SNL Serves Up What It Used to Skewer

Last night was the season premiere of SNL, one week shy of its actual 40th anniversary You could not find a wider gulf between last night's show and the first episode with George Carlin and Chevy Chase.

Remember the days when people used to see the news and say, "I can't wait to see how SNL blasts these people"? No longer.

As Elvis Costello sang "I used to be disgusted, now I think I'm just amused." SNL, you used to skewer this kind of manufactured, maudlin show business pretentiousness. Now, you're enabling it. And for what? Staying relevant? This is not the same spirit which kept a rerun hosted by Milton Berle off the air for decades. Google Tina Fey rail against having to work with no talent Paris Hilton and you'll hear what I mean.

Last I checked, the LIVE part of your name included real live musical performance, not some overproduced Liberace powdered wig shit with stupid dancers. Get back to the kind of raw, live, direct and exciting performances featuring acts which know how to perform their own instruments without a backing track and write their own material.

SNL, bring back the outlaw attitude. Take a stand for what is right in the comedic arts and against what is wrong everywhere. Be the hippest folks in the room with the rod of ridicule as a weapon. Offend people like you used to. Don't cozy up to celebs and don't be a shill...piss everyone off. Then no one will ever miss a show.

Here's a link to a showbiz news report on why it's so cool she's hosting: so we can see what she wears. Are you kidding me? This is not the Oscars. That sums it up. Something has gone wrong here: SNL now praises what it used to bury.

Finally, the irony is not lost on me that the Flaming Lips collaborated with Miley on her latest album, an ode to her dead pets. But it may be lost on her and it's most definitely lost on the majority of her fan base,