Anonymous
Post 02/19/2025 21:59     Subject: Re:SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

I have extremely fond memories of Paul Simon singing Still Crazy after All These Years in a turkey outfit — I laughed hysterically.

Anonymous
Post 02/19/2025 16:14     Subject: SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Paul Simon is a legendary musician.


No. He did not deserve to open the show. When you think most legendary musicians of the last 50 years nobody thinks of Paul Simon. :roll: He wouldn't be in the top 50 musicians of the last 50 years.


DP. When I think of legendary musicians specifically associated with SNL in the 70s, Paul Simon is the first to come to mind. What is with this weird Paul Simon hate?


An old fart who is best friends with the producer. Literally nobody tuned in to see Paul Simon. He certainly did not warrant opening the show with that boring song. It set the tone the entire 3.5 hours would be a let down. Which it was.


Dude was on the show almost 20 times. He was the second guest ever. How is he NOT the right choice?
Anonymous
Post 02/19/2025 16:09     Subject: Re:SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

Anonymous wrote:The first episode aired October 11, 1975. Why did they have this celebration 8 months early?


Sports.

October has
- multiple college football games on Saturday night
- NFL Sunday night football, Monday night football
- MLB playoffs

SNL50 would lose the ratings in October.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2025 14:46     Subject: SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

Anonymous wrote:I really liked the Nothing Compares version they played. It was closer in some ways to the Prince version of the song.


I agree. And I’m no Miley fan.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2025 14:17     Subject: SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

I really liked the Nothing Compares version they played. It was closer in some ways to the Prince version of the song.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2025 14:16     Subject: SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Lorne makes good tv! Another Easter egg/throw back: Miley singing Sinead’s Nothing Compares 2 U.

Iconic episode where she ripped up a pic of the Pope. Was quite the scandal back then! And everyone still remembers.


It's Prince's song that Sinead covered.
Their inclusion of Miley C, and many others, cements why I have no reason to watch anymore. They often highlight untalented trash.


You might not personally be a fan of Miley Cyrus but she is not untalented.


NP. I'm a Miley fan but she blew it on this song. She overdid it with her arms swinging and poser moves. Distracting. But she likes to be the center of attention when she can.

Brittany Howard on the mike? amazing. I wish she had sung the whole song. She's got a great vibe and voice.


I like Miley and think she's a great performer but I agree that when Howard started singing, I was like "oh, that's how it's supposed to sound." I didn't even think Miley was doing a bad job with it -- it was reminiscent of her performance of Flowers at the Grammy's last year which I thought was a banger. But Howard absolutely killed, her voice is amazing. Made me just want to go put on some Alabama Shakes.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2025 14:14     Subject: SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

Anonymous wrote:There were definitely questionable asks to this event

There had to be reasons that Timberlake and carvey weren’t involved


Timberlake is in the middle of a tour. Carvey probably had a conflict - he’s been featured on this season a bunch as Church Lady and Joe Biden.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2025 14:11     Subject: SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Paul Simon is a legendary musician.


No. He did not deserve to open the show. When you think most legendary musicians of the last 50 years nobody thinks of Paul Simon. :roll: He wouldn't be in the top 50 musicians of the last 50 years.


DP. When I think of legendary musicians specifically associated with SNL in the 70s, Paul Simon is the first to come to mind. What is with this weird Paul Simon hate?



+1 The Sound of Silence? Mrs. Robinson? Come on. The man won 16 Grammys and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice.


+2. And more importantly, he was the second-ever SNL host, and has continued to appear on the show in each decade since.


This. If George Carlin (who hosted the first ever episode) were still alive, it's likely he would have opened the show instead.

The whole point of that bit with him and Sabrina Carpenter was to emphasize how long the show has been on the air and how it spans generations. Here is Paul Simon, who hosted the second episode ever, and here is Sabrina Carpenter, one of the youngest recent musical guests (she is 24 or 25 years old). Then they sing a classic Paul Simon song together that also evokes some of Carpenter's folkier tendencies and that goes well with her voice, and that has some significance for a reunion. They sang "Homeward Bound" to welcome all of SNL's many alums back "home" while standing on "home base" which is what they call that little stage in the middle of the theater.

To be honest I also didn't love it, and I love Paul Simon. I just found it a little schlocky and would have preferred a funnier bit. I much preferred Steve Martin's monologue and his little bit with John Mulaney. I struggle with watching older performers do their classic hits -- it highlights how old they are and how unlike their younger selves they are and it makes me sad. Though I will say that Paul McCartney looked and sounded super spry on the show last night -- good for him!

But if you were watching the show and didn't understand why Simon was up there, then this show was not for you. It was a very nostalgic show, and they made it primarily for the people in the room. I liked watching it as a form of voyeurism but understood it wasn't really for me.


I agree that having Sabrina Carpenter alongside Paul Simon was a good way to emphasize just how long SNL has been on the air.
The other thought is that Sabrina Carpenter is quite petite. I would think a taller singer alongside Paul Simon would have aged him greatly.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2025 14:08     Subject: SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

There were definitely questionable asks to this event

There had to be reasons that Timberlake and carvey weren’t involved
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2025 13:54     Subject: SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Was there any run ins with RR/BL and Scarlett/Colin. Weird that RR/BL was at Colin's work?

Ryan Reynolds has popped up at the Update desk in recent years alongside Colin.


He’s popped up once on Update. He’s hosted once, 17 years ago, and Blake hosted that same year. 2009 before they were together.

Why they let him speak at the 50th, I’ll never understand. I get why they were invited, there were a few other folks who have only hosted one time that were in the audience such a Dan Levy. But the speaking roles should’ve gone to a former cast member or another good friend of the show. Justin Timberlake, as much as I don’t like him, at least would’ve made sense - he’s hosted I believe five times and been a musical guest several times and had several appearances on the show. He’s clearly a friend to the show.

I just don’t understand why Ryan, who has virtually no connection to the show, was given a joke. And a bad joke too, in an otherwise very fun scene. It seemed very last minute and forced as if SNL owed their agent a favor.


Keep the Ryan Reynolds’s hate to the crazy Blake Lively thread maybe. Stop trying to make it happen here (this is your second try apparently).


Nope, sorry, first try, other posters have chimed in about Ryan and Blake. Feel free to ask Jeff.

Hope that helps!
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2025 13:46     Subject: SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

Brittany Howard was definitely better than Miley
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2025 13:34     Subject: SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Lorne makes good tv! Another Easter egg/throw back: Miley singing Sinead’s Nothing Compares 2 U.

Iconic episode where she ripped up a pic of the Pope. Was quite the scandal back then! And everyone still remembers.


It's Prince's song that Sinead covered.
Their inclusion of Miley C, and many others, cements why I have no reason to watch anymore. They often highlight untalented trash.


You might not personally be a fan of Miley Cyrus but she is not untalented.


NP. I'm a Miley fan but she blew it on this song. She overdid it with her arms swinging and poser moves. Distracting. But she likes to be the center of attention when she can.

Brittany Howard on the mike? amazing. I wish she had sung the whole song. She's got a great vibe and voice.


I didn’t like this performance at all. Really made me appreciate how good the Sinead O’Connor version is.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2025 11:31     Subject: SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Lorne makes good tv! Another Easter egg/throw back: Miley singing Sinead’s Nothing Compares 2 U.

Iconic episode where she ripped up a pic of the Pope. Was quite the scandal back then! And everyone still remembers.


It's Prince's song that Sinead covered.
Their inclusion of Miley C, and many others, cements why I have no reason to watch anymore. They often highlight untalented trash.


You might not personally be a fan of Miley Cyrus but she is not untalented.


NP. I'm a Miley fan but she blew it on this song. She overdid it with her arms swinging and poser moves. Distracting. But she likes to be the center of attention when she can.

Brittany Howard on the mike? amazing. I wish she had sung the whole song. She's got a great vibe and voice.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2025 11:18     Subject: SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Was there any run ins with RR/BL and Scarlett/Colin. Weird that RR/BL was at Colin's work?

Ryan Reynolds has popped up at the Update desk in recent years alongside Colin.


He’s popped up once on Update. He’s hosted once, 17 years ago, and Blake hosted that same year. 2009 before they were together.

Why they let him speak at the 50th, I’ll never understand. I get why they were invited, there were a few other folks who have only hosted one time that were in the audience such a Dan Levy. But the speaking roles should’ve gone to a former cast member or another good friend of the show. Justin Timberlake, as much as I don’t like him, at least would’ve made sense - he’s hosted I believe five times and been a musical guest several times and had several appearances on the show. He’s clearly a friend to the show.

I just don’t understand why Ryan, who has virtually no connection to the show, was given a joke. And a bad joke too, in an otherwise very fun scene. It seemed very last minute and forced as if SNL owed their agent a favor.


TBH Blake's fake shock just showed what a bad actress she is
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2025 10:52     Subject: SNL tonight is their 50th anniversary and showing

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Was there any run ins with RR/BL and Scarlett/Colin. Weird that RR/BL was at Colin's work?

Ryan Reynolds has popped up at the Update desk in recent years alongside Colin.


He’s popped up once on Update. He’s hosted once, 17 years ago, and Blake hosted that same year. 2009 before they were together.

Why they let him speak at the 50th, I’ll never understand. I get why they were invited, there were a few other folks who have only hosted one time that were in the audience such a Dan Levy. But the speaking roles should’ve gone to a former cast member or another good friend of the show. Justin Timberlake, as much as I don’t like him, at least would’ve made sense - he’s hosted I believe five times and been a musical guest several times and had several appearances on the show. He’s clearly a friend to the show.

I just don’t understand why Ryan, who has virtually no connection to the show, was given a joke. And a bad joke too, in an otherwise very fun scene. It seemed very last minute and forced as if SNL owed their agent a favor.


Keep the Ryan Reynolds’s hate to the crazy Blake Lively thread maybe. Stop trying to make it happen here (this is your second try apparently).