European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 23, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                -. Abc  in the 1970s, saturday night Loyc sizzled with Dan Aykroyd and John British Here As the blues Brothers plus Bill Murray Jane Curtin and Garrett Morris. To Carvey to Kightlinger. V a. W by Doug Hill new York times Hen lib comedy writer Al Frankyn joined saturday night live in its first season he like the vast majority of  s writers and cast members was in his 20s. Now at 43, he is one of a handful of the original staff members who still work there. He admits that it is sometimes Odd being an elder statesman on a show that once defined itself As the defiant voice of american youth. Recently Franken fun himself in an argument with a writer half his age who accused him of being out of touch because he did t know the name of the Lead Singer of the band smashing pumpkins. Sometimes you get the vibe i m sorry if you Don t understand what i m doing with this piece but it s because you re too old " Franken says laughing. And i la say Well no i understand perfectly Well what you re doing. I just Don t think it s funny " that a generation Gap now exists within saturday night live is Only one of the changes that make the show and the comedy universe in which it exists far More complicated places than they were in 1975. Sol has survived this Long by always managing to revive itself often at what seemed like the last moment in the process fending off internal turmoil network pressure and constant criticism that it just in t funny anymore. Now in its 20th-anniversary season airing thursday nights on an tothe show is struggling to pull itself out of the ashes one More time. As the new York critics noted when they reviewed the season premiere show of sept. 24,. Ast season was generally considered a disaster. Since then,.the cast has undergone a major reconfiguration. Phil Hartman a versatile comic actor and the troupe s Hill Clinton Impersonator resigned As did Julia Sweeney and Rob Schneider. Melanie lulls cd and Sarah Silverman were let go. Replacing them in addition to Michael Mckean who joined the show last March arc Chris fill Iota who appeared in sketches on the old David let Turman show Janeann Garofalo from the movie reality bites and Hob s Larry sunders Sior. And Laura Kightlinger a land up comedian who was a writer for Roseanne. David Bianculli a critic for new York s daily news found  encouraging. The writers need to develop better scripts he wrote but there s a Strong team Here with which they can  John Podhoretz of the new York Post was less kind. Watching the premiere he said was less entertaining than being smashed Over the head with a Hammer for 90  he called a commentary delivered on weekend update by Kightlinger perhaps the single most embarrassing segment in the show s  there have been a lot of embarrassing segments in the show s past. But in most people s minds those moments Are eclipsed by what becomes in memory years of collective brilliance indeed although sol has dozens of competitors now All Over the television dial its biggest Competition will always remain itself. No one knows that bet Ter than lome Michaels who created the show in 1975, left it in 1980 and returned As executive pro Lucerin 1985 the word that they use All the time is that sat urday night live is an institution " Michaels says. Jon l.ovit/, Victoria Jackson and Dana Carvey at a rap p Iris off the set in 1990. It s a terrifying  the Burden of history is at least As tangible within saturday night As it is without. The show s staff today is populated by Young men and women who grew up watching the show. Some know the origin and evolution of every sol character the Way Yan Kee fanatics can Tell you the batting average of every player who Ever put on pin stripes. In a new Book called saturday night live the first 20 years Haughton Mifflin Mike Myers one of the most popular members of the current cast re Calls doing an eighth Grade report on one of his Fel Low Canadian heroes lome Michaels. I watched the first show Myers 31, writes and even after the first sketch. I said i want to do this " for Marilyn Suzanne Miller another writer who joined the show in the first season and who once again works there today being a living legend some times gives her the creeps these people Revere sat urday night live and can t understand that Mere mortals did its he says. The old show is too respected that s the  Miller 44, sometimes feels that she and the other old timers Are fossilized eccentrics left Over from a More flamboyant time and she can t resist firing a shot Back across the generational Divide. There was t one person Here in the old Days who did t have a piercing personality she says. They were loud and raucous and  she cites As examples the writer Michael o Donoghue dispatching scathing obscene but hilarious letters to various authority figures who had offended him and John Belushi storming through the Halls spouting extemporaneous shakespearean monologues at the top of his lungs. A few members of the staff today fill up the rooms that Way Miller says Adam Sander and wins Farley Are two cast members she mentions but Only a few. These people Are Low key not necessarily timid but they re not exuberant she says. It s a much More contained and quiet ship than it used to be the show s producer is James Downey 41 who joined the show As a writer in its second season after leaving in 1980 with Michaels and the rest of the original team he returned in 1985 and took Over As producer the following year. In that position Downey has had plenty of Opportunity to observe How the history of saturday night live has provided its newer recruits with a blueprint Tor show business Success. In the beginning he recalls no one had a Videa of the sigm finance of the show in terms of Carcer or economics. It was like a children s crusade people would can out Here and not think about sunday of Ioor 23, 1994