In my nearly 20 years on this planet, I have watched a lot of television. I've spent a lot of time trying to find the next great sitcom when I should have been focusing on my homework. When I was younger, needless to say, it caused some arguments with my mother.
That being said, there are only two shows I've ever been obsessed with: The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live.
This shouldn't come as much of a surprise. After all, these are two of the longest-running, most critically acclaimed shows in history. It's quite easy to get sucked in by their splendor.
The Simpsons came first. I started watching the show when I was six years old, but the obsession didn't take over until I was about 11.
This was when I discovered a large Internet community dedicated to the show. I fell in love with countless Web sites and quickly sucked up every bit of info I could about the show. After melting my mind with episode titles, production numbers and obscure sight gags, I was quickly becoming very annoying.
Luckily, it didn't last.
In the magical summer of 2002, my life was taken over by Comedy Central's daily reruns of SNL. Whenever I hung out with my friends, I always brought up one reference to segments such as Wayne's World or Celebrity Jeopardy.
Thankfully, they put up with my nonsense.
These shows mean a lot to me. They were an essential part of my formative years and I still watch both on a regular basis. For this reason, it saddens me to think about their respective states today.
Don't get me wrong, The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live are still watchable and continue to crack me up on a regular basis. It seems, however, that neither show is trying that hard anymore. They have little left in the tank and seem content to rest on their laurels.
People have been decrying the decline of The Simpsons for years and I finally have conceded to join the bandwagon of unsatisfied fans.
The show is still funny, but it has lost its classical and crucial edge. Rather than relying on witty dialogue and intelligent characterization, The Simpsons attempts to claim relevance by making lame references to modern technology.
If they make one more joke about Twitter, I just might lose it.
In addition, many episodes are blatantly recycled from past seasons. A recent episode featured Bart dating the "bad girl" daughter of upstanding parents, but producers had already done this in 1994. I couldn't believe how dry the idea had become.
Unfortunately, things aren't much better on the SNL front.
NBC's Saturday night sitcom has a similar problem with staleness. Not because they recycle ideas, but because the show is overdue for a change.
Many of the cast members have simply been there too long. Seth Meyers is already in his ninth season. Fred Armisen and Will Forte are in the midst of their eighth seasons, while Kenan Thompson is in his seventh.
In past years, almost no cast members lasted that long. Part of the reason the show stayed fresh for so many years was because Lorne Michaels shuffled his cast and made changes.
These days, Michaels seems content to have the same cast do the same bits over and over again. As a result, I've watched Kristen Wiig play the Target Lady too many times to count.
If SNL wants to return to its glory days, it needs some fresh blood in the cast. Otherwise, viewers are doomed to watch more of the same old skits and hear the same washed up jokes.
At this point, Matt Groening (the creator of The Simpsons) and Michaels don't have to worry about the legacies their shows will leave; each one is guaranteed to go down as one of the greatest TV shows ever. As a result, they might not have much incentive to worry about the current quality of their show.
Still, I wish they would. If these shows could go out with the same bang they came in with, it would be marvelous. If not, it would be a crushing disappointment.
E-mail: jhugar@buffalo.edu
