moriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (12/10/84)
Ringo Starr was on, and believe me, I am shocked that he is this funny (it
didn't show in CAVEMAN). But his opening monologue, about being a legend,
was excellent, and the show moved up from there. If it is repeated later
this year, I recommend it. In particular, the Texxon ad ("Texxon... Do what
we say, and nobody gets hurt."), Santa -- The Terminator, and the Ringo
Starr auction were excellent. And, of course, Billy Crystal's Fernando was
just... mahvelus.
"My friends, it is better to look good than to feel good."
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
UUCP:
{cornell,decvax,ihnp4,sdcsvax,tektronix,utcsrgv}!uw-beaver \
{allegra,gatech!sb1,hplabs!lbl-csam,decwrl!sun,ssc-vax} -- !fluke!moriarty
ARPA:
fluke!moriarty@uw-beaver.ARPAtgd@bonnie.UUCP (Tom Dennehy) (12/12/84)
The Texxon ad ("Do what we want and nobody gets hurt") was good the
first time I saw it...
LAST YEAR!!!
that film has been run on at least 4 live shows and it pops up in reruns
a lot when it replaces a sketch which didn't work on the original.
I have two shows this year, and both have used the Strategic
Airborne Contraceptive film clip. The phrase Saturday Night Live is
starting to be a misnomer, and given the relative air time of the
cast, it should be called "The Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest Show."
Too many talk show parodies and not nearly enough NEW, REALLY NEW stuff.
Think of all the characters, catch phrases, and silliness the Not Ready
for Prime Timers made permanent parts of the national comedy consciousness.
Two producers and three major cast changes later, nothing...
Not to be entirely negative, I do like Crystal and Guest's "You know what
I hate..." sketches. They could probably do a helluva "Who's on First".
And Ed Begley's return from the future (Here, hold this over your head)
was the first uh, well...shall we say, tweak on network TV.
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Tom Dennehy AT&T BL WH, NJ bonnie!tgdwmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (12/18/84)
The filmed "commercials" that SNL has been carrying for some years now are just about their funniest and best stuff. They are worthy of repetition. There are several reasons for this: 1) They are NOT live. Therefore, they can be rehearsed, redone, refilmed, edited, and cut using all the techniques we are used to seeing on real commercials or even sitcoms. Thus, they are technically more polished. 2) They are repeated. Therefore, the writing and production effort that can go into them is greater than can be expended on a one-time-shot live sketch (even if the latter will be re-shown during rebroadcasts). Thus, they begin with an advantage. 3) They are the result of "natural" selection. (This is my supposition.) For each one that gets produced, at least several ideas are proposed and discarded. They are the result of competitive selection. While I am sure that the same applies to the live sketches selected, the fact that these filmed spots cost more to produce means that the competitive pressure to improve them is greater. They thus are refined and optimized. Will Martin USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin or ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA