{"id":18057,"date":"2010-06-25T12:44:23","date_gmt":"2010-06-25T19:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mehallo.com\/blog\/?p=18057"},"modified":"2010-06-24T21:56:47","modified_gmt":"2010-06-25T04:56:47","slug":"steve-martin-and-billie-jean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mehallo.com\/blog\/archives\/18057","title":{"rendered":"Lorne, Dave, Max, Steve Martin and Billie Jean"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Lorne Michaels<\/a> wasn’t always at the helm of Saturday Night Live.<\/a> <\/p>\n

In the early 1980s, NBC was doing other things with his program (he left in 1980, returned in 85). In the meantime, Michaels was making a foray into Prime Time. In 1984, The New Show<\/a> was to be his sequel, though it only lasted a few months.<\/p>\n

SNL-related alumni were part of the sketch comedy program – including SCTV’s Dave Thomas,<\/a> who is probably the only person on the planet who does a spot on Max von Sydow<\/a> impersonation. (Max was most recently seen in The Tudors<\/a> and was iconic as Ming in Flash Gordon<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Why do I know that? Max always had an incredible voice. First saw him as JC in The Greatest Story Ever Told<\/a> (1965). <\/p>\n

But I digress.<\/p>\n

The first sketch of The New Show (above) parodied Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean video,<\/a> which was released a year earlier. The show had some really great moments – and featured the Guggenheim and a Reitveld Chair in its credits (also part of the above video).<\/p>\n\r\n\t

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