Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 10, 1995 TAG: 9503100033
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD HUFF NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The show, now in its 20th season, is described in the cover story by Chris Smith as being in a ``deep spiritual funk'' and painted as a show that is ``obsessed with maintaining its internal pecking order, from where people sit in meetings to how much airtime new cast members deserve.''
Indeed, a veteran ``SNL'' writer tells New York, ``[The cast] can't even fake forcing themselves to care [about the air product]. When you watch the show on TV that comes through - it really seems taken with itself. And when it's as bad as can be and people act like nothing's wrong, then that's sort of like a f---you to the audience.''
Cast members past and present were interviewed for the piece and most had nothing better to say, especially when it comes to the show's creator and executive producer, Lorne Michaels.
``Lorne wants people to feel insecure,'' an ex-cast member said.``It's the same techniques cults use - they keep you up for hours, they never let you know that you're OK, and they always make you think that your spot could be taken at any moment by someone else.''
Sarah Jessica Parker hosted a November installment of the show, and according to New York, got an upclose view of Michael's tactics.
``I'd come into his office, and he'd put his head down and not pay any attention,'' the actress said. ``I decided I wouldn't take it personally that he wasn't talking to me. If I had been my normal self, I would have really flipped out.''
Current cast member Ellen Cleghorne also laments the make-up of the writing staff, which is primarily male and all white.
``This is 1995 and I feel like I'm in a really bad sci-fi movie where all the black people already got killed, and I'm next,'' Cleghorne said.
Another internal critic, an ``SNL'' writer, moans about the fact that, ``after last year, all of America was waiting for a brand-new look,'' but this year's show hasn't delivered. ``The show's still slipping. You sort of want to say to Lorne and [producer] Jim [Downey], `Hey, guys, you're on the Titanic.'''
According to the article, Michaels is remaining calm in the face of the turmoil, and expects the show, as it's done in past down cycles, to right itself.
``The show is in a transitional period,'' he says. ``I think it's better than last year and not where it will be by next year.''
Marla Maples Trump once turned down $2 million to bare all in the pages of Playboy. Mrs. Donald Trump makes that revelation during this coming Sunday's Lifetime special, ``Intimate Portrait: Marla Maples Trump,'' 10 p.m.
``Playboy offered me $2 million dollars to pose, and, hey, Donald might have liked that, but that was something that ... it just wasn't in my make-up to do that,'' Maples Trump says on the special.
``It may be fine for some women,'' she goes on, ``but for me it's not the direction I wanted my life to go.''
The one-hour special, according a Lifetime press release, reveals ``the actual story behind the wild love affair.'' Included in the hour are exclusive interviews and never-before-seen footage of the couple's wedding and reception.
Maples Trump grew up in Georgia and spent her pre-Donald years as a struggling actress and model. After she met The Donald, her career flourished, including several guest appearances on network sitcoms and a stint on Broadway in ``The Will Rogers Follies.''
The Lifetime special explores how Maples Trump balances her career, The Donald and their 1-year-old daughter, Tiffany.
Maples Trump also discusses her feelings about having gone into hiding to dodge the media spotlight that came with her budding relationship with the Donald.
``They thought it was about money, power, greed and sex,'' she says. But, she continues, ``It was about real feelings, something that's lasted for many years now.''
by CNB