From: weitzman@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu (Adam J. Weitzman)
Subject: Re: Sinead does SNL
Organization: Brandeis University
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 23:15:10 GMT

In article <1992Oct14.150439.10523@uoft02.utoledo.edu> jsteiner@anwsun.phya.utoledo.edu (jason 'Think!' steiner) writes:
>
>do you seriously believe SNL just tells their guests to get up
>and do whatever? no, SNL has a format & probably wouldn't be
>too pleased with a large percentage of "whatever". i'm sure
>their lawyers are adding clauses about this kind of thing to
>their contracts as we type. if they weren't already in there...

(This is a bit out of the realm of music, but here goes anyways)

Saturday Night Live is exactly that, *live*. That means that performers are
up there no-holds-barred, performing the show as they see fit. Certainly SNL
is aware of Sinead's political leanings; they have experienced controversy
with her before (see the Andrew Dice Clay episode, which incidentally was
only the *second* SNL show to go out with a five-second tape delay, the first
one being when George Carlin did the show in 1975). Many musical performers 
have surprised the producers of SNL, including Elvis Costello and the Red Hot
Chili Peppers. SNL is (according to older people I know who experienced it)
much less irreverent now than it was when it started out. A little bit of
controversy never hurt anyone, and if it does anything for Sinead, certainly 
it does something for SNL. 

>and they won't be, and now people are bitching about it. SNL is
>under no obligation to provide a political platform for anyone.

You get what you pay for. When you pay for Sinead, you get politics as well
as a voice. Hell, I'd have been surprised if she *didn't* use the forum for
something; every other time she's been featured in the press or on TV she has
done or said something outrageous. If SNL claims to be surprised at what 
happened, then they're dumber than I give them credit for.

>Sinead was essentially stealing the time for inappropriate use.

And who is to judge what is inappropriate? Why does SNL have musical 
performers at all, it's a "comedy" show! Music is inappropriate for it!
The only musical performer appropriate for SNL is "Weird Al" Yankovic! 
Seriously, SNL is about comedy, but it is also about live performance.
If you can't expect some weirdness to fall through the cracks, what kind of
show are you left with?

Stop expecting to be entertained by TV. It almost always disappoints. I
was reading _Dave_Barry_Turns_40_ and it was just one fantastic humor ride,
until he got serious for a page and a half and wrote about the death of his
mother. It was a sobering piece, and one might call it inappropriate for the
book, but the book was also about writing, not just the words on the page
but what is behind them, and it was a very effective piece of writing. The
point is that if you don't look at the big picture and say "When I turn on
SNL I want comedy!" and don't expect them to say anything deep or anything
that makes you think at all, then you're missing out.

-- 
					- Adam J Weitzman
					  weitzman@chaos.cs.brandeis.edu
"All our life is spent in this permanent brainwashed contempt."
	- Meat Beat Manifesto