Show The opiate of TVs TV's political masses Los Angeles Times Which version of change this years year's election results actually will provide remains to be seen but the 2008 presidential campaign certainly has shaken up television From the failed experiment of having Keith and Chris Matthews anchor the national conventions to the increasingly furious offs face-offs between Elisabeth Hasselbeck and her co- co anchors of The View and of course the overnight- overnight deli heaven from very very- from hea ven- ven to-Tina-Fey to gift of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee politics on TV is suddenly exciting again Nowhere is this truer than on Saturday Night Live which has found new energy and relevance in skits lampooning the various candidates When Hillary Clinton began referencing the medias media's rapture with Fred Armisen's impersonation of Barack Saturday Night Live which had dropped out of the cultural conversation for a while while- was back in business So much so that Lome Lorne Michaels decided it was time to do a mini three hour half-hour specials leading up to the election the first of which debuted Thursday night Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday delivered streamlined up- up to-the to minute comedy that is sadly lacking on network prime time these days Viewers panting for another amazing Fey-as- Fey Palin performance might have experienced a moment of disappointment not this week guys you'll just have to hang out on for a bit longer Or on Saturdays Saturday's perhaps But seeing a parody of the presidential debate a scant two days after it occurred certainly made up for it especially because all of the participants Armisen as Darrell Hammond as John McCain and returning alum Chris Parnell as the schoolmarm ish Tom Brokaw were spot- spot on generally hilarious and surprisingly edgy Hammond should win an Emmy for McCains McCain's elbows and stage lurch alone while Armisen's at one point confessed to being best friends with the controversial William Ayers because Im so ahead in the polls it doesn't matter All this and Bill Murray too who appeared as an audience member wanting to know what the candidates would do to ensure that the Chicago Cubs never again lose in the playoffs Nothing he was told The Cubs will never win Amy and Seth Meyers filled the rest of the show dishing on this weeks week's headlines from the country's financial woes and the OJ Simpson trial Kenan Thompson appeared as a financial expert whose only advice was Fix it and Will Forte and Armisen did Hall Oates Gates arguing about the presidential candidates in a song set to the tune of You Make My Dreams Come True If this sounds stupid it wasn't it takes a lot of moxie to sing lines like Well I heard McCain once built his own sex dungeon and Not cool you changed the words to suit your liberal agenda to any tune much less one by Hall Oates Still along with the laughter it was difficult not notto notto notto to feel a bit of sadness It has been so long since there has been any venue for this sort of political satire on television as flat as the Laugh In skit fell during this years year's show it did spark a longing for that sort of scattered yet pointed variety show flavor Leaders of the networks we cannot live by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert alone lone We need skits We need impersonations Am I the only person in America who misses Rich Little These three specials are certainly a good start but Saturday Night Live is just one show and its it's on so dam darn late The Weekend Update format might not be able to survive as asa asa asa a permanent addition to NBC's lineup but certainly its spirit could find a home in these politically agitated times tunes Because while the election will result in a new president the change were we're seeing in the newsrooms on the talk shows and among comedians is only beginning J 4 |