Since then, I have watched most of the episodes. Not all of it, of course, because like most SNL viewers, I found some periods of its mostly brilliant storyline more engaging (as in, funnier) than others.
I’ve never held the fallout periods against the show, because the show’s creative master, Lorraine Michaels, somehow always manages to find a way back to relevance and inspired comedy. (If you can’t, you won’t be in the air for about 50 years).
That’s not the kind of ratings “SNL” has been getting in recent years, when critics of the program have criticized the status quo creatively.
So what changed?
And when Donald Trump emerged as a candidate and then president, the program received positive attention for Alec Baldwin’s very broad impression of Trump.
But, as has been the case with “SNL” in the past, expect the show to jump into every open incident that comes out of Washington, sometimes forcing creative decisions. In Trump’s case, there were many of them, many of which were so similar to the theater of the absurd that it was almost impossible to parody (drinking bleach; redrawing weather maps; paying for the Mexico wall). ).
In the last few years of Trump-centric news, “SNL” seems to be on the run looking for a new comedic victim, other than just how funny or threatening Trump can be.
It was futile for everyone in the evening to wallow in Trump’s absurdity equally, because of the need for comedy and the belief that his actions should be ridiculed.
Perhaps because of the heavy focus on politics, or because the cast hasn’t been the most memorable, Michaels has done a lot of this acrobatic casting in recent years, mostly to reclaim cast favorites. But the best seasons of “SNL” have been about the regular cast.
