From: cb366@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Mark B. Bendiksen)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: SNL Oct. 12 Review
Date: 12 Oct 1992 15:34:08 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


Saturday Night Live: October 10 Review

Well, it certainly was a relief to see the SNL Saturday
night. After two weeks of wallowing in the depths of
snoozeville, the writers and the cast seemed to wake up
and produced an enjoyable 90 minutes. By no means in the
same league with the show's finest moments, Saturday
night's show at least proved that it hadn't hit a slump
equal to that which struck in the very early 1980s.

Opening skit, The Presidential Debate:

Without a doubt the best bit in the show. The split
screen was detectable but a good idea to utilize
Dana Carvey as Bush and Perot. This bit was so
well-written in every respect that it's hard to believe
these same writers came up with the crappy skits on
SNL as well. Best moments: Bernard Shaw's question
"If Kitty Dukakis was raped...." and the end of the
sketch where the candidates saw each other through
their own eyes. Pure genius, I really which I had hit
the record button on my VCR for this one!

Opening monologue, Sinead:

Very well done. Why? Because even though you
could tell Pesci was serious, he avoided being
heavy-handed. He made his point very well, and
received a standing ovation in the living room of
this viewer.

The Law Firm commercials:

Not bad. Nothing surprising, though. Phil Hartman
properly exuded quiet sleaziness, and the commercials
were mildly amusing.

The Bensonhurst Dating Game:

Pretty funny at first. It wore thin kind of quickly, though.
Still, the characterizations by the performers kept the
sketch afloat.

The Pinky Ring Store:

Interesting, but not hilarious. The skit seemed to be
a throwback to the old days of sketch comedy (i.e. Red
Skelton), but the format doesn't seem to work well
today. Pesci was quite good, however.

Spin Doctors:

Whoops, didn't get to hear them. However, I can safely
say they were less controversial than last week's musical
guest. <Ahem>.....

Weekend Update:

Fast-paced and surprisingly brief. Even some funny
news stories were included. Wow!

Single White Person:

Well, I used to think that Pat was a character that should
have been retired long ago. However, I think what should
have been dropped are the skits which consist solely of
people attempting to figure out what Pat is. Thankfully,
that wasn't the focus of the sketch Saturday night, and the
result was a weird and funny takeoff of _Single White
Female_. Joe Pesci was very funny as the homosexual
neighbor.

The Bank Robbers Sketch:

Very, very funny! The consistent use of the dog commercial
added a bit a amusing surrealism to an extremely 
hilarious sketch. I really liked this one.....

The Tough-Guys-on-the-Street Bit:

The typical ho-hum SNL skit. Seemed like it was going
to take off midway through, then it never did.

The "Aren't you Joe Pesci" skit:

Not really funny until De Niro and Scorsese showed up.
That WAS a surprise (especially to see De Niro).


My main complaint with the show is that they didn't allow
Pesci to do a wider range of characters. Almost all of the
skits typecast him as a wisecracking Italian guy. However,
the Single White Person sketch Pesci proved that he
can do a wide range of characterizations. They should
have let him do more.

Still missing Mike Meyers. As I reported last week no one
knows that date of his return except that it should be in
"Calendar Year 1992." I hope it's soon. For the sake of
SNL, I hope it's before Carvey leaves (presumably in
November).

Oh well, just some thoughts.

See 'ya!


Mark B. Bendiksen
cb366@freenet.cwru.edu

-- 
"If we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto,
 We'll just be bogus, too."-- Dr. Jeff Spicolli
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv