The New Show

and SNL was HORRIBLE all season, fumbling, bumbling, badly written. When Lorne was shown the door, they handed producing duties to the woman who had arranged for the bands that performed on the show. I feel sorry for the cast members who replaced the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. I'm sure they were very talented. What happened, as I understand it, was that Al Franken played a little prank on the president of NBC, something involving a limousine. In the telling, it's funny, until you realize how many lives it messed up (including mine--I had to sit through a year of SNL without Lorne). Al was let go, Lorne was let go. Word to the wise: Don't mess with the limo of the president of NBC. So Lorne did this little thing (he's done a lot of little things--like Kids in the Hall) that was occasionally hilarious, but seemed to have no budget and lacked the thrust of SNL (it was too short, for one thing). I loved it when it was on, missed it when it went away. Some people though it was a waste, but really there was nothing like it on television at the time. Anyone who thinks it's easy to make skit comedy funny should sit through the entire run of FRIDAYS on ABC and Kelsey Grammar Presents the Sketch Show.

I remember watching "The New Show" when I was in high school. It seemed mildly funny then. The only sketches I remember are one in which guest star John Candy played a Russian visiting ailing Yuri Andropov (he was the head Soviet honcho at the time) in the hospital, and another one in which a couple sees a doctor/therapist about the strange things they do every day, such as becoming unconscious for 8 hours at a stretch (sleeping) and sitting on a chair in a little room several times a day (going to the bathroom).

Was it funny? Probably not. With talent mostly drawn from SCTV, it might have gotten better if it had a chance, but the network (I don't remember which one) pulled the plug after one season.

I only remember a couple of episodes of this. The best skit I saw was the Steve Martin "Billie Jean" parody (which I could not find under the Steve Martin Television Appearances section on IMDB).

Another skit that stands out was the "Cartoon Bloopers" skit. The idea was so original and ridiculous at that time, although the idea has been somewhat over-used in recent years. Like, "The Jetsons", George is supposed to enter a room, and the space-age door slides up half way and gets stuck, and you can hear him laughing on the other side of the door. Great stuff!

Would love to see a "Best Of" DVD for this show!

8 out of 10 stars.

I recall they had one episode where Dave Thomas' evil twin brother tried to take over as host, then pulled a gun on the audience demanding everyone's wallet. Dozens of wallets are thrown onto the stage, when the villain turns his gun toward one audience member in particular: "Hey, you didn't throw your wallet!"

I seem to remember in the ailing Andropov skit that Carrie Fisher comes in as a bikini-clad waitress trying to tell the premier something but she gets conked on the head, knocked out. I saw a similar sketch at a later time without this happening, wondering if this was a running gag in different episodes. I believe Carrie at least appeared in two episodes with then husband Paul Simon, who was musical guest. He also had a music video on one show I believe featuring his then wife.

I remember a skit where buck henry and a female (playing his wife) were driving along a deserted road. Buck Henry notices something odd, a waterfall or something relatively common. He tells his wife to take a picture, but the wife forgot the camera. As he is yelling at her because of this, they drive by increasingly odd items. Bigfoot first, and then a unicorn?, the loch ness monster, and finally aliens. The aliens even invite them out of the car to pose for a picture, but once again, the wife has forgotten to pack the camera. Hard to remember details, but funny stuff even still. Thanks to everyone else for bringing back some long lost memories. A DVD release would be much appreciated.