sometimes i feel like the only young woman in america who doesn't want to have a cosmo and/or a giggly sleepover with tina fey; as far as breeder crushes go, she's the female equivalent of barack obama. i've never been able to put my finger on my distaste for her, but i think last night's first-post-writers'-strike saturday night live cleared things up: she's mean.
much is already being made of how, in her weekend update "women's news" segment, fey defended hillary clinton and ridiculed women who make "whatever choice oprah tells them to." i'm more interested in the first half of the segment, when she crapped on lindsay lohan - who starred in (cough) mean girls, fey's movie based on queen bees and wannabes: helping your daughter survive cliques, gossip, boyfriends, and other realities of adolescence* - for looking old in her marilyn monroe photo shoot, older women who consider themselves "middle-aged," and fat kirstie alley. she then praised clinton (a "bitch") and...nuns? tough love has always been an integral part of good comedy, but what's the takeaway here? heaven help you if you aren't as prudish, tiny, or brainy as tina fey? when, exactly, did (pick-a-wave) feminism become an excuse for women to savage each other?
snark has its place; for whatever reason, it disappointed me to see TF, girlcrush to the masses, taking unfunny swipes at other "ladies." throw in her opening monologue (in which steve martin slapped her repeatedly to demonstrate the rule of three), and...that was the most regressive comedy i've seen in a while. if her jokes weren't tongue-in-cheek, well, how depressing.
...but i could be in an unusually thin-skinned mood this afternoon. am i being unfair, (lady) internets?
in unrelated news, we saw michael clayton last night (and i updated my oscar predictions accordingly). in a leaner year, clooney or tom wilkinson might have had a chance; no love in '08, i think. also, as it's already four, we're probably going to skip the splashy uptown party. i mean, i've only been wearing pants for the last hour.
*aka that psychology book about how machiavelli would tremble at the brutal shit girls inflict on one another in junior high.
i missed last night's snl as i was gabbing until just after midnight on the phone. also, the rabbit ears just don't pick up NBC and CBS that well for me, so unless i want to play human antenna and stand for my show, i typically opt out of a super-grainy viewing. i do recall having a heart for 30 Rock though, and i wonder if fey contributes to the writing of that (though certainly more situation comedy and less of a social commentary in comparison to snl). also, am i to understand that snl cast members write their own skits? i'm in the dark there, honestly. and school doesn't really afford me the luxury of browsing the 'net for the skinny on such things. in truth, i'd rather take a nap, especially given the fact that i just consumed a cube of homemade veggie lasagna. i digress.
ReplyDeleteon 30 rock, fey's the creator, an executive producer, and a writer. as to SNL, i can't tell you with certainty that she wrote her own lines; given that she spent nine years as a writer there (and wrote "weekend update" for herself back in the day), i'll bet good money that she had full control over that segment.
ReplyDeleteas to SNL *in general*, both cast members and writers pitch skits.
i tried to watch the link (after i commented earlier), but my i'm piggybacking on someone's unprotected wi-fi and it friggin' slow... and man, the homework's killin' me these days.
ReplyDeleteyeah for "once," btw. i lurve that soundtrack to pieces!
You have such a LOVELY blog!!! :)
ReplyDeleteTotally disagree - I thought the show as "eh" but that Fey was great. Mean or not, her two minutes of Update were some of the funniest on the show (and certainly the funniest of the segment). And, knowing she's always best playing off a good lead comedy performer, she worked the monologue to her style (by pulling in Steve Martin to play the Alec Baldwin part) and actually made it funny.
ReplyDelete@kolz: ah, but you are a GUY! i'm not saying that you can't still have ladysensitivities in re tina fey, i'm just saying. the slaps and snark aren't nearly as personal.
ReplyDeletealso, hillary referencing the SNL cold open (about how the press favors obama) in last night's primary debate in response to tim russert asking her a question first? homegirl can be so, so tone deaf sometimes.
where did you hear that she "wrote weekend update for herself" when she worked there? dozens of comedy writers contribute to update-- non-staffers fax in lists of jokes and the staff picks the best ones. as head writer she certainly had more editorial input than anyone else, but it's wrong to say that she wrote it all herself, and it's also wrong to say she wrote it "for" herself. by which i mean, the fact that she reads a joke out loud doesn't necessarily mean it reflects her personal point of view. it means it's a joke that got a laugh in rehearsal.
ReplyDeleteby "for herself" i simply mean that she both wrote for and appeared on update, not that she either penned the whole thing or pulled it straight from her diary.
ReplyDeleteif it's more accurate to say that i dislike tina fey the comic persona, that's just fine; my point is that the take on gendered humor she represents is wildly unfunny to me. setting aside the intricacies of joke development, i believe wholeheartedly that if fey wasn't cool with one of her "update" jokes last week, it wouldn't have aired. she's got suction, as david simon would say.
i'm saying that what you saw on snl WASN'T her comic persona. whoever is anchoring the update desk reads those jokes. 30 rock is her comic persona, and i haven't seen any of that type of humor on there.
ReplyDelete