Re: SNL (Re: Free Castle Break on Steam!)

On Mon, 14 Oct 2024 18:24:18 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

On 10/14/2024 5:29 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:

On Mon, 14 Oct 2024 10:29:52 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
 

On Sun, 13 Oct 2024 23:58:39 +0000, ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) wrote:
>

Ross Ridge <rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson  <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

TL;DR: in twenty years, we (either personally or as a culture) be
looking back fondly on a lot of the current SNL skits and wondering
why the 2050 cast is so unfunny ;-)

>

I remember first watching Saturday Night Live a few years after it
first aired and already people were telling me that original cast was
much better.  I beleived them too, since most of the original cast
where big name stars with movie careers by then.  How could nobodies
like Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo compare with the likes of Dan Aykroyd
or Chevy Chase?

>

As I continued to watch and enjoy it, I kept hearing how previous seasons
and casts were better and how far downhill it had gone.  Except now they
were talking about seasons and casts I had seen myself.  While I could
agree such-and-such a sketch was a classic and so-and-so who left the
show was really funny, I was still enjoying the show.

>

By the time the 90's rolled around I realized people were just going
to continue saying the show had gone downhill and whatever season and
cast they first watched was the best.  No one really had a viewpoint
where they could objectively compare the seasons.  Even me who never
thought the show was bad couldn't really see where the show had it's
inevitiable up and downs.  Just too hard to objectively compare a show
you're watching today to a show you saw years ago.

>

When I heard people making similar complaints about The Simpsons I just
ignored them.  Somehow both perputually downhill shows have managed to
survive even now when TV itself is in decline.

>
Like gaming. Older computer action games were better. /s ;)

>
They definitely weren't though.

 
But if you watch something like the 2022 Kids In The Hall skits, you
realize that even as old geezers, the overall talent of those guys
still holds up to their old material as long as they adjust their
content for modern times.
 
I'm not saying nobody young has talent, just that they're fewer and
farther between than they used to be and the level of talent across
TV/Music/Film etc is generally lower especially adjusted for per
capita.. there are roughly twice as many people on the planet as there
were in 1980, yet a diminishing ratio of talented people rising to
stardom despite an exponentially higher number of media vehicles to
potentially achieve it.
 

I'd argue that the exponentially expanding media vehicles IS the
problem.  If there are too many possible options, the audience attention
gets attenuated too far for any one to get enough to rise to "stardom".

That's part of the changing times situation I mentioned earlier. 

Stardom still occurs, there are many folks doing very on YT and
experiencing what it's like to be a ceWEBrity as Daniel Tosh used to
call it.  It's just that stardom has gotten dispersed, such that
"movie stars" aren't worshipped to the extent they used to be, and
anyone with an iPhone and time to vlog can have their 15 minutes of
fame.

Speaking of Daniel Tosh, the cancellation of his show was just another
casualty of the woke movement... shame because he is one funny
motherfucker.  I'd like to see a show where he and Dave Chappelle
co-host and take turns writing and directing skits, with zero
censorship or rules.  Now THAT would be funny.