Fletch lives

Instead of watching the "American Idol" finals earlier this week, I watched a tremendous feature on "Saturday Night Live" in the 1990s on NBC.

It got me thinking about a lot of the cast members of yesteryear, many of whom were panned during their tenures and became revered thereafter. However, one cast member who was revered during this tenure and is now widely panned is Chevy Chase. And I don't get it. In fact, it's become so cool to dump on Chevy that it's almost cliche. But why?

Are you telling me that "Caddyshack" wasn't great? Is the "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation" not the best Christmas comedy ever? I know - I KNOW - you're not going to tell me the "Fletch" duology isn't one of the best movie series featuring a wisenheimer journalist/detective. It takes a big man to crack jokes while he's beingchased by the cops.

So the next time you hear someone badmouth the Chevster, don't be bashful in speaking up on his behalf. Without him, Christmas would still be about claymation Rudolph and "SNL" would be about Joe Piscopo. Respect the Chev!