'Not ready for primetime'

Question

A new one on me:On Cruz Bustamante, leading Dem candidate for California governor if the recall is passed (1):'Critics predict Bustamante will implode. "He's not ready for prime time," says state Sen. Tom McClintock, a Republican in the race.'Meaning the same, I suppose, as 'playing out of his league' and like analogies.(1) http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/2003-08-21-bustamante-usat x.htm

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[nq:1]A new one on me: . . . 'Critics predict Bustamante will implode. "He's not ready for prime time," says state Sen. Tom McClintock, a Republican in the race.'[/nq]
Comedians of the TV show Saturday Night
Live were about 25 years ago described as
the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players."

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada)
dphillipson(at)trytel.com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]'Critics predict Bustamante will implode. "He's not ready for prime time," says state Sen. Tom McClintock, a Republican in the race.' Meaning the same, I suppose, as 'playing out of his league' and like analogies.[/nq]
Well, sure with the presumption that the big league of TV entertainment is prime-time broadcasting. The cast of the late-night show "Saturday Night Live" were calling themselves, I presume with false modesty, the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" back in the 1970s.
Mark Brader, Toronto "Ever wonder why they call the screen (Email Removed) a vacuum tube?" Kent Paul Dolan

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[nq:2]'Critics predict Bustamante will implode. "He's not ready for prime ... suppose, as 'playing out of his league' and like analogies.[/nq]
[nq:1]Well, sure with the presumption that the big league of TV entertainment is prime-time broadcasting. The cast of the late-night show "Saturday Night Live" were calling themselves, I presume with false modesty, the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" back in the 1970s.[/nq]
Yeah, and they were actually the best cast SNL ever had.
Skitt (in SF Bay Area) http://www.geocities.com/opus731/ I speak English well I learn it from a book!
Manuel (Fawlty Towers)

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[nq:2]show "Saturday Night Live" were calling themselves, I presume with false modesty, the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" back in the 1970s.[/nq]
[nq:1]Yeah, and they were actually the best cast SNL ever had.[/nq]
Hear! Hear!

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[nq:2]'Critics predict Bustamante will implode. "He's not ready for prime ... suppose, as 'playing out of his league' and like analogies.[/nq]
[nq:1]Well, sure with the presumption that the big league of TV entertainment is prime-time broadcasting. The cast of the late-night show "Saturday Night Live" were calling themselves, I presume with false modesty, the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" back in the 1970s.[/nq]
And now, as Paul Harvey is wont to say, the rest of the story:

Howard Cosell, he of Monday Night Football, talked ABC into letting him put on a live variety show in prime time on Saturday Night. He called it (no joke) "Saturday Night Live." He had himself a small company of regular players, so he called them the Prime Time Players. When NBC, which was a bit slower off the mark, decided a bit later that same season to have a live variety show late at night, Cosell had already grabbed off the name they wanted, so they called it "NBC's Saturday Night." That's why the intro is "Live, from New York, it's Saturday Night." The last two words were the name of the show. The original cast and writers called the show "Saturday Night" and, as I hear it, never used "SNL."

Cosell's show didn't last a year, but he owned the name. A few years later, by which time two or three casts had come and gone, Lorne Michaels (or whoever was the NBC show's producer at the time) called up Cosell and asked if he cared whether they used "Saturday Night Live." He told them to go ahead. The show is now officially named "Saturday Night Live," but the intro has never changed.

Calling the cast The Not Ready for Prime Time Players was indeed false modesty, and aimed directly at Cosell's group. Can anyone name a single member of Cosell's crew (other than Ben Zimmer, who knows everything)? I know I can't.
Plenty of good books available on the topic.

Bob Lieblich
Ready for the Not Ready for Prime Time Players

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[nq:2]Well, sure with the presumption that the big league ... "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" back in the 1970s.[/nq]
[nq:1]And now, as Paul Harvey is wont to say, the rest of the story: Howard Cosell, he of Monday Night ... crew (other than Ben Zimmer, who knows everything)? I know I can't. Plenty of good books available on the topic.[/nq]
Bill Murray was one of the cast, I think. Alan King may have been another.
Skitt (in SF Bay Area) http://www.geocities.com/opus731/ I speak English well I learn it from a book!
Manuel (Fawlty Towers)

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[nq:2]And now, as Paul Harvey is wont to say, the ... I can't. Plenty of good books available on the topic.[/nq]
[nq:1]Bill Murray was one of the cast, I think.[/nq]
I found some confirmation for that on the Web.
[nq:1]Alan King may have been another.[/nq]
I'd bet against that, if only because of his age.
I hope Ben Zimmer will come along soon and straighten us out.

Bob Lieblich
Stitt, you are not an ignorant ***

Usenet · Answer

I have no personal knowledge of any of this.

Skitt (in SF Bay Area) http://www.geocities.com/opus731/ I speak English well I learn it from a book!
Manuel (Fawlty Towers)

'Not ready for primetime'

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