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SNL VIDEO: How Not To Save Broadway

By Nikki Finke | Category: Video | Sunday January 11, 2009 @ 9:22am
Comments 20 Email This  |  Print This  |  Bookmark and Share

Comments (20)

  • Stale. The SNL writers shouldn’t be focusing on Broadway’s failures when their own are even more painfully and pathetically obvious.

    Comment by An Observer — January 11, 2009 @ 10:02 am  Reply to this post
  • This sketch is a metaphor for SAG. Actors are most comfortable being directed by someone else, not calling their own shots. No wonder their union is in chaos.

    Comment by Just Like SAG — January 11, 2009 @ 10:18 am  Reply to this post
  • It might be a lot of things, but funny isn’t one of them.

    Comment by Jack — January 11, 2009 @ 1:42 pm  Reply to this post
  • Didn’t Cats close like 20 years ago? Ooh, way to be cutting-edge, SNL.

    Comment by Steve — January 11, 2009 @ 1:46 pm  Reply to this post
  • This could have been a great skit, but the OTN dialogue really made it pedantic. Even Darrell Hammond seemed bored.

    Comment by Greg — January 11, 2009 @ 2:31 pm  Reply to this post
  • Where’s your sense of humor, peeps? This (and the digital short) were the funniest skits I’ve seen on SNL since Jon Hamm hosted.

    Comment by Why so serious? — January 11, 2009 @ 3:27 pm  Reply to this post
  • I thought it was hilarious, and pretty timely as well.

    Comment by maatkare — January 11, 2009 @ 3:34 pm  Reply to this post
  • They had to use characters from shows people outside New York had actually heard of — hence the use of Cats, Annie, Chicago, etc. I don’t think a more timely Spring Awakening reference would’ve meant a whole lot to most viewers.

    I thought it was really funny. Especially the Shrek/racist joke.

    Comment by Michelle T — January 11, 2009 @ 4:40 pm  Reply to this post
  • I missed the show. Did Tina Fey do another her hilarious mocking impersonations of Caroline Kennedy?

    Comment by Otherwise — January 11, 2009 @ 5:16 pm  Reply to this post
  • Remember the Bicentennial Minute that ran coincidentally prior (on a daily basis on some network) to July 4, 1976?

    I think that SNL should do a nightly five-ten minute skit every night instead of trying to fill up whatever amount of time that they try to fill on Saturdays.

    Think of the Seinfeld episode in which George would deliver a funny line, and then leave before he had a chance to bomb.

    Comment by John — January 11, 2009 @ 8:13 pm  Reply to this post
  • I think we’re all being a little “Hollywood-centric” here. While those of us in LA may be pooh-poohing this and the rest of America won’t get it — or could care less — it wasn’t as bad as Nikki’s headline made it out to be. There was some inventiveness here. Maybe we’re showing our jaded, West Coast pedestrian selves a little too strongly. We do our own brand of “inside” humor, why can’t NY?

    Comment by boardwalker — January 11, 2009 @ 8:18 pm  Reply to this post
  • What is Ryan Seacrest’s relationship to the Golden Globes production and run on NBC? Did you notice that 1) Angelina Jolie blatantly snubbed Seacrest on the red carpet when he was calling out “Angelina! Brad” twice and standing right beside them to do a pre-show interview. It was too funny to watch. Apparently Brad then granted an interview to Seacrest’s competition, Billy Busy at Access Hollywood. 2) What appears to be more entertaining is that the broadcast of the Golden Globes is blocking out any shots of Angelina Jolie during the performance. Whenvever the camera pans to Brad Pitt’s table, you see Brad, but Angelina is cut out…so I wonder if Seacrest had a say in this, due to his snub?

    Comment by Leslie — January 11, 2009 @ 9:30 pm  Reply to this post
  • Otherwise–good call, when will we see “you know” Kennedy on SNL?

    Comment by sunnygirl — January 11, 2009 @ 10:11 pm  Reply to this post
  • Oooh, SNL, a show aimed at stoned teens and college students without plans for the weekend isn’t as politically balanced as some people would like. America is truly doomed.

    Comment by Really? — January 11, 2009 @ 11:45 pm  Reply to this post
  • I thought the sketch was funny and relevant. But who cares I’m just a guy who watches TV.

    Comment by justanobserver — January 12, 2009 @ 9:55 am  Reply to this post
  • I thought this was awesome, even if some of the shows haven’t existed for years.

    Comment by penny — January 12, 2009 @ 10:36 am  Reply to this post
  • I didn’t even watch it.

    Comment by chuck — January 12, 2009 @ 1:01 pm  Reply to this post
  • Actually, I do not GET the negative comments. It was creative. And I agree with the earlier poster that they had to use shows that people KNOW about.

    Modern theatre and plays are great. But if it doesn’t play in Peoria, then it won’t have legs to hang in there.

    Prices are too high. People are losing their jobs at a rate not seen since the end of WWII and possibly the Depression.

    If Broadway wants to really fill its theatres, it’s all very simple… Lower the prices and use less elaborate (aka costly) sets. And the actors, though most poorly paid, may have to take less too.

    These are tough times. My employer asked me to take the last 3 weeks of December off. No pay. Or else we would have staff cutbacks and layoffs. I took no pay. And it was hard. No Xmas tree. No gifts to friends and relatives. No eating out. No theatre. It was enough just to pay the rent and survive.

    Not complaining. Others have it worse. But please, you wonderfully creative people out there, get with the program.

    I want to support you, but you’re going to have to help out too. Or else, theatres will close. And where will that leave you?

    Comment by helenofpeel — January 12, 2009 @ 4:27 pm  Reply to this post
  • The Digital Short and the Whopper Virgins were damn funny – “It was my uncle.” Everything was boring, especially Seth as the solo anchor.

    Comment by the good stuff — January 12, 2009 @ 8:59 pm  Reply to this post
  • LAME, LAME, LAME. Had it not been for Sarah Palin and Tina Fey, y’all would be gone by now.

    Comment by mary forestieri — January 13, 2009 @ 3:20 pm  Reply to this post

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