NYT: "Pro-Clinton? 'SNL" (Saturday Night Live) Says You're Joking"

[flpoljunkie]

(Yes, anyone with a brain has taken note of SNL's ham-fisted portrayal of Obama as a total bumbling idiot--yet this goes unmentioned in this article. And, altho Clinton and her supporters are, needless to say, thrilled--it's not the least bit amusing to the rest of us, Messrs. Michael and Downey!)

March 13, 2008
Pro-Clinton? ‘SNL’ Says You’re Joking
By BILL CARTER

Lorne Michaels has an answer to the political columns, cartoons and comments that have accused his show, “Saturday Night Live,” of favoring Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton during her primary showdown with Senator Barack Obama: Nope.

“I’m in show business and I never, ever forget that,” Mr. Michaels said in a telephone interview on Tuesday night. “We put on a comedy show.”

Or as Jim Downey, the “SNL” writer who has created all of the recent political sketches on the show — and most of its famous ones going back two decades — put it on Wednesday, “I’m just trying to make the sketches funny.”

Over the past three weeks “SNL” has put itself back into the national discussion — not a bad place for any television show to be, as Mr. Michaels acknowledged — first with a series of sketches that have centered on the premise that Mrs. Clinton has been the target of a vengeful press that sees Mr. Obama with stars in its eyes and also with the overt (albeit comic) endorsement of Mrs. Clinton by Tina Fey, the former “SNL” star who returned on Feb. 23 to be the host of the first show after the recent writers’ strike. “Bitches get stuff done,” Ms. Fey said, using herself as an example.

<>Even Mr. Downey, who said he had never intended to boost Mrs. Clinton, picked up the message. “Hillary supporters started coming up to me and thanking me,” he said.

<>The show did ask Mr. Obama to appear this week , and Mr. Downey wrote an editorial response for him to deliver, but the senator declined. “I hope it was scheduling and not because he hates us,” Mr. Downey said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/arts/television/13snl.html?scp=1&sq=Lorne+Michaels&st=nyt

[dancingme]

1. How old is Jim Downey?

Somewhere around 60 I would suspect. He's in the white over 60 crowd who support Hillary.

[CoffeeCat]

2. Maybe SNL should ask..

...Hillary is she wants a pillow.

[Tarc]

3. Whoever thinks SNL is "pro-Hillary" are the same people who

get pissy over the biased, left-leaning :sarcasm: Daily Show. Both are comedy shows, not news outlets, and they take the material from the headlines that they think will be the most funny and they run with it.

[flpoljunkie]

4. Perhaps that explains why Bill Clinton called Tina Fey and thanked her for her SNL comments.

As well as numerous Clinton supporters mentioned in the article, who have thanked SNL for their recent "pro-Hillary" skits.

[L0oniX]

7. Oh ...he just wants to get in her pants. n/t

[Mooney]

6. Yup.

Public figures, politicians especially, will get made fun of. It comes with the territory.

[eissa]

5. Can you imagine if an Obama supporter said this?

“Bitches get stuff done,” Ms. Fey said, using herself as an example.

About how many threads would we have seen screaming sexism?