowest lows been in the same season. The only really good post-election show was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.
Can he please host every week?
Brooke Cain isn't always proud of the number of hours she logs in front of the TV, but her loss of brain cells can be your gain. From reality shows to sitcoms to the more serious stuff, Brooke keeps her DVR smoking so that she can help keep you in the know. Brooke also tweets for Happiness is a Warm TV (you can follow 
Comments
Lost in all the hoopla about
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 12:22 — RonMexicoLost in all the hoopla about the election sketches in the Fall was that the rest of the show was horrible. I still DVR this show every week but after fast forwarding through 90% of it I wonder why I even bother? Like you said I too had high hopes for Steve Martin since I have been a fan of his since the 70's, but even he could not save the show. I would say it might be time to pull the plug once and for all but then they would probably give the slot to Jay Leno (ugh!).
That's what I do ...
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 13:45 — brookecain (author)I always DVR it *just in case* there's something great (and the musical guests are usually good) but most of the time I fast-forward through most of it. I would think the show is probably semi-cheap for NBC to produce -- as cheap as their reality shows and way cheaper than a scripted show. So they will probably keep it around. There's nothing else to compete with at 11:30.