Live From New York, It's "Saturday Night Live: 40th Anniversay Special"

Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary (2015)

TV-14

Starring The Not Ready For Primetime Players

Created by Lorne Michaels

The Story:

The year was 1975, and Lorne Michaels unleashed a weekly 90 minute program of satirical humor and musical guests every Saturday Night, live for the viewing public. The face of comedy was changed forever.

It may not have truly recognized for the brilliance at first, but how about by using a 40 year retrospective that is basically a greatest hits/worlds' biggest inside joke for the cast and the fans of the show to help you appreciate the comedy geniuses that have passed through Studio 8H over the decades.

Some went on to bigger and better things after their stint on the show. Some went on...and we are surprised that they are still around.

Saturday Night Live has been around for 40 years.

Reports (or demands) of its cancellation have been circulating for about...

39 years.

:)

Pretty much if they were ever on the show, they were on the show last night.

Even Eddie Murphy, who returned to a standing ovation.

There were a few new sketches with cast members from across the spectrum, and with a few special guest stars.

I would say the Jeopardy sketch with Ferrell back as Trebek and the always underrated Darryl Hammond as Sean Connery did not disappoint.

There was a Weekend Update retrospective with Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Jane Curtin as hosts.

Then a salute to the musicians and comedy skits that have been a staple of the show since the beginning.

They also looked at the crossover between sports and comedy as well.

A solid show from top to bottom, and filled with more than enough laughs.

Worst segment?

The Kanye West musical segment.

That's okay, SNL is notorious for  airing stuff that probably should have been cut.

I don't stay up much anymore and am not that familiar with the cast, but I'm glad they're still around and doing this every weekend.

Looking forward to the next decade of laughs, and that should be SNL's next retrospective, the 50th.

Final Grade: A

I Just Don't Get The Fascination With "Downtown Abbey"

Downtown Abbey (2010)
N/R

Starring Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Joanne Froggatt,

Created by Julian Fellowes

The Story:

We are introduced to the Crawley family who live in Downtown Abbey, and the servants who work there  to keep the house and Crawley family running smoothly.  It opens the day after the Titanic sinks, and the heir to the fortune goes down with the ship.  Whatever will the Crawley's do?

I'm not sure, but I can tell you this much...

zzzzZZZzzzzzZZZzzzzZZZZ

I don't know what the rest of the world sees in this show, but color me unimpressed.

Don't get me wrong:

The actors, great job.
The sets are absolutely gorgeous.
The period piece, marvelous.

The story?

ZzzzZZZzzzzZZzZZzzZzzz

I was completely underwhelmed for almost the entire running time of the first episode.

Things heated up, barely, we're talking candle heat, not space heater or fireplace heat at the end with the shocking revelation of one of the servants and the honor that Mr. Crawley showed to the former comrade in arms now servant.

But alas, way too little, much too late.

There's no way, nor reason, why I would want to come back for more.

You can argue that "it gets better" or "I'm being too harsh", but that's my judgment for the show, and I've got a million and one other things I can watch next, so why come back to something I found to only be so-so, at best?

Nah.

Available to stream free for Amazon Prime members.

Final Grade: C-... maybe lower!
Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No to both, thank you though.

Streaming TV Weekend: "Cheers"

Norm!

The Story:

Welcome to Boston, home of Cheers, the bar where everybody knows your name.  The owner is Sam Malone (Ted Danson) ex-ballplayer, former alcoholic and noted womanizer.  The rest of his staff includes Carla (Rhea Perlman) and Coach (Nicholas Colasanto).  Norm (George Wendt) is the bar regular that everyone calls out to when he comes through the door.  There's also a know-it-all mailman (John Ratzenberger) lurking around as well.

In the first episode, Diane (Shelley Long) comes to the bar about to be married, but her man needs to obtain the ring from his ex wife.

You can imagine that it doesn't end well for her.

And there you have the set up that would last for almost 5 years.

Starting in 1982, this 30+ year old NBC comedy series is still hilarious.

Created and written by the trio of James Burrows, Glen and Les Charles, whoever thought a show about a bar would be one of the better sitcoms in television history?

Having not seen the original episode since it probably aired in '82, it was a crazy trip on the way-back machine when I was surfing for something to watch.

It still holds up, it's still funny and doesn't appear to have suffered with age.

All good things, especially when dealing with sitcoms.

I have said before that I preferred the seasons after Diane left the show, but Cheers made the most out of the on-again/off-again romantic tension between Sam and Diane.  Unlike Moonlighting, the show didn't lose its steam by pairing up the two in later years.

The sweet reminder was just how funny Coach was.  It was sad when he passed away, but Cheers did great by casting Woody Harrelson to step in as the dimwit of the bar.

The show is still great, and if it's been some time since you've watched, now is a great time to revisit some old friends.

And if you've never seen it before, you're in for a treat!

Available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I doubt I'll ever buy the 11 seasons, but it's nice to know that I can stream it at any point if I have time but don't want to go for a movie to have a pretty good sitcom on standby at a moment's notice.