Saturday Night Live hasn’t been running for my entire life, but sometimes it feels that way. When the show debuted I was still in high school, as hard as that is to believe today. I’ll definitely confess to being a fan of SNL early on, particularly when Belushi was still with them, though I sort of lost track of the show in the 80s and 90s. But after all these years, is the seemingly eternal Saturday night offering from NBC finally on its last legs?
Christian Toto seems to think it’s possible. Not for a lack of advertising revenue or even ratings, but simply because even some of the shows most liberal fans seem to be growing tired of the schtick. It’s all gotten too predictable. As Toto points out, while everyone knew that producer Lorne Michaels was a liberal at heart, there used to be an unpredictable edginess to the writing. You couldn’t be sure who they would go after on any given week and they would frequently surprise us. But not anymore, and even some well known leftists from the entertainment community are growing tired of it.
“SNL” alum Rob Schneider made waves recently by saying the show’s liberal crusade is hurting the laughs. Comedy demands empathy and surprise, two elements in short supply on “SNL” circa 2018.
“The fun of…
