SNL/Palin/Incest

[Ghost is a ghost]

I just watched a CNN commentary about the SNL/Palin/incest joke and one of the commentators states that it was more of a crack at the NY Times than at Palin. I don't read the NYT, so what exactly did they mean?

[zandersmom]

I can't even watch SNL anymore, it's just gotten SO FUCKING BORING. Why on earth is it even still on? Nostalgia? Nothing to fill that time-slot? Can't they just show more syndicated 'Friends' episodes? Or even old SNL episodes? It has been on for a buhbillion years! Dig into those vaults y'all! Yes, a few good things have come of it over the past couple years (& quite frankly, Justin Timberlake was in ALL of them...I mean come on, 'Dick In a Box'...'Barry Gibb Talk Show'...'Omeletville'...GENIUS!) I also sort of enjoyed Tina Fey/Amy Poeler doing Palin/Clinton, but being celebs & also writers, I feel that is something they could've easily thrown up on YouTube for the world to watch. I mean, that's how I watched it!

Uuuugh....sorry for my ranty & rambly unsolicited opinion. AAAANYWAYS...

According to a couple of articles I've read after Googling your exact subject line, this one from FOXNews in particular says:

"The sketch, say supporters, was supposed to accentuate how disconnected The New York Times is from anything west of the Hudson River, particularly Alaska. But critics say that the sketch backfired by suggesting that Todd Palin committed incest."

Everyone's complaining that it was just unfunny & in bad taste or whatever, but:

1.) SNL has ALWAYS been in bad taste, & I know this has already been established, but IMHO, SNL for the most part has been PAINFULLY unfunny within the past 2 or 3 years.
2.) SNL has ALWAYS parodied & crapped upon politicians... ALWAYS (God Bless the U.S.A.!) &
3.) You dumped your purse out on the couch for the world to see, Mrs. Palin, we didn't go looking though it uninvited. Suck it up sistah! [/end rant] (for real this time...sheesh...sorry.)

[Lucretia]

It's odd because Saturday Night Live is such a fixture over in the US, it rarely figures on our (collective UK cultural) radar, but what I've seen has been (and we're talking maybe five-year-old episodes?) sharp and relevant. However, all programmes come to the point where there need to be put out of their misery. Even the good ones.

Witness Blackadder. Ended beautifully, poignantly, timeously.

Then came that godawful Millenium episode. Bleugh.

PS "SNL has ALWAYS parodied & crapped upon politicians... ALWAYS (God Bless the U.S.A.!) " - I take it you mean that's a good thing?

[CassyLee]

However, all programmes come to the point where there need to be put out of their misery. Even the good ones.

Yeah, part of the problem with SNL is that it's been on for so god-damned long that people have varying opinions of when it should have been put out of its misery & when its high point was. And so many comedians have first gained national attention on SNL that it still works as a breeding ground for movie executives looking for 'the next big comedy star.' I think as long as they come up with a clever sketch or three a year & its alumni continue to make good in movies & primetime TV, it will never be over.

PS "SNL has ALWAYS parodied & crapped upon politicians... ALWAYS (God Bless the U.S.A.!) " - I take it you mean that's a good thing?

Well I think so . Some of the parodies have been a little broad (Chevy Chase had a Gerald Ford shtick back in the 70s that was basically just Chase tripping over anything handy.... definitely not in the class of Tina Fey's brilliant Sarah Palin impersonation), but any U.S. politician knows that if you reach the national stage, you're going to end up in an SNL sketch.

[Rob]

I just watched a CNN commentary about the SNL/Palin/incest joke and one of the commentators states that it was more of a crack at the NY Times than at Palin. I don't read the NYT, so what exactly did they mean?

It was definitely a crack at journalists rather than the Palins. In fact, by depicting the Palin family as being victimized by sloppy, biased journalists who know nothing of life outside Manhattan, it actually made the Palins sympathetic. (And it simultaneously affirmed the Republican narrative that the press is out to get the Palins, by depicting the press as being ... well, out to get the Palins.)

I'm not surprised that some viewers saw it as anti-Palin rather than anti-press. There's a couple reasons: (1) Some viewers are kinda stupid, and (2) It was a typical lame SNL sketch. It's probably hard to be sure who the joke is on, when there's no actual humor involved.

[Rob]

it rarely figures on our (collective UK cultural) radar, but what I've seen has been (and we're talking maybe five-year-old episodes?) sharp and relevant.

Even now, it occasionally has its moments (example: two weeks ago, Tina Fey's portrayal of Sarah Palin had me rolling on the floor). But boy, if you ever tried to watch an entire 90-minute episode, you'd end up tearing your hair out. It's not just bad, it's embarrassingly bad.

I'm guessing that on those occasions when it does pop up on UK television, it's usually one of the cherry-picked bits that was actually good. Count your blessings.

[Mary]

Even now, it occasionally has its moments (example: two weeks ago, Tina Fey's portrayal of Sarah Palin had me rolling on the floor). But boy, if you ever tried to watch an entire 90-minute episode, you'd end up tearing your hair out. It's not just bad, it's embarrassingly bad.

I'm guessing that on those occasions when it does pop up on UK television, it's usually one of the cherry-picked bits that was actually good. Count your blessings.

I've been watching Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow on the MSNBC website and one of them ran Sarah Palin and Tina Fey clips side by side to show the dialog from that skit was almost word for word what Palin actually said. Not so much a parody as just laugh out loud funny. Rob, the original interviews with Katie Couric almost had me rolling on the floor, too.

[Flaime]

Even now, it occasionally has its moments (example: two weeks ago, Tina Fey's portrayal of Sarah Palin had me rolling on the floor). But boy, if you ever tried to watch an entire 90-minute episode, you'd end up tearing your hair out. It's not just bad, it's embarrassingly bad.

I'm guessing that on those occasions when it does pop up on UK television, it's usually one of the cherry-picked bits that was actually good. Count your blessings.

I've been watching Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow on the MSNBC website and one of them ran Sarah Palin and Tina Fey clips side by side to show the dialog from that skit was almost word for word what Palin actually said. Not so much a parody as just laugh out loud funny. Rob, the original interviews with Katie Couric almost had me rolling on the floor, too.

Not only was Fey's interview spoof just using Palin's own words, but Fey sounded more like Palin than Palin. Sarah Palin scares me in a way that George W. Bush never did.

[Sarah]

Flaime, you are a peach.