MGN Weekender: 2.17.25

President's Day Edition

This weekend I watched clips of the SNL50 event, clips of the NBA All-Star event, but mostly spent my weekend doing other things — including watching The Fall Guy, which sucks. In some of the many SNL50 writeups leading to the big show, I saw someone quote Lorne Michaels, the show’s longtime show runner and soul of the show, give Conan O’Brien advice that the goal was simply to “make it to the next show.” It is good advice, and one I myself have given to other podcasters or bloggers. There is so much to be said for consistency, even if it is a mediocre product. For this little site, we’ve benefited when I’ve fought through whatever real life thing has happened to post a podcast, or a blog post, or something like them.

The fallow periods of posting usually represent moments when the incentives of not outweigh those of do. The consequences of that are people forgetting that we exist, building new habits, and moving on. I respect SNL for simply putting on new shows every week. It really is true that the cast you grew up with is The One for you, and everything else doesn’t measure up. Also, the ones before are held in high esteem even if you hear stories about how awful they were on a week-to-week basis. It is the Classic Rock Radio Syndrome. You put on any station that is the Best of <WHATEVER> to today and you don’t realize that you are getting only the best. Like, I remember the music of the 2000s. There was a lot of absolute crap. When you get the nostalgia radio playlist, they don’t play any of that. It is only the good stuff. The stuff that you remember and are wistful for.

Comedy Central used to play entire seasons of SNL on repeat. It was fun to see all those classic sketches live their lifecycle in order. The initial absurdity and pop of laughter, the escalations, the celebrity cameos, then the over-reliance, and finally the nostalgia. Toonces The Driving Cat. Church Lady. Spartan Cheerleaders. Stefon. You remember those. You don’t remember the others. There was a lot of dead air. A lot of long sketches that went nowhere. You can see why the golden goose bits were used up for all they were worth. The alternative was to keep digging through some absolute dreck.

It has always been this way.

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The NBA All-Star game suffers from a similar problem. It used to be greater, but the secret hidden in all the bluster about how much it sucks now, is that All-Star games were always pretty defense-optional, and low-intensity affairs. That hasn’t changed. Everything else has. The players aren’t doing it for fans anymore, because there are hardly any fans in attendance. It is mostly a corporate meet-and-greet mixed with a celebrity audience. The fans wanted to see the spectacle of the best players in the league all gathered in one place. For these people here, it is nothing special. For fans at home, it is not as much of a novelty. It used to be that NBA League Pass was non-existent or a rarity, and the only glimpse of good players you saw was on the Game of The Week type deal, or when they rolled through your town. Seeing the biggest names all gathered was appointment viewing. Now? Well, I’ve seen various combinations of these players before and will in the future. It was once inconceivable that Bron and D-Wade, and Bosh would be on the same team, you know. Or KD joining Steph Curry for more than a photo shoot. I mean we just now got a couple of games of Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry before we are to answer the question - what does it look like when Steph has non G-League adjacent talent next to him?

I don’t know the lesson here. Maybe SNL had it right by not putting more than one sketch that makes you chuckle on per weekend¹. Too much can ruin your taste and then you can’t appreciate some gold. Maybe it is just the grind of putting out an All Star game and not moving back and forth between formats that will help thing. I mean, the Dunk competition was briefly cut and people called for it back after a break. Maybe we all just need a break to fully appreciate the All Star.

If I were to offer a suggestion, it would be for TNT — and whoever has it next year — to stop the self-congratulatory pauses. I don’t remember NBC pausing to honor Bob Costas when they lost the contract. Chuck Barkley and Shaq being a heavy part of the weekend’s narratives is tedious. Before, when NBA stars would acknowledge something a pundit said, it was a little moment of connection. NBA Stars, they are just like us! They, too watch the commentary shows! It is like trying to watch a soap opera. There are long-running storylines going on and it can take too much effort to jump in fresh and enjoy anything happening.

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I got around to watching The Fall Guy and I see why it bombed at the box office. Rotten Tomatoes tells me that it is fairly well-received, by both critics and regular people but I thought it was boring. Both leads looked puffy, the story was very Inside Hollywood that verged on being Too Clever. I like explosions, I like action, I even like honoring the stunt people for their work by heavily emphasizing their importance to a lot of movies. It all felt a bit too winking at Modern Hollywood. It is well-worn topic. So to do it again means you have got to be really fresh.

Now I realize I am saying that about an adaptation, but as one long-time Fall Guy (series) fan told me. “I was excited for the movie, and it sucked. I was so disappointed.”

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A list of shows or things I’ve been watching and a note on what I think of it.

• Severance — Nice to see it back, not as good as the first season, but has way more hype around it. The first season deserved this hype, this second is going fine but also is probably at that point that True Detective, Game of Thrones, and Lost were where the hype and speculation are greater than the actual possible range of outcomes for the series. Setting itself up for disappointment, I mean.

• Silo — See above. This one’s second season is exploring some things I am bored of already. Such is the problem of Mystery Will Be Revealed kind of sci-fi. Once you reveal one you limit the range of speculations and it can kill the momentum.

• The Agency — A surprisingly well done show from Showtime — historically they get HBO’s left overs, and hold on to them too long — this one is an adaptation of a french series. Good, well done, modern spy tale.

• American Fiction — An adaptation of Erasure by Percival Everett. Written and Directed by Cord Jefferson staring Jeffery Wright. Hilarious.

• A7FL — Yes, the 7-on-7 tackle football league. I watched a half of this while waiting for my wife to come up stairs for movie afternoon. They don’t wear any pads or helmets, and the field is smaller. It looks like what you and I played in the backyard with friends, except done by guys who played college ball. I was upset by how much I enjoyed it. Very ESPN8.

1. I know they tried. I know. I used to be a big fan of the show. I wasn’t too hyped about SNL50 because I watched SNL40 and I don’t know that the last ten years have had too much of an impact on my nostalgia for the show. I don’t need to see Eddie Murphy back out there yet again. At SNL40 he was funny, and he was thinking of putting out a new Coming to America. Things were so hopeful. Then he actually did and it sucked. Now seeing him take himself less seriously is fun, but also a reminder that he has slowed considerably.