I'm Glad She Waited Until She Was Old

Meredith Baxter Birney plays for the other team.

SNL and Obama

I'm far too old to stay up and watch Saturday Night Live these days--so Youtube and Hulu help me stay up on what's going on in NBC's venerable old Saturday night fixture.

This season has been a good one--Mr. Obama's Presidency is giving the writers plenty to chew on. This opening from last Saturday's show is pretty funny--though from the 3:35 mark on, it is hilarious.

Oh--and before you (you know who YOU are) go and start getting all "CW's inconsistent, CW's inconsistent" on me for praising SNL for its sendups of Obama--while being quite critical of them for their sendups of Sarah Palin--there is a difference here, one that clarifies the distinction. You see, I don't know who plays Obama in these skits, I don't have any idea what his political affiliation is, and I don't know whether or not he actually supports President Obama. He is parodying a public figure in a spirit of comedy, and it is funny. What Tina Fey did was to give voice to her own political desires by carrying out a relentless public campaign that she made no bones about when not in character. That's the difference.

The Decline of Law and Order

For years, Law and Order has been one of the few really great shows out there (along with Top Chef). Anyone else like it?

Or rather, does anyone else STILL like it? This year's season premiered with an episode about torture ordered by the Bush Administration, with Sam Waterston uttering the line 'it's about time someone prosecuted them.' Thanks for your subtlety. MESSAGE: someone needs to go after the last administration.

Last night featured back-to-back episodes. The first one featured a subplot about the police chief suffering through chemo treatments. Her son and husband encourage marijuana use to get through it, and she resists, citing her role as police chief. But she clearly succumbs, as her own superior at the Department takes her aside later and tells her he smells pot on her-and passes her some breath mints and a card with how to discreetly get more pot. MESSAGE: marijuana must be legalized.

The topper, though, was last night's second episode. A woman is killed because she stumbles on to the truth about an expensive drug with few actual benefits but that is a cash cow for big pharma. So big pharma becomes a pinata for all of the actors, with Sam Waterston uttering another gem: 'and this is why we can't get a health care plan passed in this country.' MESSAGE: insurance companies evil and the roadblock to progress.

I don't know how the last episode turned out, because we turned off the TV at the healthcare plan comment, and I sent a note to NBC saying we were done watching this show until they dropped the political agenda. I'm longing for the Fred Thompson/Jerry Ohrbach episodes and wondering why I can't even enjoy a favorite TV show with some sort of point being made.

Bob Dylan, Holiday Minstrel

Behold, a truly hilarious take-down of Bob Dylan's career. Never could quite understand why Dylan had such a following.