Been meaning to post this for a week already. Thoughts, relevant and otherwise: 1) I am at least 65% convinced that Kristofferson didnt realize he was on TV. 2) One of the reasons I still revere the first few years of this program - not just that it made room for smart sketches like this, but it respected the individual voices of its writers to the point that the attentive viewer could tell who wrote what. If this wasnt Tom Schillers doing, Ill eat Werner Herzogs other shoe. 3) How long do you think my clever subterfuge will stave off the inevitable cease and desist order? 4) Don Pardo, unless theres a crew member or two I missed, was the person who pulled an SNL paycheck longer than anyone - 39 seasons, and his baritone Ur-Game-Show bellow graced the 8H loudspeakers for all of them but one (the seventh, 1981-82, supposedly at the insistence of Michael ODonoghue, who reportedly wanted to fire him on-air during the season premiere. I plan on talking A LOT about that season, or at least the first seven shows, on my blog in the near future. So, yknow, that). Such a seemingly small part of the shows overall feel, yet crucial; there was always comfort knowing hed be there, a reliable consistency that played well against the ever-shifting theme music (and if his hire was originally for ironic kitsch value, that morphed into true affection by the last sketch of the first season [which this is] - they honored him almost every week for many years with the very last joke of the night.) Its sure gonna be a different beast when it comes back, Im sure. I feel a little like I felt when the Stones semi-secret weapon Ian Stewart passed on some years back - I know it will never happen, but some small bit of savor is gone now, never to return. And it just might not be worth the strain of its continuing. Not that NBC will take this show off the air, ever, but SNL sans Pardo feels wrong, somehow. We shall see. Or hear, whatever. One of the great voices - quite literally - in broadcast history is no longer with us, and I present this as tribute. Thank you, Don Pardo.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 09:53:44 +0000
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