Has Saturday Night Live finally jumped the shark?

Jump the shark~A television series or movie reaches a point at which far-fetched events are included merely for the sake of novelty, indicative of a decline in quality.

The term ‘jump the shark’ originated in 1985 by Jon Hein. That’s how he described the Happy Days episode where the Fonz while wearing his trademark leather jacket, jumped over a shark while on water skis. Happy Days was in its fifth season. This was the point that most reviewers felt the series went downhill. Surprisingly, it still continued for another six seasons after the shark incident.

See, just because a program has jumped the shark, it doesn’t mean it’s over. In some cases, it continues for a long, long, LONG time.

We’re now in season number forty-eight of Saturday Night Live. This year has been marked by many cast changes. Beloved members who have been around for a decade are gone and have been replaced. Change is good. New blood brings in a fresh take. I’m more than fine with this. But, we’re three episodes in and I have a big problem with the 2022-23 season…IT HASN’T BEEN FUNNY!!

Yeah, yeah…I know many people have been saying this about SNL for many years. You constantly see things on social media like ‘SNL hasn’t been funny since the original cast left’ or' ‘I haven’t watched SNL in years’ or ‘It’s not funny and hasn’t been in a long time.’ I can go on and on, but you’ve probably seen these and many more like them.

I’m not one of those people!

I usually watch SNL every Saturday night or if I’m not around, I’ll record it to see the next day, like I did this week. I’ve been a fan since day one in 1975. I still like the show and want to see it succeed and continue on…at least until we reach season fifty. What a milestone that would be.

But, in this year's first three episodes, I haven’t had one good laugh. There have been a few light chuckles, but that’s it. Even the Weekend Update segments have been mediocre at best. I could always count on those to bring some good laughs and so far, Jost and Che haven’t done it.

I know it’s only been three episodes. I know we still have twenty or so more of these. I know with a lot of new people it takes time to work out the kinks. I get all that. I hope they get there. Please, get there.

I hope SNL hasn’t jumped the shark…not yet. I guess we’ll find out if we ever see Kenan Thompson on water skis.