What happened to ‘SNL’?
LAWRENCE, Kan. – With every episode of the current season of Saturday Night Live, it seems as if the show’s production crew has lost its touch.
Part of the problem is Don Roy King, the show’s new director. His qualifications were suspect in the first place, and as each week passes, it has become clear that he has no business directing the long-running variety show. His direction of SNL’s comedy sketches has been subpar at best, and he has done a horrendous job cutting the music performances. But King isn’t the only one to blame.
The show’s producer Steve Higgins has somehow managed to keep his job amid the program’s plummetting ratings, and the timing of this season’s shows has been some of the worst in recent memory. For two straight weeks, there have been issues with how much time is left at the end of the show. The final sketch of last week’s episode hosted by Annette Bening had to be prematurely cut off because the show was going too long. For this week’s show hosted by Justin Timberlake, there wasn’t even enough time for a sketch in the last segment of the show. Instead, the SNL band played on camera before the final commercial break.