{"id":30942,"date":"2012-10-08T07:00:30","date_gmt":"2012-10-08T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=30942"},"modified":"2012-10-08T07:49:05","modified_gmt":"2012-10-08T12:49:05","slug":"the-unthinkable-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=30942","title":{"rendered":"The Unthinkable"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two things, really:<\/p>\n

SNL is funny again?<\/strong>: I dunno. \u00a0I haven’t watched it in years. \u00a0SNL follows a pattern;<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. They fire the old cast and start a new cast – usually 6-8 people. \u00a0It’s funny – or at least funny-ish.<\/li>\n
  2. The show adds more “featured players” to help with some of the sketches. \u00a0The show remains more or less funny-ish.<\/li>\n
  3. The “featured players” get added to the cast, to be replaced by more “featured players”. \u00a0Gradually, the show gets less funny.<\/li>\n
  4. After 3-5 seasons, the cast has grown into the mid-teens, with a big group of featured players in support. And by this point, the show us just desperately un-funny.<\/li>\n
  5. As the show’s opening credits tip the five minute mark, and the show becomes painfully awful, the critics start to the ritual wondering if SNL isn’t almost done for. \u00a0This started in 1981.<\/li>\n
  6. They fire the old cast and start the cycle over.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We’re apparently in the #1 phase – or so I’m told. I’ve been burned too many times. I’m happy to be the last one on and the first one off that particular bandwagon.<\/p>\n

    Wait – they went after who?<\/strong> \u00a0Lorne Michaels is among the most ossified paleo-libs in showbiz. \u00a0The show will treat conservatives – any conservative – with sympathy right about the time Paul Krugman writes a\u00a0NYTimes\u00a0<\/em>editorial admitting he’s a partisan hack who’s outside his depth writing about anything but currency policy. \u00a0 It’ll never happen.<\/p>\n

    But bagging on another media outlet? \u00a0Well, OK – there, they can have some fun:<\/p>\n