In the annals of TV history, I think Alec Baldwin aggressively jerking off two Wiimotes and making every masturbation double entendre imaginable will be remembered as just groundbreaking as Edith Bunker’s menopause.
Writers from 15 televison sitcoms, including The Simpsons, Futurama and Family Guy, have signed on with Machinima.com to 15 original episodic comedy pilots for the online network using video games.
newVideoPlayer("niko_romin.flv", 463, 387,""); GTA on SNL? Well, if a movie did a $US 500 million opening week, bet your arse there’d be a skit on it the very next show. Here Niko Bellic and Vlad Glebov appear on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” to complain about the negative image the game gives to Liberty City.
Most of the gag appears to be the permanent karate-chop pose of motion-capped hands, overly expressive gesturing and out-of-place dialogue during non-cutscene encounters. The writers leave it up to the viewer to get it. So if that’s mainstream enough to get laughs, holy hell, games have really come a long way.
[Thanks to Gawker's Richard Blakeley for the video.] More »
Saturday Night Live boss Lorne Michaels spoke with the New York Times about the trails and tribulations of a live weekly comedy show trying to regain its footing after the Hollywood writer’s strike left viewers hanging for nine weeks. He’s worried about getting viewers back – not from other shows, but from video games. “Our competition is not so much other television shows as it is Guitar Hero,” he said, referring to the popular video game. The strike wiped out nine scheduled “SNL” shows, and it came at the worst possible time.
Honestly, every time I hear someone talk about Saturday Night Live I still find myself surprised the show still runs after all of these years, but Lorne needs not fear gaming. He should embrace it. Only until we have a Laser Cats video game can the healing begin.
‘SNL’ Is Ready to Make Up for Lost Time [The New York Times]
