Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Friday, February 14th, 2025:
THIS WEEKEND IS SNL'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY. BUT HONESTLY, I'M NOT SURE I CARE
I am old enough to remember the long decline of The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson. By the time the 1980s came around, the show and its host were just a tired, two-dimensional representation of what it was back in its heyday. And part of that calcification naturally comes with age. Once a show has been around for a few decades, the framework of the show is dialed in and set - for better or worse. And that familiarity with the process naturally leads to everyone involved just walking through the show in the same way they've done it a thousand times before.
A variety or talk show that has been on the air that long becomes an institution and an influencer of culture. But it also inevitably loses the things that made it special. Like an imperfect wheel that becomes round once it's been used long enough, the repetition that comes with doing a show again and again and again wears down everyone in the process. This doesn't mean that there still aren't magical moments. It just means those highlights are fewer and farther between. And you find yourself appreciating the length of the show's run over the quality of the entertainment.
This weekend, Saturday Night Live celebrates its 50th anniversary and it will be as much a celebration of longtime producer Lorne Michaels as it will be a sign of what viewers have watched over the past decades. And while there's much to celebrate when any show lasts that long, I find myself not all that nostalgic or interested in the show's past.
It's not that there hasn't been an insane amount of talent that has moved in and out of the show over the years. Many of them have gone on to have long careers outside of the show. But as I think about why I have this ambivalence about the anniversary, I think it has a great deal to do with Lorne Michaels and his vision of the show. To be fair, his vision for the show has been commercially very successful. But while I can appreciate his success, I can also find his vision to be safe and coldly corporate.
I can't fully describe how mind-blowing it was when I watched SNL during those first couple of seasons. It wasn't just that it was funny or creatively unlike anything else on television. The cast were for the most part true counter-culture believers. The sketches, the humor, and the point of view of the show reflected this late-stage hippie vibe that was contagious. As the original cast left and the show evolved under the guidance of Lorne Michaels, it began to reflect his worldview and sense of what the show should be.
Michaels was never a counter-culture type of guy and was more likely to feel comfortable hobnobbing in The Hamptons than hitting local clubs. Over the decades, everything about the show from the way it is produced to the casting and who the show targets - became a reflection of Lorne Michaels. And that meant the show slowly shifted from being a mirror of the young radicals to a platform for the humor to be the equivalent of corporate America's court jesters.
As stories from cast members and the occasional court case will attest, Michaels would put up with high levels of substance abuse, misogyny, and sexual misconduct. But he pushed back hard against attempts to make populist points. That would make the show "political" in his mind.
A perfect example of that is his decision to have Donald Trump host SNL ahead of his first presidential campaign. He claimed that the decision was driven by the fact Trump was well-known to the audience, had an ongoing relationship with NBC, and would draw a curious audience. But having Trump host the show was by its very nature a political act. What Michaels meant was that Trump was "one of us" and having him one would be the culturally safest of moves.
I have often wished over the past couple of decades that ABC would have decided to take on SNL. Set a variety in Chicago to take advantage of the large existing talent pool of improvisation and Second City graduates. Produce an aggressively digital-friendly format with a point of view that takes aim at "the man," however that is defined these days.
But no one has the stomach to take on SNL at the fifty-year point. So we're left with the option of celebrating a show in its late-stage Johnny Carson era. We get to appreciate the talent and the show's longevity. While left wondering what the show would have been like with someone running who is slightly less of a spokesperson for mainstream upper-middle class society.
THE MOST ROMANTIC EPISODE OF TELEVISION?
The entertainment press is filled with Valentine's Day-themed features today, most of them along the lines of "The 50 Sexiest Moments On TV." But I heard from a reader, who asked me what I would choose as the most romantic episode of television I've ever seen.
My choice would probably be the pilot of the 1996 ABC series Relativity, which starred David Conrad and Kimberly Williams as star-crossed lovers. I reviewed it at the time and here is a bit of what I wrote about it:
I once fell in love at a party.
The room was crowded, the music was filling my head and as I glanced across the room....our eyes met and it felt like the entire universe shifted under me. It happens sometimes. You meet a person and it feels like you're coming home for the first time. I remember what that felt like, the way my heart pounded, the way I forgot to breathe when I was close to her. After all these years that joy is etched into my heart. And so is the pain I felt when I saw her one night with another guy.
It's not easy being in love. We fall for the wrong people, we give up our hearts and they get trampled. We do it because we're hoping to meet that one magical person. The one that we were meant to fit with. And that's what Relativity is all about.
Isabel (Kimberly Williams) is in Rome, trying to decide if she should marry the man everyone thinks is perfect for her. She can't quite commit to him and doesn't know why until she stumbles into Leo (David Conrad). Leo's everything she's not. He's an unfocused house painter with a family so troubled they might as well have "dysfunctional" tattooed on their chests. But from the moment they meet....there's something there.
Relativity is from the creators of thirtysomething and My So-Called Life and it captures perfectly the desperate, irrational joy of being in love. The show remembers what it's like to need someone even when it makes no sense, when it's the last thing you need in your life.
The pilot was as perfect as an hour as you'll find and I remember being eager to see more. And the rest of the season (after which it was canceled) was okay. But the other episodes lacked the magic of the pilot and I think part of the problem is that the relationship was less compelling once all of the other family/real-word storylines were added into the mix.
I recently found the pilot on YouTube and I have been afraid to watch it again. Because I am scared it won't hit me the same way and I have find memories of the way I felt when I watched it for the first time.
WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14TH:
Dhoom Dhaam (Netflix)
Goldie Series Premiere (Apple TV+)
I Am Married....But (Netflix)
Jon and Lucy’s Odd Couple Series Premiere (Britbox)
Lethal Desire (LMN)
Love Is Blind Season Eight Premiere (Netflix)
Love Forever (Netflix)
Melo Movie Series Premiere (Netflix)
SNL50: The Homecoming Concert (Peacock)
The Dead Thing (Shudder)
The Gorge (Apple TV+)
The Most Beautiful Girl In The World (Netflix)
Umjolo: There Is No Cure (Netflix)
Valeria (Netflix)
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH, 2025:
For The Love Of Chocolate (Great American Family)
Have I Got News For You Season Premiere (CNN)
Return To Office (Hallmark)
The 90s Boy Band Boom (The CW)
Trapped In The Spotlight (Lifetime)
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16TH, 2025:
Does He Belong To Anyone? (Lifetime)
EE BAFTA Film Awards (Britbox)
Evil Lives Here Season Premiere (Investigation Discovery)
Family Guy (Fox)
Fatal Family Feuds Season Premiere (Oxygen)
Foul Play (TBS)
Grimsburg (Fox)
Krapopolis (Fox)
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver Season Premiere (HBO)
Lockerbie: The Bombing Of Pan Am 103 (CNN)
Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special (NBC)
The Equalizer Season Premiere (CBS)
The Great North (Fox)
The Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary (NBC)
The White Lotus Season Three Premiere (HBO)
Tracker Spring Premiere (CBS)
Trial & Error: Why Did O.J. Win? (Court TV)
WWE's Greatest Moments Series Premiere (A&E)
WWE LFG Series Premiere (A&E)
WWE Rivals Season Premiere (A&E)
Yellowjackets Season Three Premiere (Showtime)
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17TH:
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story (Britbox)
A Remarkable Place To Die Series Premiere (Acorn TV)
American Murder: Gabby Petito (Netflix)
Best Interests (Acorn TV)
Gabby's Dollhouse Season Premiere (Netflix)
On TV: A Black History Month Special (CBS)
Thomas Jefferson (History)
We Beat The Dream Team (HBO)
Who Is Luigi Mangione? (Investigation Discovery)
SEE YOU ON MONDAY!