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Same old mediocre ish. Those were the best “my domestic car broke down” stories they could make up?
I can’t remember the last time I laughed out loud at SNL. It was probably a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch. It’s tragic, really.
I thought it was funny. My sense of humour, it would appear, is still intact.
seoultrain: Same old mediocre ish. Those were the best “my domestic car broke down” stories they could make up?
Poses an interesting point.
EVERYBODY’S response to the auto industry – Detroit 2.3x in particular – is anecdotal. We saw it with the pols, we see it in the blogs (TTAC included), and we even see it from NYC-dwelling celebrities and writers who probably don’t even own a car. Most people’s automotive knowledge ends at how to hook up the gas pump to that hole thingy behind the door in the back side of the car. If you ask the average politico-celebrity who’s driving a Prius in Hollywood, they’ll have you think it runs on sunshine and the smell of their Prada handbag.
So, I’m not surprised at the dim wit of the SNL cast.
However, it poses the question – who’s paradigm should change? The public’s (understand what the Big 2.8 actually are doing)? Or the Big 3’s (Is what they’re doing nearly enough – and how do you cascade this to your average buyer)?
Some funny parts…SNL has really gone downhill, I mean moreso in the past year than in the past 20 years.
I’ve noticed this season that there are so many homosexual references (in every single skit). Nothing against homosexuality or a person’s lifestyle (not going to open that can of worms) but why do the SNL writers feel the need to have every skit involve this? Even this skit had to, with the last remark about the Mini Cooper. Is it something to do with California’s Prop 8? It is definitely dimwitted humor, the show has become mediocrity at best.
When hasn’t SNL sucked? There was that 2 year period a decade ago when the Will Farrel cheerleader sketch hadn’t been done to death that was good. Phil Hartman, Hanz & Franz…
Really seems like SNL has had a lot more bad years than good. I’ve kind of marveled that its still on the air really.
Oh my god that is harsh. Sadly, that SNL skit will probably affect more people than the truth. The attack on reliability is funny, but not really deserved (today anyways, with the exception of Chrysler I suppose).
Detroit is really fighting a losing battle of perception and public sentiment. It has just become so popular to bash Detroit, I dont see how they can possibly get the bailout at this point. Federally guaranteed debtor in possession financing is probably the best they can hope for.
And herein, past the moderately amusing jokes, lie the biggest obstacle for Detroit. Anything that is said about cars coming out of Detroit (even by those who probably know nothing about cars i.e. the morons who write SNL) seems to be negative. You mention a Ford, GM, or Chrysler model name somewhere and you most often get something like, “Yeah I had one, and it was junk.”
To me, the biggest problem obstacle is going to be: even if they do restructure, how do they reestablish their name as far as quality and value?
I dunno, it must be me. But SNL is producing Chrysler quality jokes lately. I think NBC will be asking for bailout soon enough.
For years now the big 3 have been telling people that “yeah, we use to suck, but now we make quality cars.” Well, then put your money where your mouth is. Give the car a 10 year 100k warranty. Take the fear out of buying for the average consumer. Nobody buys a Camry because it’s exciting or sexy. They buy it because it has a reputation (deserved or not) for reliablility.
All the big 3 ads talk about the JDPower initial quality survey. I don’t think people care about the first 6 months of ownership. It’s the 4th year down the road when all the repair costs come out of their own pocket they’re worried about.
SNL hasn’t been funny since Will Ferrell left. srsly…
Isn’t there some way to set up the video clip so that it does NOT come on every time you reload the page?
Like when you’ve read one of the other stories, click back to HOME and are perusing what other story you might want to read (and the darned video starts up again).
It was O.K. to listen to once. But every time I go to the HOME page?
It still seems to come on automatically when the page reloads.
Apologies. I’d ask if it’s better now (I’m not having problems with it), but by the time your comment shows up, who knows what will have happened?
Gee, the free ADBLOCK software in conjunction with the Foxfire browser is not only good for ads. It also works wonders on annoying videos that keep turning themselves on with no prompting.
I quit watching SNL when their musical guests every week all had felony convictions. It was obvious the show was no longer aimed at my demographics.
SNL’s coverage of the presidential campaign was hilarious….I don’t care which side of the aisle you sit on.
This skit was pretty lame. Lame because much of it wasn’t very funny….but moreso because you could hear the audience cringing from time to time.
In a brawl, Detroit would woop New York’s ass.
SNL isn’t as funny as it was (say, back when Steve Martin was a regular), but they still make enough money to not be begging for billions in loans.
That said, speaking as someone who purchased some of the craptastic cars of Detroit’s yesteryear, I need more than just pretty commercials or congressional testimony to believe I can trust the product again.
I don’t really care what SNL has to say on the subject, their job is to poke fun at things.
Lorne Michaels has made a great living by bringing up talent, tossing them when stale, all the while not pissing off the corporate overlords or becoming so good that he is replaced by an exec who thinks his wonder-boy could make even MORE money.
Truly impressive in the annals of show-biz.
Nice fix for the auto-play, but NBC hates Youtube, so the vid will be down within a matter of hours.
NYC-dwelling celebrities and writers who probably don’t even own a car.
Only about 25% of people who live in Manhattan own cars. Perhaps a majority don’t even have drivers licenses or know how to drive.
That said, speaking as someone who purchased some of the craptastic cars of Detroit’s yesteryear, I need more than just pretty commercials or congressional testimony to believe I can trust the product again.
Just wondering if you bank at Citibank.
Lorne Michaels has made a great living by bringing up talent, tossing them when stale, all the while not pissing off the corporate overlords
The original cast, the funny one, referred to that as “nibbling on the hand that feeds”
Harsh, but I think it reflects what a lot of people feel about the Debt 3. They’re quite simply screwed. American cars have become synonymous with unreliable low-class crap, and I think the only way that they can overcome it is to change their names and brands. Even if I liked a D3 car, I would feel dirty about buying one because of the image it projects.
Teen Reports Saturday Night Live Has Sucked Since Chris Kattan Left
April 27, 2005 | Issue 41•17
AUGUSTA, GA—Once an avid fan of Saturday Night Live, Tom Simms, 16, said Monday that the live sketch-comedy institution began a downhill slide after Chris Kattan exited the show in 2003. “They don’t do funny stuff like Mango or the Roxbury guys anymore,” said Simms, who, from 1998 to 2004, watched SNL whenever he had a babysitter or could sneak downstairs after his parents fell asleep. “After Kattan left, the show stopped taking chances.” Simms’ older brother Joel and his uncle Kurt agreed that SNL’s quality has declined, but linked the show’s suck-points to the departure of Jim Breuer and Joe Piscopo, respectively.
I’m amazed that no one laughed at the best joke — the Congresswoman said that they had done their part by demanding 200 MPG cars.
The biggest problem with Detroit (and I think even the AE may have mentioned this awhile back) is that for many decades but especially after the “Keep America Rolling” 0% promotions of late 2001, the ONLY way they can sell anything is on “the deal”. No matter how hard they try, Detroit cars are thought of as crappy, disposable products full of yestertech, which in many cases is still true (see 4-speed automatics, no NAV, ancient engine designs, ancient platforms, beam axles, leaf springs, etc.).
Even if the Aveo suddenly became a good car, nobody is going to pay MSRP for one. Wait six months, and it’ll have $5,000 cash on the hood. Try asking for 5 grand off on a Honda Fit, and you’ll be laughed out of the place. That’s the difference, and that’s why it’s too late for them to come back. Their products are perceived as having no value.
It was unfunny and stale. Those jokes might have been funny in 1986, when Detroit’s new cars often had trouble starting up even when brand new, but it just showed how painfully ignorant most of the coastal elites are today. And I’m not saying that as a dedicated Palin fan. But just as many of the red state folks are ignorant about foreign affairs, the California and NY-types seem to have no clue about the Detroit automakers today, and the products they produce.
A further galling thing, is how Ford, Chrysler and GM are all lumped together. Even Consumer Reports now declares that Ford is in the same league as the top Japanese competitors in reliability. GM is in the middle. Meanwhile, Chrysler, makes relatively poor products, with inferior reliability and craptastic styling. Lumping the Big 3 together and declaring that they share ALL the same problems is like lumping ALL WMDs together. Chlorine gas is not as dangerous to civilization as nuclear weapons, and Chrysler and Ford are vastly different companies.