On Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 3:26 AM, JW <[email protected]> wrote: > To the larger point, SNL likes to book the top of the charts, with > minimal regard for artistic merit (see Ashlee Simpson). The Late Show, > which has a lot more slots to fill, brings in a lot of artists who > fall under "alternative"; much of the music reminds me of watching > "Subterranean" on MTV2 a few years back.
To be clear, SNL presently likes to book the top of the charts. In their day as counterculture revolutionaries, they enjoyed booking equally obscure bands. It was, in fact, one of the reasons they were noticed early on. Looking at my DVD box sets, Art Garfunkel, ABBA, Carly Simon, Paul Simon, Ray Charles, Eddie Money, and Meat Loaf would be the only performers from the first three seasons that I would consider mainstream (others who were on would eventually find their way to pop culture, but at the time they appeared, they seemed to be going out of their respective ways to avoid the pop scene... even ABBA'a appearance somewhat predates the height of disco). Something people forget about the early days of Saturday Night (and Letterman's Late Night, for that matter) was that nobody figured the timeslot to be a money maker. It allowed them to experiment with new acts and new performers, and a lot of the experiments failed. But, eventually, NBC started to take notice of the ratings and then they took notice of their own programing. I don't know if NBC sold SNL up the river, or if Lorne Michaels ultimately whored himself out when he returned as EP in the 1980s, but by the mid to late 1980s, the show had transitioned out of the counterculture and into the mainstream, where it has loitered ever since, wasting 90 minutes of valuable broadcast airtime. -- Kevin M. (RPCV) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... Smart (TV) People on Ice! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
