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Weak SNL Premier Barely Mentions Trump or Republican Insanity -- Has Someone "Sat the Writers Down"? [1]
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Date: 2022-10-02
After a summer rife with political material begging to be let lose in the Saturday Night Live 48th season opener, what we heard instead was a shocking chorus of crickets. Since SNL last aired live in May, many notable political events have occurred, including:
Supreme Court overturned Roe,
Mar-a-Lago was raided,
Jan 6 Committee hearings were held,
Stories occurred on a nearly daily basis about the half dozen or so ongoing Drumpf investigations,
A myriad of TFG-supported mid-term candidates said countless outrageous things,
The Slobfather buried Ivana in one of his golf courses...
The list goes on and on. But the feeble effort that aired tonight was essentially mute on Hair Furor, and barely laid a glove on any of the many Republicans who have committed so many acts worthy of derision over the summer. To recap the politics-related items on tonight’s show:
The premise of the cold open was that Peyton and Eli Manning were doing a play by play of the opening skit and critiquing new cast members. The skit itself was set in TFG’s Florida office, and was for the most part drowned out by the “commentary”. It steered clear of any substance about any of Mar-a-Lardo’s current predicaments, sticking to drivel like Don Jr. walking in with a paddle saying “we better get out of here”.
All remaining political items were relegated to the News: DeSatan was mildly teased about not allowing Hurricane Ian to be taught in school because it was historic. There was an offhand mention that no one likes Ted Cruz. There was a news item on Clarence and Ginny Thomas, with the most critical barbs the writers could summon being that Ginny wants people to look at her scarf, and that they think it’s believable Clarence wouldn’t want to talk to his wife. There was a one-liner about Marjorie Taylor Greene blaming her divorce on the Jews. The most hard-hitting bit they did was interviewing Herschel Walker and Mitch McConnell actors, but it mainly repeated a “Walker is just a dumb football player” meme rather than taking him to task on lies and policy stance.
In contrast to the cakewalk they handed Republicans, the writers lobbed not one, but two, grenades at Biden in separate news bits calling out his gaffe on asking for Representative Jackie Walorski who passed away. Partisanship aside, I think jokes on that topic are in poor taste, more cringe than funny. And very damaging to Biden in perpetuating the “Sleepy Joe” Republican smear job. The fact that SNL ran two separate bits on this while dispensing only weak tea against Republicans is telling.
Other than serving as innocuous background to the lame cold opening, Don Loser Feloncamp was totally spared by the writers. I find this inexplicable. The seeds planted this summer should have easily generated enough material to fill SNL’s 67 minutes many times over. The writers’ biggest problem should have been culling it down and making the tough final cuts after a summer of pent up anticipation. The fact that Drumpf and Republicans were featured in only a minute portion of the show is unfathonable.
I make no claim to know anything whatsoever about how things work and who pulls the strings at a production such as SNL, but I can’t help but suspect the writer’s were somehow muzzled. I mean I know they haven’t been all that funny in years, but tonight’s non-event seems to me to go well beyond comedic incompetence.
With the bulk of news outlets adopting a conservative bias or “bothsidesism”, comedy shows may be the last bastion of truth in today’s mainstream media, so I find this very concerning. Can any reader’s in the know in the showbiz arena lend their thought’s as to whether/how pressure may have been applied to have tonight’s SNL steer clear of politics?
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