Madonna acquits herself fine in the live segments, and the film (directed by Robert Leacock) has some good sight gags (particularly Joan Cusack as a Cyndi Lauper look-a-like cousin who Madonna never got along with), though it seems like they were milking the running jokes about Madonna’s dislike for potato salad and Penn being paparazzi-averse a little thin.
Bumpers were also redone to match the show’s updated visual identity. The theme song and Don Pardo’s intro were re-recorded. 3) montage Isaiah Wyner’s photos of Madonna and Simple Minds were pasted onto photos of NYC streetscapes. Rerun alteration: The Sarah Charlesworth opening montage was replaced with the Dan Perri limo ride (v.
It sounds like Don Pardo isn’t quite sure how to pronounce “Danitra Vance” he says it correctly but there’s a bit of hesitation in his voice. Cheryl Hardwick (piano, organ) will also rejoin the band this year. Smith (guitar), Tom “T-Bone” Wolk (bass), Earl Gardner (trumpet), Alex Foster (alto sax), Lenny Pickett (tenor sax), Steve Turre (trombone), and Steve Ferrone (drums). Aside from last year’s sole returning member Leroy Leon Pendarvis (piano, organ) and baritone sax player Lew Del Gatto (rejoining the band after a five year absence), the rest of the band is all new: G.E. As well, the SNL Band has been entirely revamped and restored to the full-size ensemble of earlier seasons.
There’s also a “new” theme song for this season, in actuality an updated arrangement of the original Howard Shore composition that opened the show from 1975-80. This always struck me as similar to the montage Edie Baskin and Sharon Haskell created for The New Show, right down to the same font being used for the cast and musical guests. Brandon Tartikoff faced a lot of criticism for his participation in this sketch, including from Jack Perkins at KNBC according to Perkins in his book Finding Moosewood, Finding God, Tartikoff issued a public apology for the sketch and announced NBC Entertainment would adopt a stricter policy on drug references.Ī brand-new opening montage by collage artist Sarah Charlesworth debuts this episode. Rerun alteration: This was notably excluded from the repeat version of the show, as well as the one-hour syndication print. Whitney Brown, this was likely written by Al Franken and James Downey. Tartikoff was a little stiff, but the audience was excited to see Hall, even if his inexperience with live sketch comedy was almost immediately apparent.Īccording to A.
The first sketch of the season isn’t great, but it has its moments, particularly Tartikoff admitting his previous idea to combat drug use (the honor system) failed badly, and that only the actors playing criminals on Miami Vice will be exempt from the network-wide drug testing.