TELEVISION REVIEW

NBC's newly energized comedy crew brings a welcome dose of political satire to prime-time network TV.

By Mary McNamara, Times Television Critic

Which version of "change" this year's election results will actually provide remains to be seen, but the 2008 presidential campaign has certainly shaken up television. From the failed experiment of having Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews anchor the national conventions to the increasingly furious face-offs between Elisabeth Hasselbeck and her co-anchors of "The View" and, of course, the overnight-delivery-from-heaven-to-Tina-Fey gift of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee, politics on TV is suddenly exciting again.

Nowhere is this more true than on "Saturday Night Live," which has found new energy and relevance in skits lampooning the various candidates. When Hillary Clinton began referencing the show's bit on the media kowtowing to Fred Armisen's Barack Obama, "Saturday Night Live," which had dropped out of the cultural conversation for a while, was back in business. So much so that Lorne Michaels decided it was time to do a mini-spinoff -- three half-hour specials leading up to the election, the first of which debuted Thursday night.

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"Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursdaymay have a cumbersome title but it delivered streamlined up-to-the minute comedy that is sadly lacking on network prime time these days. Those panting for another amazing Fey-as-Palin performance may have experienced a moment of disappointment -- not this week, guys; you'll just have to hang out on YouTube for a bit longer. (Or on tonight's "SNL" perhaps?)

But seeing a parody of the presidential debate a scant two days after it occurred certainly made up for it, especially since all of the participants -- Armisen as Obama, Darrell Hammond as John McCain and returning "SNL" alum Chris Parnell as the schoolmarmish Tom Brokaw -- were spot-on, generally hilarious and surprisingly edgy. Hammond should win an Emmy for McCain's elbows and stage lurch alone, while Armisen's Obama, at one point, confessed to being "best friends" with the controversial William Ayers because "I'm so ahead in the polls it doesn't matter."

All this and Bill Murray too, who appeared as an audience member wanting to know what the candidates would do to ensure that the Chicago Cubs never again lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the playoffs. Nothing, he was told. The Cubs will never win the pennant.

Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers filled the rest of the show dishing on this week's headlines from the country's financial woes and the O.J. Simpson trial. Kenan Thompson appeared as a financial expert whose only advice was "Fix it!" and Will Forte and Armisen did Hall & Oates arguing about the presidential candidates in a song set to the tune of "You Make My Dreams Come True." If this sounds stupid, it wasn't; it takes a lot of moxie to sing lines like, "Well I heard McCain once built his own sex dungeon" and "Not cool, you changed the words to suit your liberal agenda" to any tune, much less one by Hall & Oates.

Still, along with the laughter it was difficult not to feel a bit of sadness. It's been so long since there has been any venue for this sort of political satire on television; as flat as the "Laugh-In" skit fell during this year's Emmys show, it did spark a longing for that sort of scattered, yet pointed, variety show flavor. Leaders of the networks, we cannot live by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert alone. We need skits! We need impressions! Am I the only person in America who misses Rich Little? These three specials are certainly a good start, but "Saturday Night Live" is just one show, and it's on so darn late. The "Weekend Update" format might not be able to survive as a permanent addition to NBC's lineup, but certainly its spirit could find a home in these politically agitated times.

Because while the election will, we hope, result in a new president, the change we're seeing -- in the newsrooms, on the talk shows and among comedians -- is only beginning.

mary.mcnamara@latimes.com