I had no idea this show existed until moving to Seattle a couple of years ago. I stumbled upon it after SNL one night. Every once in a while I'll sit through a bit of it. I can never make it through all of it though.
While the show does deserve credit for its effort and consideration for the era in which it took place, the humor is so excessively "backyard" and so "inside joke" that it's hard to take seriously (and yes, I do understand and get the regional jokes). That isn't to say that any comedy that's quality comedy has to be global comedy, but the short-sighted and monotone degree to which this show gropes these regional jokes totally kills the validity that any of the decent writing in the show has.
Sure, SNL may slip in a joke here that's NY-centric, but the fact of the matter is that everyone does essentially and generally know NY *because it is New York city* (or LA for that matter). Their writers aren't dumb to this fact. They know this and understand this, just as they understand that a butt-and-fart joke now and then is appreciated and enjoyed because we all have a butt, and we all fart, and it's funny, and we've all laughed at them before and as much as we'd like to kid ourselves we will laugh at them again.
Anyway...
The point is that with Conan Obrian, or SNL, or Leno, or what have you, the general approach is based on appealing to a global audience - inclusion - and then slipping something in here or there that's locally-geared every now and then. With "Almost Live!" the opposite occurs: exclusion first, and then global content second. In the end all you're left with a crippled show with seemingly clueless writing that doesn't invite an audience. Maybe "Almost Live!" intentionally went out of their way to be separatists like that, but honestly, who willfully digs their own grave? Wow. Good job.
So, in short, the show sucks and comes off as a small-town attempt at what the big kids are doing. The "oh, well, *you* might not get it because you aren't from here, but believe us Mr. Outsider, it's funny" argument is feeble (I've had it with folks before), because when one does understand the incessant local jokes (which don't take a genius to get), they aren't that funny and are often lamely executed. And when that isn't killing the experience, the super low-budget production is. It's no surprise the show didn't make it.
While the show does deserve credit for its effort and consideration for the era in which it took place, the humor is so excessively "backyard" and so "inside joke" that it's hard to take seriously (and yes, I do understand and get the regional jokes). That isn't to say that any comedy that's quality comedy has to be global comedy, but the short-sighted and monotone degree to which this show gropes these regional jokes totally kills the validity that any of the decent writing in the show has.
Sure, SNL may slip in a joke here that's NY-centric, but the fact of the matter is that everyone does essentially and generally know NY *because it is New York city* (or LA for that matter). Their writers aren't dumb to this fact. They know this and understand this, just as they understand that a butt-and-fart joke now and then is appreciated and enjoyed because we all have a butt, and we all fart, and it's funny, and we've all laughed at them before and as much as we'd like to kid ourselves we will laugh at them again.
Anyway...
The point is that with Conan Obrian, or SNL, or Leno, or what have you, the general approach is based on appealing to a global audience - inclusion - and then slipping something in here or there that's locally-geared every now and then. With "Almost Live!" the opposite occurs: exclusion first, and then global content second. In the end all you're left with a crippled show with seemingly clueless writing that doesn't invite an audience. Maybe "Almost Live!" intentionally went out of their way to be separatists like that, but honestly, who willfully digs their own grave? Wow. Good job.
So, in short, the show sucks and comes off as a small-town attempt at what the big kids are doing. The "oh, well, *you* might not get it because you aren't from here, but believe us Mr. Outsider, it's funny" argument is feeble (I've had it with folks before), because when one does understand the incessant local jokes (which don't take a genius to get), they aren't that funny and are often lamely executed. And when that isn't killing the experience, the super low-budget production is. It's no surprise the show didn't make it.