Close X
Monday, November 25, 2024
ADVT 
Interesting

Was Donald Trump's Widely-panned 'Saturday Night Live' Appearance Worth It To NBC?

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 09 Nov, 2015 01:33 PM
    NEW YORK — "Saturday Night Live" earned the expected ratings benefit of an episode hosted by Donald Trump but, given the protests and vicious panning the show received, NBC has to wonder if it was all worthwhile.
     
    From a pure business viewpoint, the Nielsen company said Saturday's show had its highest rating since January 2012 in the nation's top 56 markets, all the way back to an episode featuring Charles Barkley and Kelly Clarkson. A viewership estimate taking the nation as a whole into account won't be available until Thursday.
     
    Latino organizations protested the booking for the same reason that NBC cut ties to its former "Celebrity Apprentice" host last summer: the presidential candidate's comments about Mexicans crossing the border into the United States illegally. That led one of the show's highlights: Larry David shouting "you're a racist" to Trump, in reference to an advocacy group's offer of $5,000 to someone who heckled the host.
     
    Trump's appearance as host despite the corporate decision to back away from him spoke to both the autonomy of "Saturday Night Live" executive producer Lorne Michaels and Trump's proven ability to draw an audience.
     
    Sure, Trump earned ratings, but viewers who tuned in were punished with "a joyless, unfunny show, which ended in a curtain call with Mr. Trump and the cast that played like a hostage video," wrote critic James Poniewozik of The New York Times.
     
    That conclusion typified a brutal critical response. Both Poniewozik and Time magazine's Daniel D'Addario pulled out the phrase "anodyne" — fancy word for bland.
     
    "Forget Iowa voters," D'Addario wrote. "It's hard to imagine the 90 minutes NBC aired getting much of a reaction out of anyone."
     
    The "anemic and halfhearted dud" heavily taxed the show's integrity, wrote Hank Stuever of The Washington Post.
     
     
    Although it's not the first time "Saturday Night Live" has had a political host, several critics expressed alarm at the comedy show's co-opting a figure it would seem more comfortable satirizing from afar. Some jokes poked fun at Trump and his image, but Trump has said he took advantage of a host's prerogative to veto material he deemed offensive.
     
    "'SNL' is more comfortable being frat brothers with politicians than satirists of them," wrote Chris White of Paste magazine.
     
    When Vanessa Bayer's character cracked about not wanting to be in a sketch where the comic conceit was Trump "tweeting" mean comments about the actors, Stuever said it didn't feel like a joke.
     
    "The show's writers also dropped the ball — or simply never felt like playing to begin with," he wrote. "Who can blame them? They never should have been put in this position."
     
    For "Saturday Night Live," it was also a missed opportunity. The show frequently regenerates itself and now has a relatively young cast; this represented a chance to reel in more casual viewers.
     
    Then again, what's one misfire in the context of a 40-year-old show? Critics may not be happy, but NBC accountants certainly are, said television analyst Marc Berman.
     
    "It's not going to hurt the show," Berman said. "It's got everybody talking about it again."

    MORE Interesting ARTICLES

    Australian Woman Collapses Due To Her Skinny Jeans

    Australian Woman Collapses Due To Her Skinny Jeans
    An Australian woman whose skinny jeans cut off the blood supply to her calf muscles collapsed and was forced to crawl to seek help, media reported on Tuesday.

    Australian Woman Collapses Due To Her Skinny Jeans

    My Journey From New York To Himalayas Inspired 'The Seeker': Karan Bajaj

    My Journey From New York To Himalayas Inspired 'The Seeker': Karan Bajaj
    He left his cushy job as a top executive in a New York firm to search for that elusive answer about death and suffering.

    My Journey From New York To Himalayas Inspired 'The Seeker': Karan Bajaj

    Hellboy: Bizarre Alberta Dinosaur Find Suggests Horns For Display, Not Defence

    Hellboy: Bizarre Alberta Dinosaur Find Suggests Horns For Display, Not Defence
    The skull from the new species of dinosaur did have cranial similarities to the famous comic book and movie character. But it was where it was found that really earned it the nickname.

    Hellboy: Bizarre Alberta Dinosaur Find Suggests Horns For Display, Not Defence

    Why Women Are Better At Remembering Tasks-To-Do

    Why Women Are Better At Remembering Tasks-To-Do
    Now is the time to finally listen to your wife as women are better than men at remembering things to do, a new study finds.

    Why Women Are Better At Remembering Tasks-To-Do

    'Quarter Of Fresh Harvard Graduates Claims 10 Sex Partners'

    If we believe a latest Harvard University survey, 26 percent of students have had 10 or more sexual partners but 21 percent of senior students rate themselves still virgin.

    'Quarter Of Fresh Harvard Graduates Claims 10 Sex Partners'

    Mystery Of Disappearing Holes In Swiss Cheese Solved: The Milk's Too Clean!

    Mystery Of Disappearing Holes In Swiss Cheese Solved: The Milk's Too Clean!
    BERLIN — The mystery of Swiss cheese and its disappearing holes has been solved: The milk's too clean.

    Mystery Of Disappearing Holes In Swiss Cheese Solved: The Milk's Too Clean!