[Mb-civic] 'SNL in the '80s': The Last Laugh On a Trying Decade - Tom Shales - Washington Post Review

[William Swiggard]

'SNL in the '80s': The Last Laugh On a Trying Decade

By Tom Shales
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 12, 2005; Page C01

If you can remember Doug and Wendy Whiner, Terry and Julia Sweeney (no 
relation) and the squirrelly nerd who married a monkey, you qualify as a 
truly devoted fan of "Saturday Night Live." Those and other memories -- 
dumb, dim or dimmer -- will come creeping back from the past tomorrow 
night when NBC presents "Saturday Night Live in the '80s: Lost and 
Found," an entertaining talkumentary about the venerable comedy show's 
second decade.

The two-hour special, a procession of talking heads, sketch snippets and 
remnants of vintage musical numbers, is a sequel to a special that aired 
in February and celebrated the show's first five years -- its best 
period, partly because the show was so fresh and feisty.

By contrast, "SNL" began the '80s with a complete breakdown, its 
original cast and producer having doused the "On Air" light and walked 
out -- hence the "Lost" in the title of the special, which airs at 9 
p.m. on Channel 4. Having reached rock bottom, "SNL" could sink no 
lower, and as the decade lurched on, it heaved and ho'd, ebbed and 
flowed, and was regularly pelted with the proverbial critical brickbats.

"SNL" was pulled apart at the seams, reinvented, deconstructed, recast, 
briefly canceled by programming genius Brandon Tartikoff and, finally, 
reclaimed its place as TV's funniest and bravest hardy perennial.

At this point, I have to interrupt myself. Even more than the first 
special, "Lost and Found" conspicuously covers much of the same 
backstage lore as recounted in "Live From New York: An Uncensored 
History of 'Saturday Night Live,' " published in 2002. The authors were 
James Andrew Miller and -- me.

For this reason, many, if not most, of the stories in the documentary 
have a certain familiarity to me. Kenneth Bowser, who produced, wrote 
and directed, ran into the same big roadblock that frustrated the book's 
authors: Eddie Murphy, the biggest star ever to emerge from the show, 
declined to participate. He's talked about but does no talking of his own.

In addition to having others laud Murphy, Bowser includes micro-moments 
from great Murphy sketches -- Murphy as Gumby, Murphy as Buckwheat, 
Murphy as "Mister Robinson," and Murphy as James Brown prancing around a 
hot tub. Murphy's inspired exuberance easily survives the intervening 
years; the camera didn't just love him, it worshiped him. Murphy and pal 
Joe Piscopo are credited with saving the show from cancellation.

Jean Doumanian, the unlucky and underqualified young producer who took 
over from Lorne Michaels as executive producer of the series, is also 
absent from the documentary. Although everyone agrees she failed, 
Doumanian has her defenders, among them wacko comic Gilbert Gottfried, 
who complains that the media attacked her too viciously. The great Bill 
Murray also has kind words for Doumanian and, gentleman that he is, 
dared to defy the other old-timers and returned to host Doumanian's show.

In one excerpted sketch, he talks about mean things critics wrote. "My 
favorite . . . is, 'Vile From New York,' " Murray says. Thank you, Bill. 
I wrote that when reviewing the premiere of the Doumanian version in 
1980 (she lasted 10 months).

Dick Ebersol, now president of NBC Sports and mastermind of its Olympics 
coverage, took over from Doumanian, having been present at the creation 
of "SNL" in the '70s. He was the NBC executive in charge of late-night 
at the time and, given a mandate to create a weekend comedy series, he 
hired Michaels. Bowser, however, made a strange editorial decision in 
telling this part of the story. While someone is saying that Ebersol had 
a knack for keeping network brass away from the show, we see photographs 
of NBC executive Tartikoff hanging around Ebersol's office, as if to 
contradict what's being said.

"SNL" continued to attract bright young talents even when its reputation 
foundered, although those talents weren't always given a chance to 
shine. Writer Larry David (not interviewed) couldn't get a sketch on the 
air, and actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, recruited from a Chicago improv 
group, recalls her three seasons on "SNL" as confused and frustrating. 
In later years, David would co-create, and Louis-Dreyfus would co-star 
in, "Seinfeld," the series that proved that even a sitcom can be a 
masterpiece.

Ebersol decided to go for broke with the 1984-85 season, putting 
together a high-priced all-star team that included Billy Crystal, Martin 
Short and Christopher Guest. That version lasted one funny-but-peculiar 
season. Then Lorne Michaels returned, in 1985, and eventually turned it 
back into "Saturday Night Live."

Strangely, the documentary doesn't deal with the death of "SNL" founding 
father John Belushi in 1982. And how odd that in a two-hour survey of 
the '80s and a show that satirized them, there's ne'er a glimpse of 
Ronald Reagan, or of Phil Hartman's slick and witty impression of him. 
The ultra-versatile Hartman would meet a tragic end in the '90s.

Considering that the '80s were thought to be a bad decade for the show, 
one sees a great many comedic gems: Francis Ford Coppola spoofing 
himself by directing his own auteurist version of the program; Short as 
the babbling Ed Grimley, worshiper at the shrine of Pat Sajak (who even 
knew he had a shrine?); Dana Carvey as the Church Lady, as a burned-out 
Elton John and as Dennis Miller while sitting next to Dennis Miller at 
the Weekend Update desk; and Crystal as gossipy lounge lizard Fernando 
(mercifully minus the still-tired "You look mah-velous" catchphrase).

We briefly see the ultra-talented Damon Wayans, but he isn't mentioned; 
nor do we hear the legendary tale of how Michaels, who recoils in horror 
from firing anybody, loudly fired Wayans one night while the show was on 
the air. Bowser's problem was, obviously, an excess of good stuff, even 
from a decade widely considered bad. Thus one of the encouraging, 
amazing things about "Saturday Night Live": Even in its darkest, dankest 
hours, even when it teetered on the brink of extinction, "Saturday Night 
Live" never ceased to surprise.

And when it did, it wasn't just funny. It was joyous.

Saturday Night Live in the '80s: Lost and Found (two hours) airs 
tomorrow night at 9 on NBC.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/11/AR2005111102037.html?nav=hcmodule
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