In 2006, 31 years after Chevy Chase exclaimed for the first time "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" the show kicked off it's 32nd season with a reduced cast. I have felt that Saturday Night Live had run its course after the original cast and Lorne Michaels (who eventally returned) left in 1980. NBC shouldn't have recast the show with people like Gilbert Gottfried, Ann Risley and Charles Rocket, who used the "f word" on an episode. They should have cancelled the show. Instead, the network left it on and gave us some quality talent such as Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, Mary Gross, Phil Hartman and Billy Crystal. In recent years, the show IMHO hasn't been as good and I don't even watch it. Do you think SNL should have been cancelled years earlier?

....there are still some great sketches amongst the "dross". And every once in a while, some newspaper writer or critic will pose that deathless qusetion, "HAS 'SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE' RUN ITS COURSE???". I say not. If it had, NBC wouldn't have scheduled "STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP" or "30 ROCK", would they? {In the case of "30 ROCK", Lorne Michaels shares the same attitude the late William M. Gaines observed when he began publishing "Panic" in addition to the original "Mad" comic in 1953- "Everyone else is doing it [copying our format], why not us?"}. There's still life in "SNL"- would you shut down a major league "farm team" because very few people come to their games? No, there's a lot of "unknown talent" on the field...same as on "SNL". Take a good look, 'howilu'....and pay no attention to those who say otherwise.

:)

about 20 years ago...

about 20 years ago...

Right on target.

....there are still some great sketches amongst the "dross". And every once in a while, some newspaper writer or critic will pose that deathless qusetion, "HAS 'SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE' RUN ITS COURSE???". I say not. If it had, NBC wouldn't have scheduled "STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP" or "30 ROCK", would they? {In the case of "30 ROCK", Lorne Michaels shares the same attitude the late William M. Gaines observed when he began publishing "Panic" in addition to the original "Mad" comic in 1953- "Everyone else is doing it [copying our format], why not us?"}. There's still life in "SNL"- would you shut down a major league "farm team" because very few people come to their games? No, there's a lot of "unknown talent" on the field...same as on "SNL". Take a good look, 'howilu'....and pay no attention to those who say otherwise.

:)i agree 100 precent

id say it ran its course even longer, they should have ended in when the original cast left
its never been the same sense
every now and then u get a breakout star
but most of it is crapola

id say it ran its course even longer, they should have ended in when the original cast left
its never been the same sense
every now and then u get a breakout star
but most of it is crapola

When Dana Carvey left I stopped watching. I don't even know who's on it anymore.

SNL jumped the shark in the late 80s, in my opinion.

I have you know that Saturday Night Live was cancelled about three times. First in 1981, then in 1986, and later in 1995.

I only watch when An actor or actress I like is the guest host.....i think thats why most people watch it anyway..

I have you know that Saturday Night Live was cancelled about three times. First in 1981, then in 1986, and later in 1995.

It was not cancelled. It was on the verge of being cancelled in 1986, but Lorne Michaels convinced the network he could retool it...and he did. He brought in Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks and Dana Carvey and brought the show back creatively.

In 1981, Jean Doumanian, the producer who initially replaced Lorne Michaels after his departure the previous year was fired and deservedly so. She did not know how to produce a comedy show and it was painfully obvious, with diminishing viewership and scathing critical reviews. The show did go off the air for a month in March 1981 - reruns from the classic years (1975-1980) were shown during the hiatus - and returned in April with a new producer, Dick Ebersol, who remained the show's producer until Lorne Michaels' return in 1985.

The 1994-1995 season was generally considered to be a creative disaster by many - especially the critics - and at the end of that season, Lorne was ordered to make some drastic changes and clean house. He let go several cast members and for the 1995-1996 brought on new cast members such as Cheri Oteri, Will Ferrell and Darrell Hammond, which spearheaded yet another creative revival that lasted through the end of the decade.

It will always be the best at what it does. Just wait and see. I wish they could have kept Chris Parnell. And let him do his thing. He is as funny as Ferrel. Yet no one knows who he is. Bill Hader is excellent. Kirsten Wigg too.
Jason Sudakus is George Wendt's nephew he is great. Andy Samberge the jury is still out.

They shouldn't have replaced Will Forte as Dubya. He was doing a decent job. No one will ever top Ferrell's Bush, but Forte carved his own niche as a whiny, childish Bush.

SNL has had its ups and downs over the last 30+ years...

I actually think that the original group is a bit overrated by SNL historians... yes, they did some brilliant things, but I think that when the full season 1 comes out soon, people will realize that there was a lot of crap in there together with the brilliant things they did...

The worst period was probably the Charles Rocket period... which I think is one of the reasons that the original cast is more highly rated than they really should have been... they were just so much better, by comparison, than the group that followed them...

I think the best years of the show were actually the Hartman/Carvey/Lovitz/Hooks/Jackson/Dunn etc years... From top to bottom, I think that they were more talented than the original cast. They were better with impressions of famous people... I frankly didn't see a lot of comic talent in Jane Curtain and Lorraine Newman, but I thought Gilda Radner was great...
that could have had something to do with the fact that the men were unquestionably in charge in the early days, and really wrote for themselves, not the females in the cast..

I'll still try to catch a SNL every now and then these days, and I still see some funny stuff... I liked the show that was hosted by the Olsen twins (can't remember if it was this season or last season)...they had a couple of great sketches for them...the one where they're photgraphers outside an awards show and are trying to get pics of the arriving celebrities...and the other skit where one of them played a girl who had been made over into a supermodel, and they used the other sister to be her "reflection" in a mirror...

I liked the ep hosted by Lindsay Lohan as well, when they did the Harry Potter spoof... I've never seen the Potter movies, but this scene took place after summer vacation when Harry and his friends return to school... Harry and his friend couldn't believe how much the girl character (played by Lohan) "developed" over summer break...that was funny!

And I still like the way they do "Weekend Update" these days.

SNL had down periods in the early/mid 80s and mid 90s...but they ususally come back...

Some of people's attitudes about the show depend on when they started watching it... everyone has their favorite group of players, and thinks the show hasn't been the same since their group left...

While I wouldn't be sorry to see it go, I also don't mind if they keep bringing in new players...there's always a group of people out there who will watch...

...I believe the "worst" period of the series was the "Ebersol years" (1981-'85). This is when Dick "Mr. Humor" Ebersol decided that nobody wanted to see topical, political humor every week [especially in the shadow of the Reagan onslaught]...and so he abandoned it. Most of the material towards the end was either presented on tape or film (where's the LIVE???)....and then there was Eddie Murphy (sure, he's talented, but why HIM up front every week? There were OTHER cast members, you know!)....you think the seasons of the past several years were terrible? '84-'85 was.....I watched it, though. I was very happy to learn that Lorne was returning to "revive" the show in the fall of 1985....no matter how "terrible" that season was, it was better than virtually all of Ebersol's efforts!!!!

"SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE", despite virtually every TV critic's personal opinion of it now, will endure. It HAS to...it accounts for a large percentage of NBC's profits right now--and with G.E. cutting back on NBC personnel, they want a "sure thing"....and nothing is more "surer" than "SNL"!!!

:lookaroun

what always cracks me up about people who bash the show or a certan cast member is that when said cast member is on the show fans wont like the cast member but when they become famous for movies other tv shows or whatever then all of a sudden the same cast member that people were bashing is now the greatest thing since sliced bread . for example some of the same people who just love will ferrall now because he is a mega film star were the same people who the whole 7 years he was an snl cast member were saying he sucks it happens all the time . also i think all eras of snl reguardless of cast have great sketches ard horrable ones there is not one cast who hasant had a crappy show one week or another

I personally think the show is currently crap. However, it's much better than last season.

At this point, I think of SNL as an institution. In my opinion, it will be on forever. What else is NBC going to air on Saturday nights if they cancel it.

As for me, I quit watching the show after the 1994-95 season. I've watched episodes here and there in the recent years, just trying to get back into it, but I couldn't. Once Hartman left and then Farley, the show lost a lot of it's humor (for me).

SNL is a place for comedians to get their start. I mean look at all that the show has made famous. So I think it's needed to bring out some stars. One "star" that came from SNL that I can't stand and is one of the main reasons I couldn't stand the show was Jimmy Fallon. I'm sooooo glad he left - but that's just me.

...I believe the "worst" period of the series was the "Ebersol years" (1981-'85). This is when Dick "Mr. Humor" Ebersol decided that nobody wanted to see topical, political humor every week [especially in the shadow of the Reagan onslaught]...and so he abandoned it. Most of the material towards the end was either presented on tape or film (where's the LIVE???)....and then there was Eddie Murphy (sure, he's talented, but why HIM up front every week? There were OTHER cast members, you know!)....you think the seasons of the past several years were terrible? '84-'85 was.....I watched it, though. I was very happy to learn that Lorne was returning to "revive" the show in the fall of 1985....no matter how "terrible" that season was, it was better than virtually all of Ebersol's efforts!!!!

"SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE", despite virtually every TV critic's personal opinion of it now, will endure. It HAS to...it accounts for a large percentage of NBC's profits right now--and with G.E. cutting back on NBC personnel, they want a "sure thing"....and nothing is more "surer" than "SNL"!!!

:lookaroun

The Ebersol years were uneven and did favor Eddie and to a lesser degree, Joe Piscopo, but I'd still rather watch reruns from that era than watch the newer shows.

Personally, I thought the best Ebersol year was 1984-85 - some great name comedians and the level of humor was elevated from previous seasons.

Anyway, enough about this!! The real SNL's first season is now out on DVD!! Buy it!!

Also, just an FYI:

Individual episodes of SNL Season 1 are available for purchase ($1.99 per episode) on ITunes. You need a 5th generation video IPod to watch them.

After watching this season's shows thus far, I think SNL is due for another rebooting. They should gut the cast and writers and start anew. It's just tired and even unfunnier than last season.

Let's face it, Lorne is an NBC employee for life, entrenched, very rich and obviously doesn't care about the show as long as it's on the air and he's getting well-paid.

Really liked this episode. There was alot of energy. Timberlake is a good host.
SNL ended 06 on a good note.

"SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" has NOT "run its course"!! It's survived for over 30 years, and it'll keep on "surviving", regardless of how good a show it delivers every week. It's "THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW" of the new millenium...whatever THAT means.

;)

"SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" has NOT "run its course"!! It's survived for over 30 years, and it'll keep on "surviving", regardless of how good a show it delivers every week. It's "THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW" of the new millenium...whatever THAT means.

;)

No, it's the SNL of the new millenium. Ed Sullivan was an old school variety show. SNL was the US Monty Python of the seventies and is now just tired.

They need some fresh talent and writers.

The Justin Timberlake show was hysterical. The Barry Gibb show, the homelessness music, and of course, "The Box." That's freakin awesome!

SNL won't die... it's an ebb-n-flow. Some years are better than others. Just have to not be fair-weather fans.

The Justin Timberlake show was hysterical. The Barry Gibb show, the homelessness music, and of course, "The Box." That's freakin awesome!

SNL won't die... it's an ebb-n-flow. Some years are better than others. Just have to not be fair-weather fans.

Maybe it should be threatened with cancellation like it was in 1986 and 1995, which forced Lorne to shake things up, bring in new writers and talent and get it back on track.

Creatively it is a dead zone, with few highlights.

If someone does not like Saturday Night Live there is always the alternative... SLEEP ! Or now a days Cable.

I only watch when An actor or actress I like is the guest host.....i think thats why most people watch it anyway..

Maybe but my main reason for watching was the musical guest each week. The big name guest host was never a factor in my watching the series. As a matter of fact, They could've named Miskel Spillman permanent host and it wouldn't have phased me one bit.