I figure that whatever you like or don't like about Saturday Night Live is due to Lorne Michaels. Let's face it, casts and writers change, but except for a few years in the 80s, Lorne's always been there.

I'm pretty sure he's responsible for all the obnoxious characters (well, yeah, the actors and writers create them, but he's the one who lets them live) and he must think the funniest thing in the world is to repeat a catch phrase over and over and over, and to take a single funny idea and stretch it into a ten minute sketch, or better yet, a series of ten minute sketches.

It's stunning to me that Johnny Carson cut his show from 90 minutes to 60, and now 60 minutes is the standard format for all late night variety shows, but SNL still lumbers on for an hour and a half. Does anyone really watch the last half hour anyway?

I'm telling you, 60 minutes, 2 songs, longer Weekend Update (but none of the stupid editorials), and it would be as good as ever.

Example? This February sweeps NBC is doing a 20 minute SNL after a 40 minute Friends to offset Survivor. 20 minutes of Saturday Night Live is damn funny.