Letters to the Editor
tomreedtoon
Published Letters: 766 Editor's Choice: 80
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Sheesh, can't a bitter old guy take a week off?
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]marktgarden asked: "This week's edition has been online for literally *minutes* and you haven't posted your tirade yet? Are you in bed with croup or ague?"
No, those are diseases of rich, pointless, aimless people like Ms. Havrilesky. People like me, who actually live in a country you may have heard of called America, get shot by gangbangers, rednecks or psychotic postmen.
It just happens that I'm on vacation this week, in a place outside the U.S. called Burbank, California. Even attended a book signing party (no, not my book, Bush hasn't finished coloring it in yet). Havrilesky would love it here. A large percentage of the colorful natives here are arrogant, heartless snobs like her. And they would offer her a wonderful life direction; they don't feel the need to put their thoughtless opinions into print, only yell them at each other over a too-loud DJ playing techno crap. If only she'd do that instead...
Not too much to say this week, except that "30 Rock" and "Studio 60" prove that late-night comedy is indeed dead. Intellectuals only find significance in popular culture when that culture appears to be dead; thus the name "culture vultures." They only paid attention to popular motion pictures when the studio system was dead, and they only showed appreciation for TV when cable, DVD's and YouTube made broadcasting a terminal patient.
"Saturday Night Live," the unspoken model for these shows, stopped being the generator of fresh comedy and the showcase for new comic actors a long time ago. (Arguably it never was; did Chevy Chase, John Belushi or Dan Aykroyd ever make movies that really lived up to their hyped status as comic geniuses?) The promise of semi-improvised sketch comedy has evaporated, and these backstage dramas confirm it. Of course, they wouldn't do fictionalized versions of the real history like the drug abuse permitted on the SNL set, or the way SNL's women were shut out of the creative process by the comedy world's intrinsic sexism. If they had, perhaps these shows would be worth watching.
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Racism and the SNL connection...
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I maintain that Havrilesky's writing is terrible, but I would never call her a racist, as several posters have done. We should have reached a place in this country where it is possible to critique and even mock black people, as long as race isn't the criterion for mocking. It will probably take a decade or so before the same is possible when critiquing Hispanic and gay public figures.
And as for the SNL performers, yes, they had a few good movies. But their performances were anything but consistent. Bill Murray made "Ghostbusters," but also "The Razor's Edge," where he unsuccessfully tried to attack a deadly serious dramatic role. More appropriate to the season, in "Scrooged," he not only was unconvincing as a cynical evil guy, but made his "redemption" sound like another con job. Only worth a brief mention are his unimpressive performances in "Quick Change," "Charlie's Angels" and "Osmosis Jones."
Listing Chevy Chase's disasters would be too cruel. Dan Aykroyd, ostensibly the "smarter" of the Blues Brothers, has had decreasing film fortunes since Belushi's death; perhaps he did need a partner to work off to be funny, and Jim Belushi hasn't worked out.
Every performer makes bad movies, but I argue the SNL guys had a higher percentage of duds, because they were cast specifically on their reputations as "funny guys" who would rescue pathetic scripts and productions. That is the sad fate of Eddie Murphy, who was cast in "Beverly Hills Cop" when most of the A-list male actors turned it down. When he turned around that particular sow's ear, he wound up in "Holy Man," "Vampire in Brooklyn," "Boomerang" and other awful scripts.
Perhaps the SNL guys took every paycheck waved in front of them, because they didn't know when the checks would stop or they would only be considered top actors while they were actually working. Or maybe they lacked any ability to tell a good script from a bad one. Certainly the studios didn't see any need to protect actors by demanding good stories, they way they did for Bob Hope in his prime. Whatever the reason, the SNL performers won't even have Hope's record - and for a guy who was "America's favorite comedian," look how fast Hope has fallen after his death.