Letters to the Editor
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Sock it to me?
Never underestimate the power of a popular sketch comedy show.
That said, why the hell is anyone still watching SNL. I have caught the occasional sketch on YouTube (generally the ones that are considered "good" enough to go viral) and have actually yelled at the computer screen. The show is AWFUL. The humor is stale and pointless. The alleged satire is about as sharp a Nerf ball and considerably less subtle than the nuanced social commentary of the Three Stooges.
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SNL may not be biased, but those sketches certainly were
A few points...
Alex Koppelman: "Who knew people still watched any part of the show other than "Dick in a Box"?"
Thanks, now I gotta go find out what "Dick in a Box" is about. Anyway, even if people don't watch the show, SNL's sketches got considerable news coverage. They were on YouTube for a while, and on the NBC.com web site. There was plenty of word-of-mouth and blogging, and Clinton made them a part of her debate conversation. It wasn't just one episode, it was two weeks' worth, both slanted heavily toward Hillary Clinton, and both just before an important election.
Lorne Michaels: "I'm sensitive to the suggestion that we're in the service of Hillary Clinton this year. That obviously is not the case ... We don't lay down for anybody ... I'm in show business and I never, ever forget that."
Saying he's sensitive to the suggestion doesn't mean there isn't a bias. Saying that it "obviously" is not the case, without mentioning what's so obvious about it, is not convincing either.
Alex Koppelman: "Turns out that, actually, most of the "SNL" staff are Obama supporters, and head writer Seth Meyers has contributed to Obama's campaign. As for Michaels, well, he actually contributed to John McCain and Chris Dodd."
But what about Jim Downey, whom you mentioned earlier, and who wrote the politically themed sketches? What about Amy Poehler, and most importantly, what about guest Tina Fey, whose "bitch is the new black" piece was practically an editorial endorsement?
All of this side-steps a few other issues:
(1) For two weeks in a row, SNL prominently opened its show with a satire of the Clinton/Obama debates that made Obama look stupid for no particular reason. The point was that the media was going soft on him, but by the second debate there seemed to be an effort (by Tim Russert) to challenge Obama -- for example with Russert's repeated questions on the Farrakhan support. So by then SNL's one-joke premise was rendered inaccurate, but they forged ahead with it anyway.
(2) SNL gave Hillary Clinton a prominent appearance, with advance publicity, just three days before a major election. Though not an endorsement, the appearance occurred directly after a sketch that portrayed Obama in a much more unflattering way than it portrayed Clinton.
SNL doesn't have to apologize for any of this, and they'll move on to other things. I don't consider it worth making a big deal over. That said, I think Obama supporters who do cry foul are not just imagining things.
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@ anoony
Don't ever let your Fox junkie friend forget that facts have a well-known liberal bias.
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DQuintanaNY
"Last week, there was a sketch related to the "3 A.M." ad (as I mentioned in a previous post) which hit hard on the Clinton line of Obama's "inexperience"."
I didn't see it, but one of my friends told me about it. The premise is that President Obama has an international crisis in the middle of the night and he calls Hillary Clinton in panic to find out what to do. My friend was annoyed by the skit because he thought it was swallowing a Clinton talking point whole.
I told him that if I had written the skit, I would have had Hillary roll over in bed and ask Bill Clinton what to do. Then I would have had Bill Clinton roll over in bed and ask George H.W. Bush what to do.
I doubt that there is an institutional bias at SNL towards Clinton. Remember the Halloween Party sketch last fall in which Barack Obama appeared. The whole point of that sketch was the idea that Hillary Clinton is an unlikable phony.
Maybe Tina Fey is biased towards Hillary. But I don't think "as Tina Fey goes, so goes the country."
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SNL and Tina Fey not biased?
Hello?
But then we can all pull back a little and consider that Oprah is on the side of Barack Obama.
That vast right wing media conspiracy
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Obama Fascism
Obamaism has become the new fascism.
How dare anyone make fun of our Great Glorious Leader!! How dare anyone not bow down and worship Him!
How DARE anyone insult Him! They are forever condemned inhuman racists.
How dare anyone not say only positive things about Our Great and Magnificent, Incredible, Fabulous, Saintly Leader!
How dare anyone not be demeaning and throw vitriol at Clinton at every instance! We will crush her supporters!
Free Speech is Dead! The Free Press is Dead! Only the press that supports what we say is allowed. We will unite by destroying our detractors! Seig Heil!
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@ damnthatxanadu - Oh no you didn't
Obama Fascism...sounds a lot like islamo-fascism.
You better check your innuendo!
I'm kidding, of course. It probably would be good for your blood-pressure to calm down a little though.
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@picko Fixed it for ya
I told him that if I had written the skit, I would have had Hillary roll over in bed and ask Bill Clinton what to do. Then I would have had Bill Clinton roll over in bed and ask Monica Lewinsky what to do.
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damnthatxanadu
Yeah, you can usually tell how weak someone's case is by how quickly they resort to hyperbole.
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damnthatxanadu
Let me correct that:
Yeah, you can usually tell how weak someone's case is by how quickly they resort to hyperbole or how quickly they jump to comparing their opponents to fascists.
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SNL is pro-NYC
It always has been. And Hillary is the Senator from New York. If Obama was the Senator from New York, every show would be half Obama skits.
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@Jerm
Fascism is fascism. A totalitarian view that condemns and is intolerant of any other view.
Any true believer in democracy, in free speech, in freedom, should condemn it where-ever it shows up.
If we make ourselves blind to it in our own system because it somehow serves our most cherished beliefs, we'll ALWAYS be in danger of it taking over again.
We should be intolerant of intolerance.