Updated List

It's about time someone did it--Vulture has ranked all the Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Anchors.  Too bad they screwed it up.  Okay, they vaguely get it right, but certain specific flaws ruin the list.  Here are the top ten (of seventeen).

1.  Dennis Miller
2.  Tina Fey and Amy Poehler
3.  Norm MacDonald
4.  Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd
5.  Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey
6.  Chevy Chase
7.  Jane Curtin and Bill Murray
8.  Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers
9.  Jane Curtin
10. Seth Meyers

The big problem is Chevy Chase at #6.  Any list that doesn't have him at #1 should be ignored.  This is not just the man who originated the role of Weekend Update Anchor.  This is the man who took something that could easily have been a one-off bit on a show where the format was up for grabs, and turned it into the focal point of the program.  This is a man who made the show itself famous, and did it more through Weekend Update than anything else.  That he was not only able to create something out of nothing, but do it really well, makes him #1 in any rational list.

Other than that, I have to disagree with Dennis Miller on top, or even second. He certainly was a major figure at Update, but I think he's a bit overrated.  I see him near the top, but not too close.

On the other hand, Tina Fey really did a great job, but her best partner was Jimmy Fallon, who was her opposite, while I didn't think the teaming with Amy Poehler (though I liked Poehler better as a sketch performer than Fallon) really worked--even though Vulture says their "chemistry was palpable."

And I think Norm MacDonald is rated too low. Since I place Chase at #1, you can deduce I put MacDonald at #2.  He was the only person after Chase to completely make the position his own, and not owe anything to anyone in the past.  I can still remember a lot of his jokes, while I can't say the same for anyone else except Chase.  For years, I'd been putting up with Weekend Update, hoping the bits would work but not seeing it as a highlight.  MacDonald was the first guy since Chevy Chase to make me look forward to the segment.