Just like with music, a person will most identify with the cast of SNL when they started watching it. Showing clips from previous seasons won’t resonate with them. For as much as I would have appreciated an acknowledgment of Gilda Radner (besides a picture of her at the end), if you started watching the show long after she died, what is she to you other than a name?
On Thu, Feb 20, 2025 at 2:22 PM M-D November <[email protected]> wrote: > Taking everything together: > > - The BTS documentaries > - Questlove's music documentary (which I still haven't seen but have > heard nothing but raves about) > - The homecoming concert (which was largely excellent) > - The primetime special > > ...I think the team accomplished what they set up to accomplish, and that > was to create a larger retrospective than 3 hours on a Sunday night could > possibly allow for. > > As for the primetime special on its own? It wasn't for us. Much like the > Homecoming concert, I took it to be a party for the SNL faithful that we > were allowed to peek into. It was for the cast, the crew, the previous > hosts & musical guests, and on that level, it appears to have succeeded. > Did it make for a slightly diminished viewing experience for the home > viewer? Sure, but that's always going to be the case when you're on the > outside looking in - you're not going to get the in-jokes, you're always > going to ask "what were they thinking?" about some aspect of the gathering, > but again, it's not for you. > > Sure, it would have been nice to see more 'classic' sketches represented, > but as the 'in memoriam' montage pointed out, many of the sketches we > consider classics are also considered deeply offensive to the groups > depicted in the sketches. Factor in the age of some of the original cast > members, the lack of availability of some from the middle-years (for > instance, Carvey apparently had a wicked case of the flu, which immediately > takes Wayne's World, Hans & Franz and Church Chat off the board) and the > desire to capitalize on the more viral nature of modern SNL (Black > Jeopardy, the Digital Short, the musical parody, *Domingo*), and...you're > just not going to please everyone. But I thought the special did a nice job > of merging the generations (Newman & Davidson, Eddie's 2 appearances), and > the original cast was expressly called out via a full re-air of "Don't Look > Back in Anger". In short, it was far more successful than at least the > last 2 anniversary specials, and that's probably good enough. (That it > killed in the ratings doesn't hurt either.) > > On Wednesday, February 19, 2025 at 10:52:32 PM UTC-5 Stan S wrote: > >> >> A full-on clip show would be a retread of the previous three anniversary >> shows. >> >> The show on Sunday has to be considered as part of a larger SNL50 >> celebration. Once Friday night’s concert was over there was a feeling that >> Sunday’s show would pale in comparison. >> >> The cast reminiscing and clip show requirement was served by the four >> part special on Peacock as well as the music special. Maybe at some point >> they’ll get run on NBC as a Friday or Saturday night special. >> >> -Stan >> On Wednesday, February 19, 2025 at 6:03:35 AM UTC-5 JW wrote: >> >>> I watched the recording last night. >>> >>> They'd have been much better served by having beloved cast members/hosts >>> introducing clips than by writing new material for characters whom I had no >>> interest in seeing again, even if it allowed for some celebrity cameos. >>> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/9e182153-d107-4e3b-bc25-f588bb05f633n%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/9e182153-d107-4e3b-bc25-f588bb05f633n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiGhCyiwvDh7d0AvtireyfV6-LsLChXt8z46oR70YQJpyA%40mail.gmail.com.
