I found the survey I mentioned in an article on the Rolling Stone Website: 'Saturday Night Live': All 145 Cast Members Ranked
Hmmm. I don't know about that. All I can recall about him is weekend update and his horrible sense of comedic timing and the absolute certainty that he would make any number of flubbed lines. In fact, I'm pretty sure that when they got most of the update guys together on the 40th anniversary special, his one joke was an intentionally flubbed line that no one even laughed at. What did he ever do on SNL that was any good?
I think Colin Quinn is a case of someone who was good on one show (MTv's Remote Control) who was not so good on Saturday Night Live (SNL). It's the same situation with Robert Downey, Jr., who has been good in many movies and TV shows (I think he almost saved Ally McBeal until he suddenly had to leave the show) but just didn't work out that well on SNL. Sometimes I think it's a case of just not knowing what to do with someone to allow them to shine (Gilbert Gottfried, Pamela Stephenson, Chris Elliott, Julie Louis-Dreyfus, and many of the former Second City TV stars come to mind).
I think a factor for Belushi over Murphy for the #1 spot is that Belushi was a shining star at a time when the show had other great talents (Radner, Akroyd, and later Murray) that he was up against. Murphy was basically the one big star during his time on the show, with only Joe Piscopo as the only significant performer during his time on the show.
I rank them in terms of their VHS best of. Murphy's is the best (and could have been longer), Belushi is #2...... Chevy was great even in his 1 year.
Watched this episode of Laugh Trax--the show Gail Matthius (season 6) was on after she was fired--on a Twitch, the other day. Joined by Howie Mandel, guest Fred Willard, and others who are apparently known, but not to me. All I can say is, if you think SNL has ever been unwatchable, you need to watch this hacky wannabe Laugh-in to give you some perspective on just how horrible sketch comedy can truly get. I'll give them this: the decision to tape entirely on location (probably due to budget) at least gives it a unique look.
Re-reading my post I realized that the last sentence should have been: Murphy was basically the one big star during his time on the show, with only Joe Piscopo as the only other significant performer during Murphy's time on the show.
Still no further update from the Peacock network. I was so looking forward to binging my favorite SNL seasons complete and in great quality. Instead they are still where they are when they launched. The past five seasons and many episodes at a fraction of the length they should be at.
To me that would be an argument as to why Murphy is more significant. He had to carry the show largely by himself, whereas Belushi was surrounded by talent. It's sort of like comparing a pitcher who does great when he's on a team full of power hitters, to a pitcher who manages to win games even though his team sucks and he gets no run support.
Officially, nowhere. I'm not one to typically go that route, but they obviously don't want to ever make the majority of this series fully available.
Yea i happily bought the first five five season sets when they came out but they stopped .i wouldve bought even the ****ty season if only for nostalgia's sake
I would say from Eddie's years, its really hard to find a great sketch without him. -Video Game Junky comes to mind (She's working the hard way tonight.....one quarter at a time) -Budweiser commercial with Joe Pisco and R0bin Williams as hockey players "Bring out your best" where they beat each other up and their mouths are all bloody. -Doug and Wendy Weiner (If you like them....from NJ) I bet between all of us, you couldn't name more than 10 sketches/films, from 1981 to 1983 with great sketches without Eddie.
Can I ask how you are binging on the seasons after 6? I can't seem to find any seasons other than the 1st 5.
Colin Quinn was a poor fit for Update anchor. It's a job that requires a straight setup, followed by a punchline; Quinn was fine with the punchline, but his setups tended to be awkward (or stuttered or flubbed), which threw off the timing. He would have been better off as a regular Update character where he could basically do his standup routine without having to set up the punchlines. I have similar feelings about Norm MacDonald, by the way. I know a lot of people love Norm's version of Update, but IMO he spent too much time awkwardly staring at the audience as if to scold them for not laughing. Also, the writers got really lazy during Norm's tenure -- how many times did they literally clip a blurb from the pages of USA Today and just plaster it up on the screen? That's Jay Leno stuff, guys.
Interesting. I wonder if they will include musical guests. I’ve had vhs rips for years and welcome them to streaming.
