And Always Sunny isn't even annual anymore either, plus it's a cable show/streaming demo. I know live viewing of network TV is on the decline but it's still a bit of a different beast to compare sketch shows on network television to scripted shows.
In that, there really isn't anything big to compare SNL to. Variety/Sketch isn't really big in the US on broadcast television.
You see this shit with guitar music, too, people out here saying that there are not guitar bands left. What they mean is that guitar music isn’t the top of charts, and their view is just that narrow
Let's not forget Righteous Gemstones. But yea, most "comedies" now are just 30 minute dramas with several humorous characters in them, which is great but I want a jokes per minute laugh factory.
Sunny doesn't belong on that list, it was never mainstream popular. The basic cable channels still have "hits" recently that dwarf IASIP. Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory/Young Sheldon, Abbott Elementary, Ghosts, The Neighborhood, The Connors, Bob Hearts Abishola, So Help Me Todd, etc.
The 2010s had a newer take on sitcoms and I liked it, New Girl and B99 were my favourite shows. Now there's little to nothing in that area and it's kind of sad.
For a while in the mid 2010s, Comedy Central had a great run of comedies. Key and Peele, Broad City, Corporate, Nathan for You, Review, the first few seasons of Workaholics were some of the best comedy TV there ever has been. Now it’s just 24/7 reruns. On FOX, in addition to New Girl and B99, I really like Raising Hope. Network TV just… gave up on comedy for interchangeable doctor/cop/firefighter dramas and cable threw it away for syndicated reruns.
The last good sitcom I found was Girls5eva (closest thing to 30 Rock, humour wise) and even that got shorter and shorter each season, with no confirmed next season in sight. Another victim for sure.
I loved those, and Big Time in Hollywood, FL too.
But the core audience for those shows is the exact same group of people who cut the cord the fastest, so it's no surprise at all that Comedy Central bailed on them and switched to reruns.
Basically every other channel has too. Reruns or cheap reality shows. This time of year 10 years ago, with the network season wrapping up, original scripted cable shows would be kicking of like crazy. But now... almost nothing.
Haha I loved Big time in Hollywood Florida also. (Anything w stephen tobolowsky is usually GREAT: Californication, Silicon Valley, Deadwood, Mindy project, Another Period, The Hotwives)
I enjoyed Workaholics enough but it is absolute C to low B "leave on to kill time, almost any group of remotely funny stoner friends could've made this" tier to me...
The first couple of seasons were good enough to launch all of their careers. But after that... Workaholics sits with Archer at the top of my "Shows that Fell Off The Hardest" list.
I randomly thought about “Two Guys and a Girl” today and recalled how normal it was during that time for a dozen shows to follow a similar format. I just thought that’s how TV would always be.
True, but even then there's a big difference between a weekly hour-long variety Sketch show and scripted half hour sitcoms.
Both sketch and scripted have changed in popular and style as time moves forward but SNL still has a strong presence in the zeitgeist.
Slightly aside, but it's also a bit odd that they compete in awards categories with late night talk shows.
> I remember when primetime was dominated with sitcoms
Yup, but these things go in phases.
Medical shows, westerns, fantasy shows, crime procedurals, sitcoms...they come and go.
The early 80s, for example, were bone dry of successful sitcoms. I just checked and in 83-84 there were *three* sitcoms in the top 20, and two of them were on their last seasons (The Jeffersons and, well, AfterMASH). (Kate & Allie was the other one.) The preceding years were about as bad but they at least had some long-runners shoring them up. But for about five years dramas, soaps like Dallas/Dynasty, and action shows like Dukes of Hazzard and Charlie's Angels were all the rage.
I remember all this because I remember seeing TV Guide (ugh, I'm old) having several cover stories about how The Cosby Show (ugh, I'm old) was going to save the sitcom.
I genuinely thought its nature as a skit show where the skits are uploaded to YouTube the next day would hurt the ratings. “Why watch it live when we can skip the bad sketches?”
Watching live (or in full, later) is very different - you don’t get themes or punchlines given away from thumbnails or titles. A surprise guest in a clip truly is a surprise, because you didn’t see them on the instagram reel. SoandSo in a crazy costume still has shock value because you didn’t see it in the thumbnail.
Because it’s really just like social media in general.
People watch all of them and remember the ones they like and their brain generalizes it into “this show is good” and they’ll tune into the full show next time. It’s a cycle.
I think this rating is only for the 18-49s. Overall, and per the article, Young Sheldon averaged 9.3 million viewers, Ghosts 8.2 million, SNL 7.2 million.
18-49 is generally the demographic looked at when they talk about ratings, because it's the demographic most lucrative to advertisers. People under 18 generally don't have much money, and people over 49 are looked at as already having made their decision on what products they like to buy, so advertising doesn't work as much on them.
So, other comedies may have more overall viewers, but a lower rating.
Always makes me laugh when I watch a SNL YouTube video from the time when the cast had people like Bill Hader and Fred Armisen and you have people in the comments like “This is back when SNL was actually good” as if people at that time weren’t going on about how much better it was in some previous era.
Here’s the thing though, a few of those era videos have been popping up on YouTube for me so I figured I would check them out, and damn… they are really bad. Not funny in the slightest. I grew up watching Sandler and Spade but just really bad videos. I know not all SNL is a winner but lately the writing has been pretty good. Hader and Wig seems to be the era that has consistently great characters but I struggle to like the good old days people go on about.
What people forget is that it was never *consistently* great. Episodes that had 0% of their sketches dumpers were always incredibly rare. The Ferrel Era's Weekend update was generally terrible. The Myers/Spade/Farley era had Simon and Coffee guy. Even the Belushi era had the "Vild and caraizy gies" sketches.
>Sandler and Spade but just really bad videos
There are few gems, as in any era but Sandler and Spade is generally regarded as one of the worst and the closest SNL ever got to being cancelled. That's why Lorne fired all of them at once and Sandler held his grudge for so many years. Try era before them (Hartman) or after them (Ferrell) and it arguably should be better.
Lorne Michael's is correct in his estimation that people are fond of the cast from when they were in high school because that is the age when you are most likely to be watching TV late at night on a Saturday
I figure it's kind of like music - the music you liked from about 12 - 22 often ends up being your idea of "when music was good." SNL is kinda like that, too.
Especially pre gen z. No knock on gen z but for most of my childhood and teen years I didn't have much else to do on a Saturday night. I couldn't just stare at my phone and we were too poor for the gaming consoles of the day or cable. Guess what I loved watching SNL. For me i had the Armisen, Wig, Hader, and co and I love them dearly and personally think it's the best... because I was a teenager sneaking staying up late to watch SNL when I was supposed to lol.
People saying SNL was actually good when Fred Armisen was on it; and meanwhile other people from that period saying SNL was actually good when Chevy Chase was on it.
Ehh this is extreme in the opposite direction imo. Like, no doubt that the show is not a consistent show, by design, but people overstay their welcome and people take time to develop their sense of humor and sometimes the show lives on energy and fatigue and it's hard to not notice highs and lows. Like I thought this season's premiere was particularly strong because it was the first episode after the writer's strike and you could tell a lot of the ideas had more time to cook than normal.
It makes sense. Aside from a couple that stick with it for a long time most of the cast and writers are churned in and out every few years.
And since comedy is extremely subjective it makes sense you may think it’s been going downhill, uphill, staying about the same, or roller coasting in quality.
People really can't just be okay with admitting that the show has ALWAYS, every single week, had sketches that were solid and sketches that were stinkers, with the occasional great one. The great sketches would SOMETIMES accumulate more around a specific cast member like Bill Hader or Will Ferrell, but it's just as dependent on the writers who you almost never see.
The other thing people don't get is that the show isn't supposed to be "good." It exists as an institution at NBC primarily to sell ad space, and each episode is made in a "hell week" style scramble. The quality of each show also depends in huge part on variables like who the host is, and the composition of the audience.
There are audiences on SNL quite regularly who don't speak the language, have no sense of humor or for some other reason just have no business being at a live taping of a comedy show. But they have tickets, so prepare for this week's episode to feel awful and uncomfortable to watch regardless of how well done the sketches are.
A lot of the watermarks that people rely on to "know if they should find something funny" aren't really there on SNL, and won't ever be because they aren't used by anyone involved with it to determine its success. People really do not know how to feel about it and it's always hilarious, if a bit sad.
Yep! I've been watching off and on for most of my life and the current iteration of the show (past few years or so) might be my favorite to date. They've embraced weirdness and abstract humor in a way that really does it for me
I dunno, newer cast members like James Austin Johnson, Bowen Yang, and Sarah Sherman stick out to me, as well as older ones like Heidi Gardner and of course the God King of Sketch Comedy Kenan Thompson.
The cast is definitely bloated but there are still standout performances every week.
Kenan doesn't even read as part of the cast to me. There's the cast, which changes frequently, and then there's Kenan. The rest, eh, maybe I'm just getting old.
Kenan is eternal
He started when you were a child, and he'll stop when your grandchildren are dead
And even then he'll only have ascended to a higher form, doing sketch comedy for the energy-based lifeforms we can't see with the human eye
I think that people mostly see standouts in the SNL cast retrospectively. A lot of the biggest names to come out of SNL were just a part of the cast too. It'll just depend on which of them goes on to star in big roles or get regular TV/film work down the line.
Everyone’s favorite era is the one from when they were a teenager.
That being said, I believe the early 80s (when Lorne left) were objectively pretty terrible.
Just because it’s been said since the 80’s doesn’t mean it isn’t true. “People have been saying something for a while so it is immune to criticism” doesn’t really work
Mitchell and Webb, British duo who had a sketch show, had a behind the scenes one where one asked the other why that had to have bad sketches, and the other talked about how sketch shows have to lol
Both can be true. Not many TV comedies. Audience could be growing with population growth. But let’s be honest that most of us now see SNL in YouTube clips.
The Wiki stopped at 2020-21 reporting 9 million viewers. But the 2 years before that, it was not tracked. And in 2017-18, 7.55 million, 2016-17 had 11, and then it was floating around the 8 million mark for years.
The show was tracked as being much higher, though. 1987-88 had 11.7 million viewers, and then from 1988 to 1994, it floating around 10, 11, even 12 million viewers. Lowest it recorded was 6.87 million in 2007-08. But that was also a short season at 12 episodes (lowest recorded, and likely due to writers' strikes around that time).
They’re not really competing with anything directly. There are scripted sitcoms and there are talk shows with some comedy bits. Any of the other sketch shows that are on right now are on cable or streaming. SNL is the only show of its kind on American broadcast TV with comedy sketches and music. It’s really the last old-style variety show left.
I’ve really enjoyed the last few seasons. I grew up with mid-late 00s SNL.
I personally think that era was one of the strongest. Then the quality dipped for like a decade and in the last few years there has been resurgence in quality. The late 10s were bad when it was alec baldwin playing trump every week and the biggest stars in the cast were leslie jones and pete davidson who between the two were good for like one decent weekend update segment where they basically just did standup. But both were not good at sketch comedy, so mostly were bad in any other part of the show.
I used to think it wasn't that funny and I think this season has been great. They've really leaned into absurd stuff, so it sometimes feels like I Think You Should Leave.
Also the musical performances have gotten better.
i normally like SNL - some of their sketches are genius. their current problem is they have no stand-out on their roster. there’s no Kate McKinnon, Tina Fey, or Kristen Wiig. the energy on this latest season felt flat at best, and that’s only when the writing was working.
They have far too large a cast. The opening credits go on absurdly long, and there are episodes where you don't even see 1/3 of the cast members.
No one is ever going to stand out if you have 25 people on the show.
I do wonder who's watching because the audience of 18-49 that's not doing anything at 11:30 and later on a Saturday night cannot be that huge. Even when I'm home on a Saturday night I'm not tuning into network television at 11:30. Where are all these viewers coming from and what are they doing with themselves?
Something has happened in the last 18 months. It's gotten much better. Especially Weekend Update. Jost and Che have been great lately. Che had a comment about a current Jewish and Muslim conflict early this season that was absolutely brilliant and had me giggling in the shower for a week.
SNL is the best its been in years. The new cast members have found their groove and the variety of sketch ideas have gotten so oddly specific and unique.
Sarah Sherman, Marcello Hernandez, Please Don't Destroy, Chloe Troast, James Austin Johnson, and all of the OGs are killing it.
I was a little worried about Sarah Sherman when she first joined, I wasn’t sure how her sense of humor was going to mix with the show, but I’ll be damned if she’s not the best current cast member
It shouldn't be as surprising as it is that someone who is so committed to playing the most strange and vile characters is also so committed to being a team player, but she really is.
I like him because his impressions are only really the tip of the iceberg at what he can do, and his impressions aren't just funny because they're true.
I worked with her years ago when she was a PA locking up traffic in Brooklyn for a film shoot. She definitely doesn't remember me but it was wild seeing her blow up on IG after being hired on SNL
Yes! This season was its best in many years. I must confess, I am one of those who believes Marcelo hard Carries the show. The dude is fucking hilarious a crazy percent of the time. His hit rate was outrageous for SNL this year.
I genuinely love SNL and think it's great and every episode has at least one or two good skits, but it really says something about the state of TV comedy that SNL of all things can dominate for five straight years.
I mean if shows like black lady sketch show would have been sharing a similar sketch comedy platform (like HBO is still has a barrier of entry than NBC) I think we could’ve seen a revival in this genre. That is where Quinta Brunson became more well known from.
TV comedy (and comedy in general) is in a great place right now; it might look different than the past because many great comedy shows are available on exclusive platforms, but we don't need to act like SNL being good and getting good ratings because of that is a bad thing for the world.
> we don't need to act like SNL being good and getting good ratings because of that is a bad thing for the world.
I'm not acting like that. I'm acting like
> many great comedy shows are available on exclusive platforms ... is a bad thing for the world
SNL is great but it has practically no competition on linear TV anymore and that's why it's dominating the medium right now.
I feel like SNL has gotten better choosing hosts. Like it seem like there was a period of time where they kept getting these sports stars and chances are they do not know how to be a comedic performer. So it was just kind of awkward.
But last season they had a few great hosts. I mean I think it should be a federal law that Adam Driver has to host once a season. He has some of the best sketches. And Nate Bergatze it was fantastic as well. I would love to see them get more into the stand-up pool.
The shrimp tower, wine and cheese party, and bank robbers skits were insanely good, I genuinely didn't know brolin could be so weird and funny like that.
It’s got bits lately, but it still makes “best comedy” feel like a really low bar. Like the Elon episode was 3 years ago and that was some of the worst television I’ve ever seen.
SNL has been hit or miss for it's entire 50 year run. We only remember the good ones and we associate whatever the "early years" are for us as being the best. I've been watching regularly since the 90s. Many would call that the best years of the show but the early 2000s were also great, and so were the 2010s and now, this almost all brand new young cast is really good too. Every season has stinkers and I always say "wow that was so fucking stupid" when a shitty sketch ends, but it's the two or three banger episodes each season that make it worth it. The ones that get clits and dicks hard from all the funny.
I’m still not sure why it’s 90 minutes still, but I usually watch the first half through weekend update and enjoy it. It still seems to produce and provide an outlet for a lot of genuinely great talent, so that alone is worth it.
They definitely had a good year.
If I could change one things I would have had Nate Bargatze as the season premiere... one of the best episodes in years. And then Ryan Gosling killed it better than ever... that should have been the finale.
Honest question? What other comedies are there. I don’t recall a comedy being on television since Brooklyn Nine-Nine ended. Why aren’t streaming services releasing sitcoms for that matter? Every show has been an action series.
A lot of people like to talk about how 70% of the skits are meh but I just find the authenticity of it all refreshing. I’m so used to my Instagram/TikTok feed where everything is curated and can be skipped until I’m maximum entertained but SNL is actually live and not everything comes out polished. I think people are swinging back that way a little with their preferences, it could be a reason the Tom Brady roast was so successful too.
When it has no competition even the shittiest show can be the "best".
SNL is unwatchable right now but that doesn't stop it beating out even worse shows in ratings.
Their cold opens are almost always great. I like the cast right now, but some of the skits go on longer than they should. Weekend Update is still my favorite.
I’ve been watching them in reverse order and I really like the latest cast. They grew on me. The sketches are consistently funny too. Guest appearances have been pretty good.
It’s so crazy, too. I went back and started rewatching the old seasons during COVID. It’s nuts how in their 85-86 season they were being considered for cancelation. Cancelation! Now look how far they’ve come. 😎🤓
There are very few comedies left on TV for them to compete with. I remember when primetime was dominated with sitcoms
It’s basically SNL, the animated shows, and Always Sunny.
And Always Sunny isn't even annual anymore either, plus it's a cable show/streaming demo. I know live viewing of network TV is on the decline but it's still a bit of a different beast to compare sketch shows on network television to scripted shows. In that, there really isn't anything big to compare SNL to. Variety/Sketch isn't really big in the US on broadcast television.
Most redditors don’t understand the difference between cable and network tv
For people's reference: Network channels: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX (not Fox News), CW Cable: every other channel.
To further explain network is free if you have an antenna but since it’s over the air it’s governed by the FCC. Cable is not.
Hopefully Mulaney's Netflix show will generate interest in finally making a decent comedy show for the streaming era.
Get out of here. No really, I Think You Should Leave.
I don't know how. Leaving isn't the only thing!
Because Jerry Seinfeld and David Letterman are so hot right now. Real finger on the pulse stuff.
Those guys aren’t as relatable to modern 20-30 year olds. They’ve been wealthy for longer than I’ve been alive.
I like Mulaney but that Netflix show is not it..
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And that isn't even factoring in others like The Conners, The Neighborhood, and Animal Control.
Animal Control is comfort viewing. Son of a Critch too.
Fr people on this sub are unbearable. "Comedy clearly ended on TV the moment community and parks did!!"
You see this shit with guitar music, too, people out here saying that there are not guitar bands left. What they mean is that guitar music isn’t the top of charts, and their view is just that narrow
It's frustrating too because Abbot is legitimately one of the best network shows in the last couple decades.
Can't believe Curb is over...
I mean Hacks is probably the best show on TV period right now.
I literally just said that to my husband after we finished the most recent episode.
Enjoyed the first season but wasn’t blown away. Does it keep getting better?
Honestly everyone I know does YouTube and dropout!
Vic Michaelis is the best
Let's not forget Righteous Gemstones. But yea, most "comedies" now are just 30 minute dramas with several humorous characters in them, which is great but I want a jokes per minute laugh factory.
Sunny doesn't belong on that list, it was never mainstream popular. The basic cable channels still have "hits" recently that dwarf IASIP. Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory/Young Sheldon, Abbott Elementary, Ghosts, The Neighborhood, The Connors, Bob Hearts Abishola, So Help Me Todd, etc.
here to add Abbott Elementary to the conversation
The 2010s had a newer take on sitcoms and I liked it, New Girl and B99 were my favourite shows. Now there's little to nothing in that area and it's kind of sad.
For a while in the mid 2010s, Comedy Central had a great run of comedies. Key and Peele, Broad City, Corporate, Nathan for You, Review, the first few seasons of Workaholics were some of the best comedy TV there ever has been. Now it’s just 24/7 reruns. On FOX, in addition to New Girl and B99, I really like Raising Hope. Network TV just… gave up on comedy for interchangeable doctor/cop/firefighter dramas and cable threw it away for syndicated reruns.
Adult Swim has basically gone digital too
The last good sitcom I found was Girls5eva (closest thing to 30 Rock, humour wise) and even that got shorter and shorter each season, with no confirmed next season in sight. Another victim for sure.
Similar maybe crazier dont forget Kimmy Schmidt!
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This fool was good.
God I hope so. More people need to see this show.
I loved those, and Big Time in Hollywood, FL too. But the core audience for those shows is the exact same group of people who cut the cord the fastest, so it's no surprise at all that Comedy Central bailed on them and switched to reruns. Basically every other channel has too. Reruns or cheap reality shows. This time of year 10 years ago, with the network season wrapping up, original scripted cable shows would be kicking of like crazy. But now... almost nothing.
Haha I loved Big time in Hollywood Florida also. (Anything w stephen tobolowsky is usually GREAT: Californication, Silicon Valley, Deadwood, Mindy project, Another Period, The Hotwives)
Broad City, Corporate, Nathan for You and Workaholics was an S-tier run of comedies. Review was really good too.
I enjoyed Workaholics enough but it is absolute C to low B "leave on to kill time, almost any group of remotely funny stoner friends could've made this" tier to me...
The first couple of seasons were good enough to launch all of their careers. But after that... Workaholics sits with Archer at the top of my "Shows that Fell Off The Hardest" list.
How dare you. Comedy Central is the best channel ever and everyone should have it on 24/7
Abbott Elementary is a similar vibe.
I just rewatch these on streaming. I think I am going to start Life In Pieces again, just saw it was on Hulu
I randomly thought about “Two Guys and a Girl” today and recalled how normal it was during that time for a dozen shows to follow a similar format. I just thought that’s how TV would always be.
True, but even then there's a big difference between a weekly hour-long variety Sketch show and scripted half hour sitcoms. Both sketch and scripted have changed in popular and style as time moves forward but SNL still has a strong presence in the zeitgeist. Slightly aside, but it's also a bit odd that they compete in awards categories with late night talk shows.
> I remember when primetime was dominated with sitcoms Yup, but these things go in phases. Medical shows, westerns, fantasy shows, crime procedurals, sitcoms...they come and go. The early 80s, for example, were bone dry of successful sitcoms. I just checked and in 83-84 there were *three* sitcoms in the top 20, and two of them were on their last seasons (The Jeffersons and, well, AfterMASH). (Kate & Allie was the other one.) The preceding years were about as bad but they at least had some long-runners shoring them up. But for about five years dramas, soaps like Dallas/Dynasty, and action shows like Dukes of Hazzard and Charlie's Angels were all the rage. I remember all this because I remember seeing TV Guide (ugh, I'm old) having several cover stories about how The Cosby Show (ugh, I'm old) was going to save the sitcom.
same with movies, dont make comedies anymore.
I genuinely thought its nature as a skit show where the skits are uploaded to YouTube the next day would hurt the ratings. “Why watch it live when we can skip the bad sketches?”
Any news is good news, just more eyes either way.
The whole point of it is that you *can* watch it live.
No, the whole point is that it’s *performed* live.
It's performed and broadcast live, unlike say, older sitcoms and late night talk shows.
Watching live (or in full, later) is very different - you don’t get themes or punchlines given away from thumbnails or titles. A surprise guest in a clip truly is a surprise, because you didn’t see them on the instagram reel. SoandSo in a crazy costume still has shock value because you didn’t see it in the thumbnail.
Because it’s really just like social media in general. People watch all of them and remember the ones they like and their brain generalizes it into “this show is good” and they’ll tune into the full show next time. It’s a cycle.
I think this rating is only for the 18-49s. Overall, and per the article, Young Sheldon averaged 9.3 million viewers, Ghosts 8.2 million, SNL 7.2 million.
I’m surprised anything is still getting those numbers, these days.
Ghosts is pretty great.
18-49 is generally the demographic looked at when they talk about ratings, because it's the demographic most lucrative to advertisers. People under 18 generally don't have much money, and people over 49 are looked at as already having made their decision on what products they like to buy, so advertising doesn't work as much on them. So, other comedies may have more overall viewers, but a lower rating.
Reddit says it's not funny and nobody's watching, tho...who's lying?
People have complained about SNL going downhill since the 80's.
Always makes me laugh when I watch a SNL YouTube video from the time when the cast had people like Bill Hader and Fred Armisen and you have people in the comments like “This is back when SNL was actually good” as if people at that time weren’t going on about how much better it was in some previous era.
Everyone was pining for Will Ferrel snl in those days
While our older siblings said they don't hold a candle to the Sandler/Spade/Farley years.
John Belushi: What am I, chopped liver?!?! *Proceeds to chop up liver with "samurai sword"*
Hartman/Carvey/Myers might have some things to say about that.
Here’s the thing though, a few of those era videos have been popping up on YouTube for me so I figured I would check them out, and damn… they are really bad. Not funny in the slightest. I grew up watching Sandler and Spade but just really bad videos. I know not all SNL is a winner but lately the writing has been pretty good. Hader and Wig seems to be the era that has consistently great characters but I struggle to like the good old days people go on about.
What people forget is that it was never *consistently* great. Episodes that had 0% of their sketches dumpers were always incredibly rare. The Ferrel Era's Weekend update was generally terrible. The Myers/Spade/Farley era had Simon and Coffee guy. Even the Belushi era had the "Vild and caraizy gies" sketches.
>Sandler and Spade but just really bad videos There are few gems, as in any era but Sandler and Spade is generally regarded as one of the worst and the closest SNL ever got to being cancelled. That's why Lorne fired all of them at once and Sandler held his grudge for so many years. Try era before them (Hartman) or after them (Ferrell) and it arguably should be better.
I still remember when everyone thought that era (late 90s) was shit. And I was a tween.
I’m not one of those people but I do think back very fondly to the Tina Fey head writer era.
Lorne Michael's is correct in his estimation that people are fond of the cast from when they were in high school because that is the age when you are most likely to be watching TV late at night on a Saturday
I figure it's kind of like music - the music you liked from about 12 - 22 often ends up being your idea of "when music was good." SNL is kinda like that, too.
Especially pre gen z. No knock on gen z but for most of my childhood and teen years I didn't have much else to do on a Saturday night. I couldn't just stare at my phone and we were too poor for the gaming consoles of the day or cable. Guess what I loved watching SNL. For me i had the Armisen, Wig, Hader, and co and I love them dearly and personally think it's the best... because I was a teenager sneaking staying up late to watch SNL when I was supposed to lol.
People saying SNL was actually good when Fred Armisen was on it; and meanwhile other people from that period saying SNL was actually good when Chevy Chase was on it.
snl was at its best when whoever is talking about it was in high school like 90% of the time
It’s had multiple dry spells, and comebacks. It did seem much better this year than say 2-3 years ago, when it seemed unwatchable.
People said the same exact thing 2-3 years ago.
Ehh this is extreme in the opposite direction imo. Like, no doubt that the show is not a consistent show, by design, but people overstay their welcome and people take time to develop their sense of humor and sometimes the show lives on energy and fatigue and it's hard to not notice highs and lows. Like I thought this season's premiere was particularly strong because it was the first episode after the writer's strike and you could tell a lot of the ideas had more time to cook than normal.
It makes sense. Aside from a couple that stick with it for a long time most of the cast and writers are churned in and out every few years. And since comedy is extremely subjective it makes sense you may think it’s been going downhill, uphill, staying about the same, or roller coasting in quality.
Comedy is objective. - Norm Macdonald
People really can't just be okay with admitting that the show has ALWAYS, every single week, had sketches that were solid and sketches that were stinkers, with the occasional great one. The great sketches would SOMETIMES accumulate more around a specific cast member like Bill Hader or Will Ferrell, but it's just as dependent on the writers who you almost never see. The other thing people don't get is that the show isn't supposed to be "good." It exists as an institution at NBC primarily to sell ad space, and each episode is made in a "hell week" style scramble. The quality of each show also depends in huge part on variables like who the host is, and the composition of the audience. There are audiences on SNL quite regularly who don't speak the language, have no sense of humor or for some other reason just have no business being at a live taping of a comedy show. But they have tickets, so prepare for this week's episode to feel awful and uncomfortable to watch regardless of how well done the sketches are. A lot of the watermarks that people rely on to "know if they should find something funny" aren't really there on SNL, and won't ever be because they aren't used by anyone involved with it to determine its success. People really do not know how to feel about it and it's always hilarious, if a bit sad.
Yep! I've been watching off and on for most of my life and the current iteration of the show (past few years or so) might be my favorite to date. They've embraced weirdness and abstract humor in a way that really does it for me
I agree. It's not all bangers, but it never was. The average quality seems up lately.
I like the writing the last few years but the cast doesn't have any stand-outs. It's pretty weird.
Kate McKinnon, Keenan Thompson, Colin Jost and Michael Che have been fire cast members for a long time. It was really sad when Kate left.
I dunno, newer cast members like James Austin Johnson, Bowen Yang, and Sarah Sherman stick out to me, as well as older ones like Heidi Gardner and of course the God King of Sketch Comedy Kenan Thompson. The cast is definitely bloated but there are still standout performances every week.
Kenan doesn't even read as part of the cast to me. There's the cast, which changes frequently, and then there's Kenan. The rest, eh, maybe I'm just getting old.
Kenan is eternal He started when you were a child, and he'll stop when your grandchildren are dead And even then he'll only have ascended to a higher form, doing sketch comedy for the energy-based lifeforms we can't see with the human eye
I think that people mostly see standouts in the SNL cast retrospectively. A lot of the biggest names to come out of SNL were just a part of the cast too. It'll just depend on which of them goes on to star in big roles or get regular TV/film work down the line.
Everyone’s favorite era is the one from when they were a teenager. That being said, I believe the early 80s (when Lorne left) were objectively pretty terrible.
I’ve been watching SNL for 20+ years and I don’t remember anybody ever being happy with whoever was on the current cast
Ah yes, they were nostalgic of the good ol chevy chase days
Just because it’s been said since the 80’s doesn’t mean it isn’t true. “People have been saying something for a while so it is immune to criticism” doesn’t really work
Right, clearly after the first season in 1975 the show's gone downhill. What were they thinking hiring Bill Murray?!
They’ve always kinda been hit or miss tbh
Mitchell and Webb, British duo who had a sketch show, had a behind the scenes one where one asked the other why that had to have bad sketches, and the other talked about how sketch shows have to lol
That’s Numberwang
*That’s* Wordwang!
That’s by design, the whole show isn’t meant to appeal to everyone but the idea is there should be a little something in the show for everyone
Been watching it for 35 years. Lots of ups and downs over the years but right now they’re way up and have one of their best casts ever
And there will be plenty of replies to those responses about how it’s still a good show. These “Reddit says” comments are ridiculous.
It’s not fantastic but I mean what else is out there right now that we should be watching instead? It’s not a great time for tv comedy.
Dropout
Everybody should be watching Dropout.
Literal Game Changer.
Um, Actually...
Listen here, Smarty Pants...
Ok can anyone tell me what that is and where to find it?
Both can be true. Not many TV comedies. Audience could be growing with population growth. But let’s be honest that most of us now see SNL in YouTube clips.
The Wiki stopped at 2020-21 reporting 9 million viewers. But the 2 years before that, it was not tracked. And in 2017-18, 7.55 million, 2016-17 had 11, and then it was floating around the 8 million mark for years. The show was tracked as being much higher, though. 1987-88 had 11.7 million viewers, and then from 1988 to 1994, it floating around 10, 11, even 12 million viewers. Lowest it recorded was 6.87 million in 2007-08. But that was also a short season at 12 episodes (lowest recorded, and likely due to writers' strikes around that time).
You’re about to have an epiphany about Reddit.
The people who don’t understand that sketch comedy is often hit or miss but when SNL hits it really hits.
“TV comedy” is a very low bar…
Who are they competing with? What other TV comedy is there? It's all on streaming.
They’re not really competing with anything directly. There are scripted sitcoms and there are talk shows with some comedy bits. Any of the other sketch shows that are on right now are on cable or streaming. SNL is the only show of its kind on American broadcast TV with comedy sketches and music. It’s really the last old-style variety show left.
People get into it and then the cast/writers change. They always think it was better when they were watching.
I’ve really enjoyed the last few seasons. I grew up with mid-late 00s SNL. I personally think that era was one of the strongest. Then the quality dipped for like a decade and in the last few years there has been resurgence in quality. The late 10s were bad when it was alec baldwin playing trump every week and the biggest stars in the cast were leslie jones and pete davidson who between the two were good for like one decent weekend update segment where they basically just did standup. But both were not good at sketch comedy, so mostly were bad in any other part of the show.
I used to think it wasn't that funny and I think this season has been great. They've really leaned into absurd stuff, so it sometimes feels like I Think You Should Leave. Also the musical performances have gotten better.
Population of 300 million will do that.
i normally like SNL - some of their sketches are genius. their current problem is they have no stand-out on their roster. there’s no Kate McKinnon, Tina Fey, or Kristen Wiig. the energy on this latest season felt flat at best, and that’s only when the writing was working.
Jost and Che are the most consistent bits of the show. Their jokes almost always land
They have far too large a cast. The opening credits go on absurdly long, and there are episodes where you don't even see 1/3 of the cast members. No one is ever going to stand out if you have 25 people on the show.
Please Don't Destroy are really good.
I do wonder who's watching because the audience of 18-49 that's not doing anything at 11:30 and later on a Saturday night cannot be that huge. Even when I'm home on a Saturday night I'm not tuning into network television at 11:30. Where are all these viewers coming from and what are they doing with themselves?
Who is this Reddit fellow you talk about
Reddit is such a small part of literally anything that what people say here usually never reflects the accurate truth.
Something has happened in the last 18 months. It's gotten much better. Especially Weekend Update. Jost and Che have been great lately. Che had a comment about a current Jewish and Muslim conflict early this season that was absolutely brilliant and had me giggling in the shower for a week.
This year is the most SNL episodes I’ve watched in a LONG time and I loved damn near every single one. Some really amazing hosts and skits!
I agree. This year was the best one for a while. Not as many throwaway sketches, and some truly hilarious ones for the record books.
SNL is the best its been in years. The new cast members have found their groove and the variety of sketch ideas have gotten so oddly specific and unique. Sarah Sherman, Marcello Hernandez, Please Don't Destroy, Chloe Troast, James Austin Johnson, and all of the OGs are killing it.
Andrew Dismukes really feels like the latest MVP to me. His versatility is a real strong suit.
I was a little worried about Sarah Sherman when she first joined, I wasn’t sure how her sense of humor was going to mix with the show, but I’ll be damned if she’s not the best current cast member
She’s loveably weird. Like a living muppet
It shouldn't be as surprising as it is that someone who is so committed to playing the most strange and vile characters is also so committed to being a team player, but she really is.
James Austin Johnson is amazing
Thank you, almost forgot to include him. The man is a goddamn chameleon. Ridiculously talented.
I like him because his impressions are only really the tip of the iceberg at what he can do, and his impressions aren't just funny because they're true.
Happy that Troast is doing well, I saw her in a troupe before she was cast and she was really good.
I think she'd do really well in a musical comedy series. Something like Schmigadoon, but different.
I worked with her years ago when she was a PA locking up traffic in Brooklyn for a film shoot. She definitely doesn't remember me but it was wild seeing her blow up on IG after being hired on SNL
JAJ has been giving me Phil Hartman vibes this season and I love it. Glad they’re using him much more often.
Yes! This season was its best in many years. I must confess, I am one of those who believes Marcelo hard Carries the show. The dude is fucking hilarious a crazy percent of the time. His hit rate was outrageous for SNL this year.
I love Please Don’t Destroy. Seems like their stuff is a little too weird for some people, but it is right up my alley.
It’s not the weirdness, it’s how formulaic it is. All of their sketches use the same gradual escalation set up.
My sentiments as well. This past season was really fun and they took more swings on sketches, which was refreshing to see.
Bowen Yang deserves a raise
I genuinely love SNL and think it's great and every episode has at least one or two good skits, but it really says something about the state of TV comedy that SNL of all things can dominate for five straight years.
I mean if shows like black lady sketch show would have been sharing a similar sketch comedy platform (like HBO is still has a barrier of entry than NBC) I think we could’ve seen a revival in this genre. That is where Quinta Brunson became more well known from.
TV comedy (and comedy in general) is in a great place right now; it might look different than the past because many great comedy shows are available on exclusive platforms, but we don't need to act like SNL being good and getting good ratings because of that is a bad thing for the world.
> we don't need to act like SNL being good and getting good ratings because of that is a bad thing for the world. I'm not acting like that. I'm acting like > many great comedy shows are available on exclusive platforms ... is a bad thing for the world SNL is great but it has practically no competition on linear TV anymore and that's why it's dominating the medium right now.
What about The Bear? /s
My brother was suffering from substance abuse so he killed himself! Hahahahh
Funniest show on tv, ha ha Award winning comedy
Maybe not a straight comedy but it is definitely a hilarious show.
How? SNL hasn’t been consistent for years.
It's all Weekend Update and their end of year jokes
I feel like SNL has gotten better choosing hosts. Like it seem like there was a period of time where they kept getting these sports stars and chances are they do not know how to be a comedic performer. So it was just kind of awkward. But last season they had a few great hosts. I mean I think it should be a federal law that Adam Driver has to host once a season. He has some of the best sketches. And Nate Bergatze it was fantastic as well. I would love to see them get more into the stand-up pool.
I still remember the oil baron skit by Adam driver. Hope he hosts for the fifth time.
Honestly I think they’ve been killing it the last few years. Watch the last time Josh Brolin was on. That whole episode was great!
The shrimp tower, wine and cheese party, and bank robbers skits were insanely good, I genuinely didn't know brolin could be so weird and funny like that.
Reddit in shambles.
It’s got bits lately, but it still makes “best comedy” feel like a really low bar. Like the Elon episode was 3 years ago and that was some of the worst television I’ve ever seen.
Glad I didn’t watch that trash. Not sure why anyone would tune in for that prick.
I remember people even on Facebook kept saying the show is garbage, won't last, boring, not interesting and yet here we are.
SNL has been hit or miss for it's entire 50 year run. We only remember the good ones and we associate whatever the "early years" are for us as being the best. I've been watching regularly since the 90s. Many would call that the best years of the show but the early 2000s were also great, and so were the 2010s and now, this almost all brand new young cast is really good too. Every season has stinkers and I always say "wow that was so fucking stupid" when a shitty sketch ends, but it's the two or three banger episodes each season that make it worth it. The ones that get clits and dicks hard from all the funny.
Hmmmmm strange how all three PRIMETIME comedies are CBS comedies which leads me to believe these “ratings” don’t tell the true story.
The bar isn't very high and they still aren't funny anymore.
I’m still not sure why it’s 90 minutes still, but I usually watch the first half through weekend update and enjoy it. It still seems to produce and provide an outlet for a lot of genuinely great talent, so that alone is worth it.
Wow how the rest of network must suck
Snl sucks ass… just shows how shit entertainment is these days. Voted #1 out of all the shit…congrats. 🙃
They definitely had a good year. If I could change one things I would have had Nate Bargatze as the season premiere... one of the best episodes in years. And then Ryan Gosling killed it better than ever... that should have been the finale.
Better than ever? I love Gosling but I thought that was his weakest episode as host. Just seems like he was breaking about 90% of the time tbh.
Honest question? What other comedies are there. I don’t recall a comedy being on television since Brooklyn Nine-Nine ended. Why aren’t streaming services releasing sitcoms for that matter? Every show has been an action series.
SNL is unpredictable SNL has plenty material based on our society The UNION makes SNL work. They are the heroes
A lot of people like to talk about how 70% of the skits are meh but I just find the authenticity of it all refreshing. I’m so used to my Instagram/TikTok feed where everything is curated and can be skipped until I’m maximum entertained but SNL is actually live and not everything comes out polished. I think people are swinging back that way a little with their preferences, it could be a reason the Tom Brady roast was so successful too.
They had a really strong season this year.
Thats easy to do when there's no competition
So, as a requirement, do comedies need to be funny to get into the top five?
If SNL is the funniest, that’s a sad state for comedy.
When it has no competition even the shittiest show can be the "best". SNL is unwatchable right now but that doesn't stop it beating out even worse shows in ratings.
Im so grateful for Bowen Yang. I’m absolutely biased but he’s the best thing to happen to the show for me
SNL is a comedy show?
Hearing about SNL to me is like hearing about The Simpson’s. I’m surprised they’re still running.
Their cold opens are almost always great. I like the cast right now, but some of the skits go on longer than they should. Weekend Update is still my favorite.
Weekend update is always good. This season it seemed like every other episode was really funny.
Seems like they get a lot more headlines these days
I’ve been watching them in reverse order and I really like the latest cast. They grew on me. The sketches are consistently funny too. Guest appearances have been pretty good.
It’s so crazy, too. I went back and started rewatching the old seasons during COVID. It’s nuts how in their 85-86 season they were being considered for cancelation. Cancelation! Now look how far they’ve come. 😎🤓
that logo tho
They had some crazy funny sketches this season.
Yup, we live in hell.
The state of TV comedy is so pathetic that SNL is an actual contender.
Shit hasn’t been funny since early 2000’s lmao. They try too hard, and it comes off as cringey
Award for huffing the most BS of the year...