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Trust me, when SNL started in the mid-70's, we all thought it was very funny. Last Saturday night, I thought the opening was funny, but it degenerated from there. The skit about the 'awakening of young women' was disgusting and the high school 'vignette skit was nothing but Lib indoctrination. SNL should go away. It is likely ruining young minds and we sure don't need more of that in this country.

I loved SNL back in the 70's during my college years. As to the risque material, I seem to remember that SNL always pushed the envelope. In it's early years, the show was considered rather daring because it was live, and one never knew what would happen. I remember one where Elliot Gould was host (he was a popular SNL host back then) and he started the show by singing Cole Porter's "Anything Goes". At the end of the song, he said "and on this show everything goes!". Unfortunately, the material of those years would be considered quite tame today. In order to be provocative and shock the audience, they have to take it farther and farther.

And I think the show has always had a liberal bias. They made fun of Gerald Ford all the time, but portrayed Jimmah Carter as totally cool. I remember a skit in which they depicted Richard Nixon as a vampire and guest host Christopher Lee had to drive a stake into his heart. Yeah, I get that it was Christopher Lee, famous for playing Dracula, but can you imagine Obama being depicted like that?

It's not funny now and it probably was not that funny then, when we thought it was.

There have been bright spots through the years. Our NBC affiliate usually runs a vintage SNL in the hour before the Sat night news. Last Saturday it was a show from 1978 with Eric Idle as host. It was not funny at all and we had had high expectations. Some cast members were good and some of the writing was good. A favorite cast of ours had Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Nora Dunn, Victoria Jackson, Dennis Miller, Jon Lovitz. Still enjoy those reruns. Also liked Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Julia Sweeney, Tim Meadows, Rob Schneider, Adam Sandler, Norm MadDonald, Darrell Hammond. That's about it for the talent over the years though. The past 10 years or so, most of the cast member's characters are just annoying (Kristen Wiig, Cheri Oteri). Still, we try to watch to see if they can get some of their previous glory back.