Demise

 For nearly fifty years, the wags and whiners have been making the oh-so-clever knock on Saturday Night Live by referring to the late night comedy show as "Saturday Night Dead." And yet, week after week, year after year, the Not Ready For Prime Time Players continue to trot out onto the stage in Studio 8H and put on a show. In those five decades, even when things were not their brightest, it was still one of the things that everyone could come together on Monday morning to talk about. "Did you see Saturday Night this week?"

For clarity's sake here, I will concede that my days of watching Saturday Night Live in its advertised time slot have passed me by. Sunday morning YouTube rehashes is the best I can hope for. I cannot confess to being a big fan. If you asked me to name the cast members for the current season, or if I stayed up to see the musical guest over the past fifteen years, I would respond with a pretty solid, "What? I'm old."

With this established, I will turn to the article from the Atlantic my older brother sent to me a few days back. It was a thoughtful piece that recalled the various swings from liberal to conservative, from blue to red, and back again over the past century. The suggestion was made that we were witnessing the end of a progressive era of politics, highlighted for many by the presidency of Barack Obama. Since then, the dominant political figure in United States politics, for better or worse, has been the convicted felon and former game show host who seemingly defied the odds and all manner of convention by becoming the president-elect without once being out of the public eye for a minute since he packed his bags and left way back in 2021. 

Four years ago there were those who were in the process of writing the obituary for the Republican Party. So much dysfunction, so very little cohesion. And yet, here we are just a few years down the pike staring at executive, legislative and judicial control of the federal government. By those left-for-dead Republicans. 

One might argue that this is not the Republican Party that so many of us remember. Not the Watergate Party, nor the Reagan years of glory, but rather the Orange Surge that managed to grab the nation by its limbic system and shook it hard enough to find its way to the top of the heap. Leaving all of us to begin to wonder about the health of "our side." 

Which is what brought me around to Saturday Night Live. Reports of its death may have been greatly exaggerated. At leas this is my hope. 

Stay tuned, America.