Season 6 of SNL marked a massive change and total overhaul of the cast and writers. The results were mostly disasterous and the season mercifully ends early due to strike. It has ironically aged fairly well considering how far SNL has fallen in the last 15 to 20 years.
What saves the season is Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, and much more interesting musical guests than typical top 40 radio regulars. SNL did have acts like Sun Ra and Ornette Coleman but most of the time it was pop rock and folk rock. Season 6 had some very young acts that were just beginning to take hold like Cheap Trick, Kid Creole and the Coconuts and Prince who was still 3 years away from superstardom with Purple Rain. They also had soul legends Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Junior Walker. Jack Bruce, Captain Beefheart and Debbie Harry were personal favorites. The biggest surprise is Beefheart and the producers deserve credit for their foresight given how hugely influential he would become to musicians like Tom Waits and PJ Harvey just to name a couple.
What ruins the season is the writing. Only Brian Doyle Murray returned from season 5 and he didn't have much help at all. There's more than a few skits that end in a dull thud or never develop momentum. Alot of that is on the producer for setting this standard who obviously was never a former comedy writer like Lorne Michaels. I firmly believe that had the original cast debuted with this type of matieral, they would have failed as bad. There is one skit which was like a one act play featuring Ellen Burstyn as an eccentric old woman being visited by a little girl played by Gail Matthiaus.. There was no jokes except vaguely amusing characters. That wasn't the only time the material gets so weak that it doesn't even come across as a comedy show when you watch it. I counted 4 writers being retained out of 15 from season 6 to the beginning of season 7 and Michael O'Donough's return in the role as head writer really may have saved the show from drifting away completely. The humor became outrageous again. Something missing in season 6. This is not to say the casting couldnt have been better. Its not difficult to see why Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo were retained, they were the best at doing celebrity impersonations from this season.
The most cringe worthy moments are the jokes during the weekend updates, the running storyline of who shot Charles Rocket in the Charlene Tilton episode, infamously remembered for the times the F word was uttered on live TV. Once before the credits and earlier during Prince's performance. The Malcolm McDowell episode probably has the last ever John and Yoko comedy skit parodying the couple, recorded a little over 2 weeks before Lennon's murder. There is a Rocket Report in this first episode outside the Dakota where he is trying to find information about the Double Fantasy album. I wasnt really around in those days but learning how that album was dropped on the public reminded me of how Bowie dropped The Next Day and Blackstar on the public. I think he learned that from how John Lennon handled his last LP. No public pressure until after it is done.
There are some avant garde films that are more unique than funny and more interesting than Mr Bill. These were dumped and replaced with live acts after this season which was a great idea. Best of these outside films was Bill Paxton's music video for Barnes and Barnes' Fish heads. These films would mostly be replaced with a return of standup acts.
This specific episode sets up most of the cast for disaster right in the opening with Elliot Gould talking to each one and they remind him who they are supposed to be compared to from the origianl cast. "You're a cross between Gilda and Jane", "Kind of a cross between Chevy Chase and Bill Murray", "Kind of a cross between Gilda and Lorraine", Gilbert Gottfried is introduced as a cross between John Belushi and Harry Sheaer...ooooofff!!!!! That was a big mistake.....
This cast had alot going against it. I dont think any of them regularly worked together before which wasn't true with the original cast. Many of them spent years working together on stage and radio. Alot of the writers lack the experience of those they replaced too. Many of the originals came from National Lampoon which means they were experienced when the show debuted. If anything, the original cast and writers had to water down their material for TV while this cast and writers could have used more of an edge. Eddie Murphy would supply that so it isn't such a surprise that he ended up with the biggest career from this cast. While Eddie Murphy emerged as the major star, the actor who gets the most screen time from the beginning is Charles Rocket. He is in the majority of scenes, does Weekend Update and Rocket Reports which were filmed segments from the streets of New York. Clearly the producer counted on Rocket being the new Chevy Chase of SNL which he wasn't. Chase came from National Lampoon and spent years writing and performing comedy by the time the show debuted but Charles Rocket didn't have nearly that amount of experience doing comedy before being cast. I am not sure why he was cast with others like Denny Dillion and Gilbert Gottfried who both did stand up comedy. Rocket isn't terrible but he was no comedian or comic actor either. He struck me as being someone more suited to do serious acting but could play comedy as long as he was supporting not expected to be the lead. Same with Ann Risley. I imagine she played funny roles on stage but she doesn't strike me as being a comedienne or comic actor.
I also notice that there wasn't a single joke made at the expense of a NBC executive. The network is mocked in an episode but no one running NBC is mocked. In the original cast, the writers went so far as to have John Belushi impersonate an often bungling and buffonish Fred Silverman who was the head of NBC programming. Brandon Tartikoff who replaced Silverman was smart. He made TV appearances as himself often mocking himself. His appearance on Night Court is classic and he appeared on SNL multiple times and once even hosted the show. It is ironic that the majority of this cast, executive producer and most writers got fired despite not mocking specific network executives, a practice still not done since the original cast and writers did it. No one has guts anymore, they like their paychecks too much to prove otherwise.
What saves the season is Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, and much more interesting musical guests than typical top 40 radio regulars. SNL did have acts like Sun Ra and Ornette Coleman but most of the time it was pop rock and folk rock. Season 6 had some very young acts that were just beginning to take hold like Cheap Trick, Kid Creole and the Coconuts and Prince who was still 3 years away from superstardom with Purple Rain. They also had soul legends Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Junior Walker. Jack Bruce, Captain Beefheart and Debbie Harry were personal favorites. The biggest surprise is Beefheart and the producers deserve credit for their foresight given how hugely influential he would become to musicians like Tom Waits and PJ Harvey just to name a couple.
What ruins the season is the writing. Only Brian Doyle Murray returned from season 5 and he didn't have much help at all. There's more than a few skits that end in a dull thud or never develop momentum. Alot of that is on the producer for setting this standard who obviously was never a former comedy writer like Lorne Michaels. I firmly believe that had the original cast debuted with this type of matieral, they would have failed as bad. There is one skit which was like a one act play featuring Ellen Burstyn as an eccentric old woman being visited by a little girl played by Gail Matthiaus.. There was no jokes except vaguely amusing characters. That wasn't the only time the material gets so weak that it doesn't even come across as a comedy show when you watch it. I counted 4 writers being retained out of 15 from season 6 to the beginning of season 7 and Michael O'Donough's return in the role as head writer really may have saved the show from drifting away completely. The humor became outrageous again. Something missing in season 6. This is not to say the casting couldnt have been better. Its not difficult to see why Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo were retained, they were the best at doing celebrity impersonations from this season.
The most cringe worthy moments are the jokes during the weekend updates, the running storyline of who shot Charles Rocket in the Charlene Tilton episode, infamously remembered for the times the F word was uttered on live TV. Once before the credits and earlier during Prince's performance. The Malcolm McDowell episode probably has the last ever John and Yoko comedy skit parodying the couple, recorded a little over 2 weeks before Lennon's murder. There is a Rocket Report in this first episode outside the Dakota where he is trying to find information about the Double Fantasy album. I wasnt really around in those days but learning how that album was dropped on the public reminded me of how Bowie dropped The Next Day and Blackstar on the public. I think he learned that from how John Lennon handled his last LP. No public pressure until after it is done.
There are some avant garde films that are more unique than funny and more interesting than Mr Bill. These were dumped and replaced with live acts after this season which was a great idea. Best of these outside films was Bill Paxton's music video for Barnes and Barnes' Fish heads. These films would mostly be replaced with a return of standup acts.
This specific episode sets up most of the cast for disaster right in the opening with Elliot Gould talking to each one and they remind him who they are supposed to be compared to from the origianl cast. "You're a cross between Gilda and Jane", "Kind of a cross between Chevy Chase and Bill Murray", "Kind of a cross between Gilda and Lorraine", Gilbert Gottfried is introduced as a cross between John Belushi and Harry Sheaer...ooooofff!!!!! That was a big mistake.....
This cast had alot going against it. I dont think any of them regularly worked together before which wasn't true with the original cast. Many of them spent years working together on stage and radio. Alot of the writers lack the experience of those they replaced too. Many of the originals came from National Lampoon which means they were experienced when the show debuted. If anything, the original cast and writers had to water down their material for TV while this cast and writers could have used more of an edge. Eddie Murphy would supply that so it isn't such a surprise that he ended up with the biggest career from this cast. While Eddie Murphy emerged as the major star, the actor who gets the most screen time from the beginning is Charles Rocket. He is in the majority of scenes, does Weekend Update and Rocket Reports which were filmed segments from the streets of New York. Clearly the producer counted on Rocket being the new Chevy Chase of SNL which he wasn't. Chase came from National Lampoon and spent years writing and performing comedy by the time the show debuted but Charles Rocket didn't have nearly that amount of experience doing comedy before being cast. I am not sure why he was cast with others like Denny Dillion and Gilbert Gottfried who both did stand up comedy. Rocket isn't terrible but he was no comedian or comic actor either. He struck me as being someone more suited to do serious acting but could play comedy as long as he was supporting not expected to be the lead. Same with Ann Risley. I imagine she played funny roles on stage but she doesn't strike me as being a comedienne or comic actor.
I also notice that there wasn't a single joke made at the expense of a NBC executive. The network is mocked in an episode but no one running NBC is mocked. In the original cast, the writers went so far as to have John Belushi impersonate an often bungling and buffonish Fred Silverman who was the head of NBC programming. Brandon Tartikoff who replaced Silverman was smart. He made TV appearances as himself often mocking himself. His appearance on Night Court is classic and he appeared on SNL multiple times and once even hosted the show. It is ironic that the majority of this cast, executive producer and most writers got fired despite not mocking specific network executives, a practice still not done since the original cast and writers did it. No one has guts anymore, they like their paychecks too much to prove otherwise.
