SNL 40 Breaks Records And Millions Of Funny Bones! BRAVO!
SNL 40 Breaks Records And Millions Of Funny Bones! BRAVO!
STUNNING is about the only word that works to describe the show last night. The video montages, the opening, the presentation…everything was flawless! TD Steve Cimino and Director Don King did a great job, as did everyone behind the lenses last night.
And the live sketches…WOW! Jeopardy, Weekend Update, Chevy and Garret’s news for the deaf, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Bass O Matic, ALL OFF IT was just amazing and had to be done in a much smaller space than usual.
Just look at the extra seating added here. That took up a lot of valuable floor space. I didn’t see a single camera last night and suspect the crane must have spent most of the night tucked into the center tunnel.
I laughed all the way through and have never seen have never seen a show with more iconic moments! It was just Awesome! THANK YOU to all that helped bring this to us! There will be more as people decompress from this week’s activities and pictures and stories start to emerge. -Bobby Ellerbee
I was 19 when this show first aired. Loved growing up with it!
Did Don King direct the show? I thought I saw a different name. But I’m not sure.
I believe it was Sarah Palin in the audience segment, but Tina Fey in other segments.
Well I just watched it… It was ok.
Sorry auto, I watched SNL from the first show I was very disappointed with the overall show I agree with Jeff Williams and his view, the music end ….K West really? So much to choose from, I figure he paid them to let him roll around on the floor.
Regarding the lack of clips from the past, it seems that it always comes down to getting the clearances and paying royalties. I’m sure the music acts would fall into that category. I was frankly shocked to see Chevy Chase at what ever weight he has ballooned to and he seemed to be disorinented when he came to the front of the stage. Yes it was too long, but the funny stuff was really funny. It is no small undertaking to do a live 3 1/2 hour entertainment show that is not a awards show. Don Roy King and the entire crew did an outstanding job as ususal.
again… fallon and timberlake, looks like that’s the only way this show can get popular..
Overall, I have mixed feelings about the special. Seeing old cast members and a few skits (in particular, Jeopardy) were great. However, they could have added more clips from previous SNL’s and there were way too many commercials. NBC oversold it.
I wouldn’t say flawless. I saw many missed camera cues a few of the cues to commercial were badly flubbed. I don’t think Eddie Murphy was suppose to say Oh I thought that was it, and repeat what he had just said and the left him in the middle of him repeating. Overall Pretty Good Not great. 5 seconds of a bit and smash edits for 2 minutes barely audible under the live audience and whatever was on the original.
Would have liked to see more of a retrospect on the musical acts over the years, but besides that lived the show !
Thank you a lot! It was a stunningly professional crew performance. What a “dance” indeed!
Last night was like watching the last 40 years of my life slip past my eyes. I laughed, I cried, I “wowed”, I sang along and longed for the good ole days of being an employee of NBC. It truly is the greatest television show of all time and hopefully will continue for many years to come. Who will shepard it forward? Hopefully someone like Loren who has a desire to mentor as well as entertain. There were many things I would have liked to see more of, and a few things I could have done without, but truthfully, how can I be critical of something that is literally the equivalent of creating lightning in a bottle. It takes talent, drive and an enduring commitment to satirical humor to create a broadcast so magnificent. I’m pretty sure there will never be another night like last night’s SNL, but I sure hope so!
Bobby, everyone’s entitled to an opinion and I respect everyone’s on the Sunday night SNL 40th special, however I felt the 8-11 PM part was not well presented or well organized. I would have started the show at 7 PM till 11 and used each hour to present the most memorable full-length skits from each decade–the first hour would have been all 70s skits for example. Having Dan Ackroyd recreate a skit he did 40 years ago (the Bass-O-Matic) was pointless—why not have him introduce the clip of the original segment? I couldn’t sit through the whole thing– it seemed so unorganized in the way it was presented. I enjoyed the Celebrity Jeopardy sketch but it was not clear if the Jeopardy sketch was new or from a recent season–dates on screen would have helped. I enjoyed Paul McCartney, that was cool, but presentation-wise, as much as I’m a long -time SNL fan, the special missed the mark for me. And Chris Rock kissed Eddie Murphy’s butt way too much when he talked about him, so much so I walked out of the room.
really liked the show despite its faux pas…such as the lighting miscue during McCartney’s song that washed out the projections on the background. As for Eddie Murphy…a five minute introduction and he had nothing to say…
As a former crew member (cue cards 1981-88) I really appreciated the shout out, especially the acknowledgment of my dear friend, mentor Al Siegel who worked at NBC for years. Here is my FB video post in his honor:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10204819376297463
Please settle an argument between my wife and myself… I say it really was the real Sarah Palin along with Tina Fey but the wife vehemently denied it. Help please?
What were the overnight numbers?
A real shame Don Pardo couldn’t be there except perhaps in spirit.
I still can’t believe I was only 22 when the show first aired.
Legendary
While most are saying last night’s SNL Show was great, I had hopes that many of the great decades old sketches would be aired as they were years ago—not lots of still frames, here and there. If the SNL Show was about their 40 years on air, they missed that target. To me, it appears to have been a long, commercial money making “SNL” Show that missed out on the past 40 years. The three and a half hour Show was too long without the proper content. That’s my opinion on this TV Show.
Well said, Bobby. It was so true to the quintessential SNL form. That was a nice surprise. I was half-expecting a long clip show, or a melancholy look back at “When it was a good show.” (I really hate when people do that.) But it was brilliant the way they mixed players from all of the generations into some hilarious sketches. And in true form, they did it LIVE.
Bobby, the Chapman Electra was not in Studio 8H last night. There was no room for it. Instead, the production used two 16ft jibs; one on each side of the additional seats.
Quite pleased with the show. Kind of tuned out Kanye’s performance. Although “The Californians” dragged on [as it always does!], it was nice to see Laraine *and* Betty in there!!!!
There could’ve been more tributes—I for one thought Pardo needed “a little more” attention…..but they already had to extend the show a half hour, and 3 and a half hours still wouldn’t be enough!!!
Anyone else catch the shot of Pinto during the digital short [when they did their tribute to Lorne]?
Timberlake and Fallon are a great combination…
It was a great show. But did they really have to have Kanye West appear? :/