Questions about anything

[fuzzygobo]

And it bugs me to death!

 

[minor muppetz]

Why does it seem like when a song is sung with alternate lyrics in something that the song listing tends to refer to it by its actual title instead of the parody title (if the title lyric is altered)? For example, in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, at one point Dr. Evil sings a line of "Whip It" as "Zip It", but the credits list the song as "Whip It". I feel like there are more examples that I can't remember at the moment.

Though sometimes the parody titles are the titles given. Most Sesame Street releases of its song parodies refer to the parody title, on albums (though Songs from the Street refers to the actual titles and then the parody titles in parenthesis), DVD chapter stops, videos that have song listings on the packaging, and so on. And Weird Al Yankovic's parodies are always listed by parody titles.

 

[CensoredAlso]

The sixth season is considered an "old shame" of the show. Not sure if that's for the shows owner, the producers, or what. But most of the cast and crew from the infamous sixth season is not involved with the show before. Even if most of the season isn't good, is it really an old shame to anybody who can get it broadcast/released on DVD?

You know your post made me curious and I checked out the first two episodes on Hulu. It's not the travesty people make it out to be, but it does often feel like the writers were out to lunch. It's like they had good initial ideas (Commie Hunters, Jack the Stripper, The Leather Weather Report), but then forgot to move past the first draft.

The one segment I really enjoyed was The Rocket Report, where Charles Rocket actually went out into New York City to talk to regular people. Rocket's much funnier there, probably because he's able to ad lib and not be confined by awkwardly written jokes. Plus it's just cool to see NYC in the early '80s.

It's also weirdly cool to see a very young Gilbert Gottfried before he came up with his trademark voice, lol.

Most intriguing were probably those weird short film segments by Mitchell Kriegman. I'm still not entirely sure what they're about but you can't forget them, that's for sure, lol! And it turns out he created Clarissa Explains it All and Bear in the Big Blue House!

My friend and I are going to watch all the episodes on Hulu to get a final impression (we still have to see Eddie Murphy!). No, it's not the strongest the show has ever been, but it's still fascinating for anyone into the history of TV.

 

[minor muppetz]

It's also weirdly cool to see a very young Gilbert Gottfried before he came up with his trademark voice, lol.

I didn't realize he didn't really sound like that (well, maybe he only does when he's shouting, and back then he didn't shout all the time). I didn't notice that he squints a lot until a few years ago when it was pointed out on The Bob Saget Roast. I wonder why he always squints. The TV Tropes page mentions that back then he had a full head of hair, but he still has a full head of hair (it's just not as long as it was when he was on SNL).

My friend and I are going to watch all the episodes on Hulu to get a final impression (we still have to see Eddie Murphy!). No, it's not the strongest the show has ever been, but it's still fascinating for anyone into the history of TV.

I wonder if any of the sixth season segments appear on The Best of Eddie Murphy video release.

So maybe whoever's in charge was so ashamed that no season six segments appear on the "Best of 1980" video release, but if there's not enough "best" stuff, couldn't they at least include historically-important stuff, like when Charles Rocket said the F word? I read that the first episode begins with the host comparing everybody to the original cast, and Bill Murray's episode has a great cold open where he talks to the cast about how nobody likes them. It seems most of the best ones I've seen are ones that have things in common with the first five seasons (like the Bill Murray cold open, Bill Murray's Oscar predictions, Chevy Chase and Mr. Bill in the storage room, Al Franken talking about how he wasn't given the job to take over from Lorne Michaels, etc.). Maybe they wouldn't want a "best of season 6" video to focus entirely on stuff referencing the best years.

And was the majority of the cast (and maybe crew) really fired because of Charles Rocket saying the F word in one episode? He's the one who said it, and whoever wrote it should have gotten fired (was it written by Rocket? was it improvised? if it was written did the censors or network look at the script before airing?). So maybe most of the cast got fired for not being good enough, but it's not fair to fire most of the cast for something one cast member said. But wikipedia (which might be wrong, probably) says everybody except Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo were fired because of this.

And it's interesting that quite a few of the cast members have gone on to big things despite only being on the show for one year. Gilbert Gotfried is probably the biggest star who only lasted the sixth season, but Charles Rocket has appeared in a number of good movies, like Earth Girls are Easy (though I know that didn't do well at the box office... in fact I've read that it did worse than UHF) and Dumb and Dumber, as well as It's Pat (which I like but I know everyone else hates). I don't know what Denny Dillion did after the sixth season, but she sure was cute.

I've read that Jim Carrey auditioned for the sixth season. If he had passed who knows if the season would have been better or if he would have remained an unknown (or if the season still would have failed and he still became a star, would there be a "Best of Jim Carrey" SNL compilation?).

I don't want to turn this thread into a thread about the sixth season of SNL, but I feel there is something else about the show (not the sixth season) that I had to ask about but can't remember what.

 

[D'Snowth]

quote]I didn't notice that he squints a lot until a few years ago when it was pointed out on The Bob Saget Roast. I wonder why he always squints.[/quote]
I read somewhere that when he first started out, he was nervous about performing in front of an audience, so he would squint so he wouldn't be able to actually look at them, and apparently, that ended up becoming a trademark of his.

 

[charlietheowl]

And was the majority of the cast (and maybe crew) really fired because of Charles Rocket saying the F word in one episode? He's the one who said it, and whoever wrote it should have gotten fired (was it written by Rocket? was it improvised? if it was written did the censors or network look at the script before airing?). So maybe most of the cast got fired for not being good enough, but it's not fair to fire most of the cast for something one cast member said. But wikipedia (which might be wrong, probably) says everybody except Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo were fired because of this.

I wouldn't be surprised if NBC used the cursing incident as a convenient excuse to dump the cast since the show was doing so poorly critically. They seemed to hate Jean Doumanian running the show from the start.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Charles Rocket has appeared in a number of good movies, like Earth Girls are Easy

Yup, that's where I knew him from, lol. I loved that movie as a kid (though I was waaaaay too young, lol).

I've read that Jim Carrey auditioned for the sixth season.

I had heard they rejected Carrey. Well thankfully In Living Color knew better, hehe. That's where I first knew him from.

I read somewhere that when he first started out, he was nervous about performing in front of an audience, so he would squint so he wouldn't be able to actually look at them, and apparently, that ended up becoming a trademark of his.

That is awesome, I love those kinds of stories. You have to just take your nervousness and make it work for you.

I wouldn't be surprised if NBC used the cursing incident as a convenient excuse to dump the cast since the show was doing so poorly critically. They seemed to hate Jean Doumanian running the show from the start.

I think you have it right. NBC knew the ratings were low and they were looking for an easy reason to get rid of the cast.

 

[Dr TeethFan]

Why do Swedish people get offended whenever they watch a Swedish Chef video?

 

[D'Snowth]

Because everybody today has to go so uber-sensitive over everything and find something to make an issue out of... like, when McDonald's came out with that Mighty Wyngs commercial where that one guy was like, "I hate puppets!" I was offended, so I boycotted McDonald's, and have not eaten any McDoubles, or Filet-O-Fishes, or McNuggets since then.

 

[fuzzygobo]

On Franklin's tv series, at the start of every episode the narrator announces, "Franklin can count by two's and tie his shoes..."

...but when has Franklin actually worn shoes? (Ice skates don't count.)