Discuss: Saturday Night Live

 

Doug: Last night NBC aired a celebration of 40 years of Saturday Night Live. I didn't get to watch it, as we were getting our oldest from Midway Airport, where he was actually returning to Illinois from some time out in Karen's neck of the woods. He'd been in the Phoenix area with his university's softball team, handling all of the media needs and broadcasting their games in a weekend tournament. Anyway, today let's hear about your memories of favorite sketches, talent line-ups, hosts, musical guests, etc. The program has become an American institution, so it's certainly worthy of a discussion today.

 

 

Four Fried Chickens and A Coke

Karen: Last week we talked about a film by John Landis called An American Werewolf in London. This week, I'd like to offer up another one of Mr. Landis' works. You might have heard of it: The Blues Brothers.

This is a movie that grew on me. When I first saw it in the theater, I thought it was just OK. But with repeated viewings, somehow, I came to enjoy it more and more. The utter absurdity of it all first put me off, but once I embraced it, I loved it. And of course, there is the music: James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and great sidemen like Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn. Lots of memorable scenes and lines: "How much for the little girl?" "I hate Illinois Nazis." "Are you the police?" "No Ma'am, we're musicians." And of course, "We're on a mission from God."

I still think it is overlong and excessive (car crashes anyone?), but I'll stop and watch it any time. Oh, and I have the DVD too, which has gotten some play.

Discuss: Ghostbusters