Classic SNL Review: Oct 3, 1981: (no host) / Rod Stewart (S07E01)

RATINGS SYSTEM
*****- Undisputed classic
****  - Great
***    - Good/Average
**      -  Meh
*        -  Bad

COLD OPENING:  NBC ID
-A brief station ID spoof: “NBC: Our Age Is Showing”

-Brief and funny.  I did like the graphic of the faded, molting peacock logo sitting on the old NBC N logo.
***

OPENING MONTAGE
-Just an observation, but I always thought Mel Brandt’s voice over suited the griminess of this montage better than Don Pardo’s did.

SHOW: THE LITTLE RICHARD SIMMONS SHOW
-Eddie Murphy plays effeminate exercise guru Little Richard Simmons, who leads four women and the studio audience in a workout to reworked versions of classic Little Richard songs.
-Right away, Eddie shows he’s in control of the new Saturday Night Live.  This was a very good way to get the energy level up for the show and it was a great execution of a simple premise.
-My particular favorite parts were his advice to the heavyset blonde woman (“Never wear battleship gray.  2000 sailors will try to board you.”) and him going up to the very overweight crew members (“You girls have let yourselves go!”).  For some reason I also find Yvonne Hudson’s expressions and movements funny too.
-The sax player wearing  a leotard and shorts as well was a nice touch.
-Eddie looked like he was breaking character a few times here.
****

COMMERCIAL: THE CLAMS
-Brian DePalma’s latest film bears more than a passing resemblance to Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”
-Very well done, especially the scenes with the silly looking stop motion clams being cut in with the panicked crowds of children.
-Great line: “Once a year, Brian De Palma picks the bones of a dead director and gives his wife a job!”
***1/2

SKETCH: NUNS ON VACATION
-On vacation, Robin Duke finds that her fellow nun (Mary Gross) got into the order by way of a multiple choice exam at Bob’s Ecumenical College.
-The audience was fairly dead for this one, and it was a fairly slight premise.  It felt more like something that would have been done in an improv stage show than a lead-off sketch on a TV program.  The ending was weak too.
-That said, there were a few funny lines in this one from Gross’ character (“Well, she could be a slut!”).
-Was that Del Close as the voice of “God”?  It sounds a lot like him.
** 

SHOW: A FEW MINUTES WITH ANDY ROONEY: SHOES
-The 60 Minutes coot opines for a few minutes about different types of footwear, his voice, Morley Safer’s name, Mike Wallace, the sun
- I thought Piscopo’s Rooney was a bit too broad and cartoonish (I think Norm MacDonald had the best impression overall), but it did accurately capture how pointless his 60 Minutes segments are.
-There were a few good lines like the one about there not being any Nazis named “Steve”, Mike Wallace being a jackass and how irritating Rooney’s own voice is.
***

FILM: PROSE AND CONS
-People like magazine editor Terry McDonnell and literary agent Irving “Swifty” Lazar agree: prisons are becoming the latest hotbed of budding literary talent.  Maximum Security inmate Tyrone Green (Eddie Murphy) reads his award-winning poem.
-A very well done short film; definitely the first classic of the entire season.
-I’ve always loved the guy telling his agent that “People who watch Merv Griffin don’t read books!  Any agent in the business knows that!”
-Eddie Murphy walks away with the whole thing when he reads the poem “Kill My Landlord”.  The audience response when he gets to the part “C-I-L-L My land-lord!” is so big, the laughter and applause practically drowns out the last word in the poem (“Death!”).
-The Norman Mailer / Jack HenryAbbott credits at the end refer to a then-current news story where Mailer and other critics had championed prisoner Abbott’s literary talent and got him released from prison, only for Abbott to fatally stab someone six weeks after his release.  The film still holds up despite the topical reference, but until I got the background it just seemed like a silly throwaway gag.
*****

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “DANCE WITH ME”, “HOT LEGS”
-As a rule I won’t rate the actual musical performance but I will give some thoughts if I feel the performance warrants it.
-The guitar seems to be mixed significantly louder than the other instruments and particularly Rod’s vocals which kind of made it hard to enjoy.
-Did anyone else pick up Rod singing the lyric “Why the fuck is she ignoring me?”
-I’ve always thought the thing with two people singing into the same mic (in this case two of Rod’s backup musicians) to be incredibly cheesy.
-Stewart’s second song was better mainly because of the surprise guest appearance by Tina Turner.

SNL NEWSBREAK: BRIAN DOYLE-MURRAY AND MARY GROSS, COMMENTARY BY RAHEEM ABDUL MOHAMMED
Best joke: C. Everett Koop.
-Was there supposed to be a voiceover during the intro?  It seemed like there might have been a technical error during the live show.
-The gag with the letters in “NEWSBREAK” breaking off and falling on Brian Doyle-Murray was amusing at first but it was not something they needed to bring back every week.  See the upcoming reviews for more thoughts on this.
-The jokes themselves weren’t very good.  The introduction where Gross and Doyle-Murray were explaining they were co-anchorpersons who haven’t decided what sex they would be fell flat, as well as a lot of the jokes.  The big exception was the joke making fun of Koop’s pro-life beliefs (he started work immediately because he believed his term begins at nomination) which got a healthy response from the audience.
-Doyle-Murray’s delivery never really bothered me or anything but Gross was a poor match for the newsdesk, particularly at first because her delivery is so slow and hesitant, still kind of intimidated by the TV camera.
-The best part of the news segment was the fake clip from a retooled Tomorrow show, with Tom Snyder (Joe Piscopo) wearing a mustache and talking rapid-fire spanish.  Snyder was definitely one of Piscopo’s better impressions, and the clip actually reminded me a lot of Bill Hader as Vinny Vedecci.
-the commentary by Eddie Murphy as his Raheem Abdul Mohammed character wasn’t one of his better ones and started off quite slow.  It did pick up as it went on.  Eddie also broke character a couple of times, specifically when he was talking about Isaac Hayes proving he could act in Truck Turner, and right after he ended his commentary.
-The audience also laughed pretty hard at the way Eddie said “Thank you, Mary Gross” in his Raheem voice.
** 

COMMERCIAL: THE KHADDAFFI LOOK
-In a spoof of a then-current ad campaign for Jordache, the Libyan leader’s clothing line is the preferred fashion choice for revolutionaries and terrorists everywhere.
-For some reason this commercial has a different look to it than the other film segments that were done for the show before; much cleaner and modern looking.
-Well done visually but it wasn’t especially funny.
**1/2.

SKETCH: STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT
-In the middle of the night, Ruth (Robin Duke) gets a phone call with bad news about her father.  Adding to her troubles is Rod (Tim Kazurinsky), an oblivious and self-absorbed creep who she just had a one night stand with; he doesn’t seem to get the message that she is not interested in him in the least and wants him to leave her apartment.
-This is obviously a Marilyn Suzanne Miller piece; Miller wrote a lot of quieter character pieces for the show from 1975-78, and they weren’t necessarily laugh out loud sketches but they were usually excellent at true-to-life characterization and chances for the actors to stretch.   Kazurinsky’s Rod kind of reminds me a little of the character Dan Aykroyd played in Luncheonette Reunion about five years before, a grown-up nerd who is not particularly clued in to the fact that his chance reunion with a high school cheerleader is more thrilling for him than it is for her.
-Excellent performances from both Kazurinsky and Duke in this sketch.  Kazurinsky makes Rod irritating and clueless but at the same time keeps him enjoyable to watch, while Duke has several great reactions to Kazurinsky, especially the part where Rod is crawling over to the side of the bed where Ruth’s sobbing, and Ruth turns around to glare at him and fume “WHO ARE YOU?”.  She did a very good job with a particulatly difficult role.
-I also liked the  little details in the sketch, like Rod’s particularly tacky smiley face t-shirt and him blowing smoke rings in the background as Ruth’s getting the phone call about her father.
****1/2

SKETCH: STRANGERS IN THE FUNERAL PARLOR
-A continuation of the previous sketch.  Ruth is at her father’s wake dealing with hyper-critical Aunt Edie (Mary Gross) and obnoxious Uncle Ed (Tony Rosato).  Things go from bad to worse when Rod shows up.
-Kazurinsky and Duke were playing the same characters the same way; I can’t really comment a whole lot more on their performances, but I did think Duke had some good lines in there (“Rod, you’re such a tool.”)
-I did think that awful blue leisure suit Rod was wearing was a nice touch; it describes a whole lot about the character.
-Gross’ performance was still fairly weak and her character got no laughs from the audience; the audience responded to Rosato a lot better, in fact, Rosato’s delivery on one particular line made the whole sketch (when Rod mentions the hotel he’s staying at, Uncle Ed cuts in with “You’ll like that hotel, I’ve been there myself.”)
-A little weaker than the first part but still well done.
***1/2.

FILM: ANDY WARHOL’S TV: WARHOL ON SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
-Warhol discusses being approached for SNL, gives his thoughts about comedy and tells a joke.
-I did find the audience’s big laugh at the part where Warhol says that he hates the show funny, and I did laugh at the joke but this really felt more like an oddity than anything else.
*1/2.

GUEST PERFORMANCE: MICHAEL DAVIS
-Davis demonstrates his juggling ability with a machete, an ax and a cleaver.
-Easily the highlight of the whole show; Davis had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand with his excellent dry delivery and timing.  He also did a good job at building suspense to the actual juggling section.
-Davis also had some excellent lines as well (“People don’t take you seriously with just one ball”).
*****

HOME MOVIES: FEATURING “SEASON OF GLASS”, A FILM BY YOKO ONO
-Christine Ebersole stands on home base and asks audience members to submit their home movies for a chance to have them aired on national TV.  This segues into this week’s “Home Movie” from Yoko Ono.  ”Goodbye Sadness” plays over home movies of her and John Lennon as well as footage of the memorial vigil on December 14, 1980; Yoko recites a poem during the instrumental break.
-Was this a way to plug the album?  The image of Lennon’s bloody glasses next to the half-full glass of water against the NYC skyline is the album cover for “Season Of Glass”
-There’s a shot of John and Yoko with the World Trade Center in the background (it looks like it was still being completed at the time it was filmed).  Kind of chilling in retrospect.
-The impact of the short may have been a lot bigger when it originally aired (less than a year after Lennon’s murder), but I’ve always felt the footage of the vigil being timed to the “Winter comes” line in the poem still is pretty moving.
**1/2. 

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: “YOUNG TURKS”

GOODNIGHTS
-The cast and Michael Davis stand at home base.  Over the closing theme, Mel Brandt announces that next week’s guests are Susan Saint James and Rickie Lee Jones (Jones backed out and was replaced by The Kinks before the show went to air).

FINAL THOUGHTS
A strong, if uneven, start to the new season.  The strongest material in this episode is easily much better than the strongest material in the season before, and one sketch in particular (“Prose and Cons” is now widely recognized as a classic Eddie Murphy piece.  The experimental format-breaking stuff was hit or miss: I did like the Strangers In The Night/Funeral Parlor 2-part sketch but the Warhol’s TV didn’t do much for me at all, and the Yoko film was a little out-of-place here.  SNL Newsbreak was also a weak spot in the show and unfortunately the Ebersol years were not known for particularly strong news segments.  It does still feel like a much more competent, confident show than what was being put on the season before.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
-Guest Performance: Michael Davis
-Prose and Cons
-Strangers In The Night
-The Little Richard Simmons Show
-Strangers In The Funeral Parlor

EPISODE LOWLIGHTS
-Andy Warhol’s TV
-most of SNL Newsbreak
-Nuns on Vacation

MVP
Eddie Murphy / Michael Davis

CAST / GUEST APPEARANCE BREAKDOWN
main cast
Robin Duke: 3 appearances  [Nuns on Vacation, Strangers In The Night, Strangers In The Funeral Parlor]
Christine Ebersole: 2 appearances [Strangers In The Funeral Parlor, Home Movies intro]
Mary Gross: 3 appearances [Nuns on Vacation,  SNL Newsbreak, Strangers in the Funeral Parlor]
Tim Kazurinsky:  2 appearances [Strangers In The Night, Strangers In The Funeral Parlor]
Eddie Murphy: 3 appearances [The Little Richard Simmons Show, Prose and Cons, SNL Newsbreak]
Joe Piscopo: 3 appearances [A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney, SNL Newsbreak, Strangers In The Funeral Parlor]
Tony Rosato:  1 appearance [Strangers In The Funeral Parlor]

featured players:
Brian Doyle-Murray: 1 appearance [SNL Newsbreak]

non-cast:
Yvonne Hudson: 1 appearance [The Little Richard Simmons Show]
Andy Murphy: 1 appearance [Strangers In The Funeral Parlor]

guests, cameos and filmed cameos:
Rod Stewart: 2 appearances
Tina Turner: 1 appearance
Michael Davis: 1 appearance
Andy Warhol: 1 appearance

REBROADCAST HISTORY:
December 26, 1981
July 10, 1982
Known alterations: Nuns on Vacation replaced with Sugar Breakfast (S07E04).

SNL Up Close: 1981-82

Lorne Michaels produced or executive produced all but five seasons of Saturday Night Live; the gap bridges the original “classic” five-year run of the show and the often lambasted but underrated 1985-86 season.  For various reasons these five seasons are relatively underrepresented in reruns and the assorted compilations Michaels’ production company has assembled over the years.  Aside from Eddie Murphy’s breakthrough sketches and the all-star cast of 1984-85 that included Billy Crystal, Martin Short and Christopher Guest, most of these shows have fallen into relative obscurity.

The 1981-82 season, while not considered a great year for the show, was a rebirth for SNL.  Taking over the show after Jean Doumanian produced twelve generally reviled episodes, NBC executive Dick Ebersol took over the show and actively sought Lorne Michaels’ blessing to continue; he also attempted to bring back as many original writers as he could to the show, although only succeeding in getting back Michael O’Donoghue (installed as a producer with Bob Tischler), Marilyn Suzanne Milller and Rosie Shuster.   Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo flourished even in the Doumanian shows and were kept to anchor a new cast.  Three new featured players were brought on board from Second City to replaced the fired Ann Risley, Gilbert Gottfried and Charles Rocket: from Toronto and late of SCTV, Tony Rosato and Robin Duke (an 11th-hour replacement after original pick Catherine O’Hara was scared off by O’Donoghue), and from Chicago, writer-performer Tim Kazurinsky.  A long writers’ strike after Ebersol’s first show in April 1981 meant he could fine-tune the show and make further changes, dropping two more Doumanian castmembers (Gail Matthius and Denny Dillon), adding Christine Ebersole and Mary Gross, as well as bumping writer Brian Doyle-Murray back into an onscreen role.

There were a lot of things unique to the 1981-82 season.  The practice of opening the show with “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” was stopped entirely, while announcer Don Pardo was fired in favor of the late NBC announcer Mel Brandt, the voice who announced that shows on NBC in the 60s were in living color.   Monologues were also done away with for the most part and replace with a “talent entrance”, the host posing with the entire cast on the main stage.  The show would revert back to its classic format the next season, hiring back Don Pardo and phasing the opening phrase back in.

I’m going to be posting reviews of episodes from this season in chronological order.   I see the season divided into three parts: the run where O’Donoghue was on board is the strongest part of the season, and after he was fired over the Christmas break there was a tremendous drop in quality.  The show did get a bit of its creative energy back after March, although it had become a blander, safer show than the original series.  The next season was more consistent in terms of quality and built upon this upsurge.

I’m going to try to get this all done before the next season starts.  It’ll be fun to rewatch the season.  Here is a tentative schedule (always subject to change):
July 3/4:
October 3, 1981: (no host) / Rod Stewart
October 10, 1981: Susan Saint James / The Kinks
July 10/11:
October 17, 1981: George Kennedy / Miles Davis
October 31, 1981: Donald Pleasance / Fear
July 17/18:
November 7, 1981: Lauren Hutton / Rick James & The Stone City Band
November 14, 1981: Bernadette Peters / Billy Joel, The Go-Gos
July 24/25:
December 5, 1981: Tim Curry / Meat Loaf
December 12, 1981: Bill Murray / The Spinners, 1982 Whiffenpoofs of Yale
August 14/15:
January 23, 1982: Robert Conrad / The Allman Brothers Band
January 30, 1982: John Madden / Jennifer Holliday
August 21/22:
February 6, 1982: James Coburn / Lindsey Buckingham & The Cholos
February 20, 1982: Bruce Dern / Luther Vandross
August 28/29:
February 27, 1982: Elizabeth Ashley / Daryl Hall & John Oates
March 20, 1982: Robert Urich / Mink DeVille
September 4/5:
March 27, 1982: Blythe Danner / Rickie Lee Jones
April 10, 1982: Daniel J. Travanti / John Cougar
September 11/12:
April 17, 1982: Johnny Cash / Elton John
April 24, 1982: Robert Culp / The Charlie Daniels Band
September 18/19:
May 15, 1982: Danny DeVito / Sparks
May 22, 1982: Olivia Newton-John

SNL Season 35: Final cast and episode summary

This is my last part in my series of posts about the 2009-2010 season of SNL.  If I blog about SNL any more during the summer hiatus I’m going to focus on earlier seasons and episodes.  I plan on doing reviews of an earlier season during the summer, but I wanted to give some final thoughts on the castmembers and the shows this year.  I’ve said before that the writing was the big problem on the show, but I wanted to get in depth on the individual castmembers’ performances this year.  I also wanted to highlight a few of the standout moments of this year, both good and bad.

The Cast

Fred Armisen: When they were hired on the show in 2002, Fred Armisen and Will Forte were the ones who usually ended up having the freshest, most offbeat material in a period of the show’s history where inspiration was sorely needed, the years between Will Ferrell’s departure and the hiring of Bill Hader, Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig.  I do still like Armisen a great deal but although he has had a lot of screen time this year, he hasn’t really done a whole lot that was particularly memorable.  He opened the show quite a bit as Barack Obama: most people call attention to the weakness of the impression, but there’s really not a whole lot with Obama that Fred can work with as a “hook” besides his speech cadences: he can’t turn it into a character like Carvey did with Bush Senior or Ferrell and Forte did with George W. Bush.  Combined with the fact that the impression is mainly used for dull-as-hell cold openings that are short on actual humor, it really seems like he could better be used elsewhere.  Other than Obama, he’s been doing the “improv game” characters on Weekend Update (Garth of Garth and Kat, inarticulate “satirist” Nicholas Fehn) as well as more run-of-the-mill characters that really don’t stand out on the level of his earlier, more eccentric contributions to the show.  He still has his moments (I did enjoy the Wedding Band sketch with Dave Grohl), but I know he’s capable of better.  C+.

Will Forte: Forte’s been with the show as long as Armisen, but he’s not getting the same amount of screentime, and we’re still getting some offbeat material from him: we got a few appearances from his creepy gravel-voiced Obama hater (now named Hamilton), the eponymous hero of MacGruber, and a new character in oblivious sportscaster Greg Stink.  What I really like about Forte is his absolute commitment to his characters, no matter how bizarre or inane: Jon Bovi actually works thanks to the performances of Forte and Jason Sudeikis.  Even this far into this tenure, he’s playing roles like the Closet Organizer (in one of the best commercial parodies of late) or the man who gets worked up when a job applicant steals a lone potato chip.  The peaks aren’t coming as frequently as they had before, but they’re still there.  B+.

Bill Hader: Now that Darrell Hammond is off the show, Hader is now the show’s resident male impressionist on the show, and this year he’s given us return appearances by Vincent Price and Robert Byrd as well as introducing new impressions for James Carville, Rod Serling, Richard Branson and Eddie Vedder, once again demonstrating his talent for impersonating a wide variety of different public figures.  Bill also seems to have inherited the Dan Aykroyd pitchman mantle.  Towards the end of the season he also started bringing back Stefon, a one-off character from last year, in a few well received Weekend Update commentaries.  My main complaint with him is that he does tend to break character a bit more than he used to (mainly in the Stefon and Scared Straight bits) but he’s still one of the best parts of the current cast.  A-.

Seth Meyers: Ever since he started on Weekend Update, Seth Meyers barely appears in the show, something also owing to his duties as head writer.  He’s been doing Update solo for a year and a half now; I do think he’s still had some strong moments, namely when there’s a little more anger and smugly sarcastic indignation in his ranting, but truth be told having a partner for him to bounce off of is when he works best.  Update was also a little too dependent on the guest commentaries, especially in the later half of the season.   B-

Andy Samberg: Samberg still is the cast’s resident go-to guy for just plain goofy material and one of the “faces” of the current cast, but the show seems to know when to use him as a performer and not just a personality.  In fact his presence seems almost muted this year compared to seasons before: Samberg spent a lot of time in the straightman roles this year.  The goofiness is still there but it seems more fine-tuned: he had an excellent night during the Ryan Reynolds show that ended with a silly backstage sketch involving him and Lady Gaga attempting to kiss while both wearing Gaga’s bubble outfit that makes such action impossible.  The digital shorts are still hit or miss but still decent: when they’re good they’re good, when they’re bad they’re just forgettable, but at least they’ve recovered from the dip in quality they took in early 2008.  B-

Jason Sudeikis: Sudeikis is the most solid, dependable castmember this season.  Equally at home playing straightmen, overconfident blowhards, the beleaguered or just plain silly characters, he had a few standouts this year: he easily steals “What Up With That” from Kenan Thompson with dance moves and a facial expression, and I always enjoy his Joe Biden.  Like Forte, Sudeikis has a firm commitment to the roles he plays, and it’s no surprised that the two work well in sketches together: watch “Potato Chip Thief” from the Blake Lively show for .  The writers brought back the ESPN Classic guys too many times but Sudeikis and Forte give good performances each time, and even an idea as dumb as the opposite band Jon Bovi works thanks to the performances of these two.  A.

Kenan Thompson: The former All That regular still can grate at times, and he does have a range only slightly bigger than Melanie Hutsell‘s, but I did find myself enjoying him a lot more than I have in seasons past.  I still think they need to get another black performer to do impressions that he is not suited for (like Tiger Woods), and I’m not really a big fan of his recurring material: Grady Wilson was funny as a one-off but it didn’t need to be brought back, and the same goes for “What Up With That“, while I never cared for “French” Def Jam comedian Jean K. Jean in the least.  The Scared Straight bits are more entertaining for seeing the host get into the action than Thompson’s character.  What Thompson does excel at is straightman roles, especially when it calls for his character to just glare back at the other person (his facial expressions are priceless), which is why his Whoopi Goldberg works so well.  The other thing he can do is get the quick, easy laugh a bit better than his castmembers: usually this involves him in drag but also he does have good delivery.  C

Kristen Wiig: If there’s a performer who’s being stretched too thin, it’s Kristen Wiig.  She is getting the most airtime and the most notice in the press out of anyone else in the cast, but since the show is lacking another full female castmember after Amy Poehler left, she seems to get first dibs on any significant female role.  I still think she does OK in supporting bits and impressions but I haven’t seen enough of those, instead just far too many sketches that are Kristen Wiig doing something annoying and everyone reacting to her; it’s always everyone reacting to her and not the other way around.  Critic Jaime Weinman feels that the weakness in Wiig’s characters is that they’re too obnoxious; I think the main issue is that it’s a steady diet with a dominant flavor.  Just like a little onion works in a sauce, a smaller dose of Wiig was welcome: this feels like a 30-day diet of raw onions with bland generic brand wheat crackers on the side.  D.

Abby Elliott: Her impressions are decent, if not a little too exaggerated.  She does a pretty wide variety of impressions as well, including a few older actresses, butch lesbians and even an androgynous-looking male athlete; some are better than others, and for every Sally Field or Anna Faris, she nails, there are a few that are weaker like Rachel Maddow (good at the mannerisms, but the voice needed work).   The main issue is that we haven’t really seen her do much else besides impressions: the majority of her non-impression roles are bit parts, and even then she has fairly limited screentime.  She runs the risk of being a female Darrell Hammond, who by the end of his tenure was basically doing cameo appearances in one sketch per night just for an impression, and even though she does get some noticed due to the impressions, she may not have made a big enough splash on the show to justify a third season.  C+.

Bobby Moynihan: In his second year, Bobby Moynihan has made a strong impression on the show and it seems almost certain he will be promoted to the main cast for the next season.  Of the featured players in the last few years, he just seems the most natural and at ease in sketches, and gels with the cast well.  There’s a confidence in his performances that makes it seem like he’s already a full castmember, and he also has a considerable amount of charm and likeability that makes him appealing to watch even in small parts.  Of his appearances this year I would probably rank his work as the thing on the airplane wing in the Twilight Zone sketch, his ICP spoof character Ass Dan, and his brief appearance as Susan Boyle as the best, and I’m curious as to what he’ll contribute next season.  A.

Nasim Pedrad: I was having a little trouble distinguishing Pedrad and Slate at the beginning of the season because of some similarities in appearance (the way I finally distinguished the two is that Nasim is a little shorter and Jenny has a distinctively shaped nose), but Nasim has distingished herself from Slate with a couple of strong performances, especially in a Weekend Update performance in her second full show as “Mrs. Ahmadinejad“.  She also debuted a number of characters with potential that hopefully won’t be completely undermined with the show’s weak writing, such as Ravish and Bedelia, as well as a decent arsenal of impressions.  B+.

Jenny Slate: Poor Jenny Slate.  She was getting a bit more buzz going into the season than her fellow rookie Nasim Pedrad on the strength of her live show, but her first showcase sketch had to be the one with all the “frickin’s” in it; Slate slipped and said “fuck”.  After that, she was lucky to appear in a single sketch on some episodes and only in the last half of the season has been getting more steady screentime.  Unfortunately, the loss of on-screen experience also meant she wasn’t integrating as well into the show and for months after still had very awkward delivery and presence, at one time even reading too far on the cue card.  If she is brought back for a second year I do hope she gets a better outlet for her talent than the “What’s Up With That” singer or doorbell hawker Tina-Tina Chanuse.  Some castmembers like Tracy Morgan languished a few years before finding their voice on the show, so there’s still hope.  I have seen some improvement toward the end of the year, but she needs to find a way to distinguish herself.  D+.

Strongest Shows
John Hamm / Michael Buble: Hamm was one of the most pleasant surprises of the 2008-09 season, and his return gig last January didn’t disappoint and demonstrated that they may have a new frequent host a la Alec Baldwin.  A bit more solid than White, including probably the best callback to a sketch aired earlier in the same show in years: Forte’s Closet Organizer guy was the main character in a bar sketch.
Betty White / Jay-Z: The most hyped episode in years thanks to a Facebook campaign, White demonstrated she still has her comic touch, while a half-dozen female alumni make welcome return appearances, including the much-missed Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer.    
Joseph Gordon-Levitt / Dave Matthews Band: Coming off one of SNL’s most notoriously bad weeks in recent memory (January Jones), it was good to have a host so game and energetic as the (500 Days of) Summer star, especially during the “Make ‘Em Laugh” performance during the monologue, with other great moments like the completely left-field bit with Kenan Thompson as Reba McEntire, and Dave Matthews doing a pretty good Ozzy Osbourne.

Weakest Shows
January Jones / Black Eyed Peas: Jones has got to be one of the all-time worst actor hosts the show has ever had, with a performance reminiscent of Nancy Kerrigan in 1994; at one point while on air, she actually asked which camera to look into.  Uninspired writing didn’t help either, and this became one of the most widely panned SNLs in recent history.
Ryan Phillipe / Ke$ha: A heavy amount of recurring material only demonstrated how bad the writers’ lack of originality this season had gotten, especially considering one sketch was done three and a half years before with a largely different cast.  Only the spoof of the Insane Clown Posse’s “Miracles” video saved this from being worst of the season.
Taylor Lautner / Bon Jovi: A night of not particularly funny material, including another unnecessary reprise of Kristen Wiig’s “Surprise” sketch and a tepid at best sketch with Lautner in drag as a Twilight fangirl.  When the show leads off with a sketch about stupid facial expressions, you’re in for a long night.

Best Sketches
The Sarah Palin Network (Tina Fey): Another gleeful jab at the candidate continuing the Republican tradition of unqualified candidates that Dan Quayle and George W. Bush were a part of, with a few well done shots at the Tea Partiers and Jay Leno to boot.
Potato Chip Thief (Blake Lively): One of the silliest, most ridiculous sketches in years, where NASA prospect Jason Sudeikis (who looks more like a plantation owner) jeopardizes his chances of becoming an astronaut by taking one of recruiter Will Forte’s 35 potato chips.
The Census (Betty White): In a sequel of sorts to the classic 2000 Christopher Walken census sketch, Tina Fey goes to the door of one Lee Smith, pronounced “Blaarfingaar Blaarfingaar”.

Worst Sketches
Rear Window (January Jones): Grace Kelly has gas.  That’s the entire point of the sketch.
Snipers (Alec Baldwin): Alec Baldwin half enunciates “tay duh sha!” to his students over and over, as he rolls around.
Riley (Sigourney Weaver): An abortive attempt to give Fred Armisen his own character with a theme song and catchphrase a la Wiig’s Gilly.

Best Musical Guests
MGMT: More than making up for the prior two weeks with Justin Bieber and Ke$ha, we got treated to some trippy psychedelic pop with their two songs in April.
Lady Gaga: Sure, she’s gimmicky, but she has demonstrated actual musical ability behind her radio-friendly hits and attention-getting outfits.  The second number that had her stop everything for a solo piano performance (all while dressed as Saturn) was perhaps the most interesting music performance in years.
Jay-Z: I admit I’m not a big rap fan but for some reason his epic 7-minute medley concluding with “New York State Of Mind” fit perfectly into the Betty White episode.

Worst Musical Guests
Ke$ha: Think of a half-assed Lady Gaga impersonator that looks more like John Travolta, add more gimmicks like dressing your band up like astronauts or wearing day-glo body paint, and you get her performances.
Black Eyed Peas: The most apt description of their act comes from a message board post that described it as “a bunch of club going yuppies that somehow snuck onto stage to do bad karaoke”.  The fact that they were given three performances demonstrates just how desperate they were to fill the January Jones show.
Bon Jovi: Their performances were so leaden, sounding like bloated 80′s arena rock with all the joy sucked out of it.

SNL 35.22 Alec Baldwin (and season 35) post-mortem

Last week, I presented the possibility that the SNL cast and writers would have used up all their energy on the Betty White show.  This week seems to have confirmed that theory, with an episode not only underwhelming by Alec Baldwin’s usually high standards but for a season finale in general.

Other than a half-hearted nod to the Alec Baldwin-Steve Martin hosting record rivalry in the monologue, it was a pretty forgettable show, and they might as well had someone else show up as the host.  The cold opening (thankfully not another Obama address) was mercifully brief, as was the swim coach sketch.  Nasim Pedrad’s Bedelia character from the Tina Fey show returned with largely the same formula as the first sketch (substitute father for mother and birthday party for school dance), while Kristen Wiig debuted the latest in a series of escalatingly irritating assortments of tics no later than the lead off live sketch after the monologue.  Abby Elliott and Jenny Slate made one final stab each at making an impact this season: Elliott did a decent impression of Sally Field in a fake osteoporosis commercial, while Slate costarred with Baldwin in a TCM “tart with a heart”  movie with a handjob punchline.  Andy Samberg’s Digital Shorts and Kenan Thompson’s bedroom moves guy made their requisite appearances while Will Forte barely appeared all night.

The one sketch I thought was a standout was the Timecrowave infomercial, tucked in after Weekend Update.  The whole idea of time travel affecting the future is an old one, but it was executed quite well with the camera switches revealing each increasingly silly change.  Unfortunately, it really did seem most of the show was an afterthought, and easily Baldwin’s weakest episode.  Considering that last year’s finale with Will Ferrell ended that season on a strong note, this half-assed show only confirmed that unless they make a concerted effort (like with a big-ticket host like White), even a host with a track record like Baldwin’s can’t rise above the material they’re putting out.  I don’t know if they were expecting that Baldwin’s presence alone could elevate mediocre material (to be fair, he did help somewhat) or if it was just exhaustion on everyone’s part, but either way the finale was another letdown in a season full of them.

Which brings me to this season overall.  As I said in my prior rant, the writing is the show’s biggest liability.  The writing staff is so overstuffed right now, with a count of 28 different people in the credits (including writers who weren’t on staff the whole season as well as Lorne Michaels, whose credit is more of a figurehead thing).  I can’t lay blame on individual writers without knowing who specifically wrote what but the competition to get the material on the show must be pretty intense, and I can see where an over-reliance on a specific cast member or recurring material may be the crutch a writer uses to get past the read-through and rehearsals.  Kristen Wiig actually said herself in an interview that a character she didn’t think was that good (Trina, the apparently slow woman who keeps calling out “Thomas!” in a high-pitched sing-song voice) made it on a second time because the writers simply wrote another one.  I’ve also said I give Fred Armisen’s not particularly strong Obama impression a pass before: the main thing is that they’re using it for deathly dull cold openings that are light on actual humor.  When discussing the show with a friend, he surmised that the writers have forgotten about the middle ground between ridiculously stupid, lightweight material (like Trina) and sketches too smart for their own good (like the Obama openings), as if silliness or intelligence carried sketches on their own without being paired with funny material.

I also wonder about the level of control the network has over the show.  The last time the show was this heavy on recurring material was in the mid-90s, when the network suits were really hands-on with the show (firing Norm Macdonald, reducing the music element to one performance after Weekend Update).  As much as I would like to find another reason to dislike Jeff Zucker (especially after the whole Tonight Show mess), I really can’t say for sure if the show’s decline in quality is related to network interference, or if it’s just something that’s strictly internal to the show itself.

Either way, I don’t have particularly high hopes for the next season.  But I still have that faint hope that the show will prove me wrong.

I am still working on a post that ranks the individual castmembers and shows specifically, and will post that sometime in the near future.

SNL 35.21 Betty White- Post-mortem

With only two shows left this year, SNL booked some heavy hitters for May sweeps with Betty White and Jay-Z booked for the May 8th shows and frequent host Alec Baldwin paired with frequent musical guest Tom Petty for the season finale on May 15th.  The Betty White show has to be one of the most hyped episodes in the series’ 35 year history.  This was the first time that SNL booked someone requested by a Facebook campaign: of course, Betty White is a universally recognized and beloved TV legend so that helped the movement gain momentum.  As well, six female SNL alumni were on hand, ostensibly to take the load off the 88-year-old White.  The anticipation for this episode was so great that NBC even began promoting it in the middle of the Gabourey Sidibe show on April 24.

But how was it?  I posted a few weeks ago that this season was a disappointment.  The Sidibe episode that aired the week after I made the post was another fairly unremarkable show with a lot of recurring material, but Gabourey was game despite her inexperience being evident on air.  In essence, a typical SNL for season 35.  White’s episode, though, wasn’t really supposed to be a typical show like Sidibe’s, as it was treated like a “special” episode for Mothers Day, and the returning alumni had stockpiles of characters and sketches.  Recurring material seemed likely anyway: this was a show for the casual viewer, and if they can bring back a few recognizable sketches it would help the hit-to-miss ratio.  It kind of reminds me of the time in 1984 when Ringo Starr hosted and halfway through the week the exhausted staff scrapped all the material and decided to do a show based around recurring sketches to avoid giving a Beatle a weak show.

As expected, the show was pretty heavy on recurring material.  Some of it was nice to see again, specifically Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon’s “Delicious Dish” radio hosts, doing a distaff variation on Alec Baldwin’s “Schwedde Balls” routine with Betty talking about her “muffin”.  From the current season’s stable, Kenan Thompson’s “Scared Straight” inmate, Will Forte’s MacGruber and Kristen Wiig’s deformed Lawrence Welk singer Dooneese made return appearances.  They also needlessly brought back a one-joke sketch from December called “The Manual Ortiz Show,” and the last sketch seemed to be a sequel of sorts to Fey’s classic 2000 Christopher Walken census sketch.

The important difference was Betty White.  She did seem a little shaky at first, but as the show went on she started to get on a roll; not only was she at ease doing the show, she positively THRIVED, making laughter come as naturally as she has been for 60 years.  This was surprising because all expectations were for her to be on reduced duty and let Fey, Poehler et al. have their own moments in the spotlight, but surprisingly she was in the entire show, from the cold opening to Weekend Update to the hilarious Digital Short (easily the best moment of the night, with it’s mixture of sweet sentiment and manic insanity).  A lot of the material was based on “old lady saying dirty/shocking things”; it seemed to be a little bit of a crutch but Betty White has this bawdiness and devilishness to her, mixed with sheer professionalism and an ability to sell the material that helped pull off what would have fallen flat with a less sure comic performer.  It was definitely a feel good show: you could see Betty bask in the applause in her first appearance in the cold opening, and the sheer reverence everyone in the cast had for her was apparent throughout.

Next weekend’s show is the season finale.  With Alec Baldwin, they usually write an “event” show for him, and I’m glad to say that they’ve finally realized the importance of having a good lineup for the last show of the season.  Unfortunately, as good a host as Baldwin is, there have been a few episodes of his that were definitely underwhelming (I’m talking about the one from February 1994 he co-hosted with then-wife Kim Basinger, and the November 2003 show from a particularly uninspired patch in the show’s history).  There’s always the chance that they used up their energy with this week’s show and they’ll coast for the finale, another trend from several seasons past.  It remains to be seen if the finale will leave me excited for the upcoming year (like last seasons’) or hoping for big changes (like too many other seasons before).

SNL Season 35: What’s Wrong?

The current SNL season is almost finished, and by and large it’s been a disappointment.  It’s not quite at the point it was in the infamously bad seasons (1980-81, 1994-95), but after coming off a particularly strong 2008-09 season (buoyed in part by Tina Fey’s cameo appearances as Sarah Palin), the drop in quality is still noticeable and if things don’t get fixed soon, it’s going to get worse.

The biggest changes in the makeup of the show over the last summer were the departure of longtime castmember Darrell Hammond (who made several cameos this season anyway) and the replacement of two of last year’s featured players, Michaela Watkins and Casey Wilson.  Hammond, the last remaining member of the 1995-96 “comeback” cast was long expected to leave for years but kept sticking around to do his customary one impression per episode.  It always seemed surprising that he would continue to be back every fall, shattering previous castmember longevity records each season he was on; it was even more jarring when the show’s opening montage no longer featured him.  Of the featured players, Casey Wilson seemed most likely to be replaced either way; I did think she had solid comedy chops and was a refreshingly different presence on the show, but she never really got many significant roles in her 30 show tenure.  Michaela Watkins, though, was a surprise: with two recurring bits (Bitch Pleeze and Today Show) in not even a full season, she seemed all but certain to be back for next year.  Despite the outcry on several SNL message boards and rumors that their dismissal may not have been entirely based on performance, both are now part of a growing list of castmembers who didn’t necessarily reach their full potential on the show.

Watkins and Wilson were replaced by Jenny Slate and Nasim Pedrad.  The petite Pedrad had a relatively strong first season, doing a number several spotlight sketches and Weekend Update commentaries.  Slate had a rougher year, owing partially to the incident on the season opener where she accidentally uttered “fuckin’” instead of ”freakin’”, and hasn’t been getting a lot of airtime, let alone chances for a breakout.  It didn’t help that for the first part of the season Slate had this obvious awkwardness  and discomfort whenever she was on camera (again, probably due to the premiere incident).  Last year’s sole returning female featured player, Abby Elliott, has been getting a few impressions on the show, including a particularly ill-timed take on Brittany Murphy, but has yet to carry a sketch on her own.

The three featured females have been overshadowed by Kristen Wiig, the alpha female and breakout star of SNL’s last few years.  Wiig has been getting a good deal of coverage as the new face of SNL, but like a lot of other times SNL’s reaction to a bit of positive notice is to milk it for all its worth: Wiig has been front and centre on SNL, especially now that Amy Poehler is off the show.  By default, all the significant female roles in sketches go to Wiig, to the point of overexposure.  As well, a lot of  her more recent recurring characters, such as psychopathic schoolgirl Gilly and dimbulb Trina, are not that strong and could be seen as Wiig-for-Wiig’s-sake.  It reminds me of how when Jimmy Fallon star power rose after he hosted the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, there were a lot more bad, directionless sketches with him and Horatio Sanz such as the aquarium repairmen or the interminable 8-minute Saddam and Osama.

As much as Wiig’s dominance is a problem, it’s the writing that’s been the weakest part for years.   Before the season began, the overstuffed writing roster added a number of new members, but instead of fresh ideas, the writing seems even more stale and uninspired than ever.  This season in particular has been the year of the pointlessly recurring character: chances are that if a sketch in an episode isn’t a recurring one yet, you’re going to see it again later this year.  The most egregious examples are the Kenan Thompson rave-up What Up With That and the ESPN Classic Ladysports featuring Jason Sudeikis and Will Forte; the latter sketch appeared 5 times over the past 19 episodes.  Recurring characters have been an integral part of the show since its inception, but it seems that they no longer have the ability to keep recurring sketches fresh for even the second appearances: sketches that had been done on the show one time before are dug out, revised slightly to change some of the variables, and acted out again (the Hip Hop Kids from last weekend’s show with Ryan Phillippe last showed up as a one-off from the 2006 Justin Timberlake episode).

It really is a shame the writing is so bad, because I find a lot to like in the current cast.  Bill Hader, Fred Armisen and Will Forte are solid castmembers and have this ability to commit to whatever character they play, no matter how outlandish or ridiculous the situation (I’m giving Armisen a pass for his Obama; he doesn’t really have too much of a “hook” as President).  I’m also getting a big kick out of Jason Sudeikis, the show’s utility guy who is usually at his best whenever his character has a big ridiculous grin on his face.   Featured player Bobby Moynihan continues to impress me and deserves to be bumped up to the main cast.  Seth Meyers’ Weekend Update has a little hint of Norm MacDonald’s much missed crankiness.  Kenan Thompson, arguably the main cast’s weakest link, is a decent straight man and usually the show’s “quick laugh” guy when he’s not doing impressions he should have no business doing (particularly O.J. Simpson, Tiger Woods, and Flavor Flav).  And even though the producers started shoving Wiig down the audiences’ throats, she still does have her strong moments like before, though less wheat than chaff these days.

As for the individual episodes, it’s been hit-and-miss, but with fewer true highlights than past seasons, a number of decent to strong shows, more than their share of middling outings and at least one outright stinker on a level not seen in years.  Jon Hamm of Mad Men delivered a knockout episode the second season in a row, and first-timer Joseph Gordon-Levitt brought much-needed energy to the show in November, but this year also brought disappointing outings from Tina Fey and Zach Galifianakis (the latter’s show possibly the biggest letdown in years), and a depressing trainwreck hosted by January Jones, a host on the level of Nancy Kerrigan and Harry Dean Stanton in terms of sketch comedy ability (at one point she audibly asks “Which camera?”).  The booking strategy seems to be a lot blander than in years past: besides Betty White (the first host booked due to a Facebook petition), we got barely relevant former hosts like Charles Barkley and Jennifer Lopez and utterly predictable choices in Megan Fox and Taylor Lautner.  Unfortunately, this has extended to the musical guest bookings: I have really enjoyed some of the guests they’ve had over the last few seasons (including Fleet Foxes and Arcade Fire), but the show’s been getting back to the short-lived one-hit-wonder novelty act booking it was guilty of from the late 90s through the earlier part of the decade, particularly in the last two weeks with Justin Bieber and Ke$ha.

For the most part this year has actually had at least one funny sketch per show.  But the cracks are visible and unless something changes over the summer, next year could have the makings of another bad year on the level of 1994-95, when the show could no longer successfully navigate the line that divides the uninspired and the terrible.

SNL 35.1 Megan Fox / U2 post-mortem.

I thought I’d do something different for my SNL reviews this season; rather than do a sketch by sketch analysis, I thought I’d just to a shorter summation of my impressions of last night’s show.  Tonight was the season premiere of the first season following renewed notice in the 35-year-old show, which was thanks in part to Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin impression.  Although they didn’t quite sustain the momentum from the pre-election shows, last season was the most solidly enjoyable year since Will Ferrell left in 2002.

This, plus the two teaser Weekend Update Thursdays that ran so far this season did put a bit of a build up on the season premiere.  During the summer, the news broke about two featured players being fired (the horribly misused Casey Wilson and the solid Michaela Watkins) and being replaced with two new females, Jenny Slate and Nasim Pedrad; as well as speculation that Darrell Hammond and Don Pardo were both gone.  As well, SNL continued with its tradition of booking a not particularly promising host for the season opener by selecting bargain-basement-Angelina Jolie Megan Fox to kick off the year; they did try to compensate by pairing her up with musical guest U2, whose previous two appearances provided the show with instantly memorable moments like Bono spontaneously running around the studio and reducing some of the female SNL cast to tears.

The show was particularly weak.  Pardo was back but Hammond was gone.  There was one particularly notable moment (which I’ll get to later), but overall the writing wasn’t there (aside from Weekend Update).  Megan Fox wasn’t absolutely terrible as anticipated (she was at least better than Michael Phelps), but she wasn’t another Anne Hathaway: she did not add anything to the sketches she was in and did not really seem to have an innate comic sensibility or even much of a game-for-anything vibe that less funny hosts have been able to coast by on.  The phone chat and Grady Wilson sketches were the biggest laughs of the night (maybe Transformers too, cheap as it was), but the sketches about the airplane and the Russian bride didn’t go anywhere, and they found it necessary to dilute an otherwise strong WU with an appearance by Kenan Thompson’s awful Jean K. Jean character: it wasn’t funny the first time and it wasn’t funny the 43 times they’ve done it in the following 18 months.   Even U2 was somewhat underwhelming: aside from a big video screen and Bono swinging a bit on his microphone for “Ultraviolet” (a song almost 20 years old) during the goodnights, it was a pretty laconic performance.

I’ve learned long ago that the season premiere of SNL is usually not one of the stronger shows of the season.  What this show is going to be remembered for, though, is the mistake that happened at about 12:40 am in the otherwise unmemorable Biker Chick Chat, a showcase for new featured player Jenny Slate.  The main gimmick of the sketch was the constant use of the euphemism “frickin’”, but when you have a word that’s clearly intended to be in place of another one you can’t say on network TV multiple times, combined with someone new to live network television, something’s bound to happen.  And that’s precisely what happened.

This is not the first time an f-bomb was dropped on SNL, as three cast members and a number of musical guests already broke that taboo long before.  It was also a clear accident and not premeditated.  What makes this notable, though, is that this is Slate’s first SNL, and despite appearing a few times last night, Biker Chick Chat was her first speaking role, let alone first sketch where she played the lead.  There is speculation on the internet about whether this spells the end of her SNL tenure (if fired immediately, she would be tied with Laurie Metcalf and Emily Prager for shortest SNL stint) but if they make a huge outcry over the accidental use of a four letter word that has been said on network TV before, and after midnight to boot, the self-appointed guardians of morality really need to get over themselves.  I’d be more concerned that Lady Gaga will try to outdo her on the October 3 show by changing every other word in her song to the c-word and then marking the 17th anniversary of the Sinead O’Connor incident by shaving her head and tearing up pictures of popes.

SNL: Live vs. Rerun

There are a number of reasons why I’m a SNL fan, including an appreciation for sketch comedy in general as well as the massive cultural impact the show has had over the past 35 years.  It can be hit or miss, and some seasons are definitely more ‘miss’, but when the show is running at its peak in terms of cast, writing, and cultural relevance, it’s really something.

One thing about the show that fascinates me is that a rerun of a show that plays either on the network or on cable may not necessarily be the stuff everyone was doing from 11:30 pm to 1:00 am ET the night of the original show.   When I was building up my collection I noticed that the sketch rundowns of the show I was taping off the Comedy Network didn’t quite match the order listed on the episode guide; often sketches would be shuffled around and, on occasion, something would be dropped in favour of either a sketch from another show or material that never made it to a live broadcast.   On these shows you could see a disclaimer run at the very beginning:

the SNL "encore presentation" disclaimer

Most of the reruns I taped were pretty representative of the original show that aired, but when there was a big omission in the show, it could get pretty annoying.  There are still a few holes in my collection that I haven’t been able to fill just because the rerun versions are so much easier to come by: by default, any episode aired after the live air date is the rerun version unless none exists (usually the weak and controversial shows would fall into this category).  

Older reruns sometimes substituted bits for segments from other shows: a lot of material added to a rerun also appeared in a show without the rerun disclaimer, which usually meant the show was not repeated on NBC.  Later episodes were a little more unusual: the content replacing what was cut didn’t seem to be from any other episode.  Sometimes it would be a live sketch done in the studio with the same host and cast, sometimes it would be a short film or commercial.  One of these bits was actually the Roberto Benigni segment of Jim Jarmusch’s “Coffee and Cigarettes”.

The reruns from the last 25 years or so (from the point where Lorne Michaels returned to the show after his five-year hiatus) have some more subtle changes.   Fans with sharper eyes and ears than mine had mentioned in various places online how the reruns sometimes replaced sketches from the live shows with performances from dress rehearsal.  The differences were usually very minor, not really noticable unless you made a point to look for them or if they made the change to remove something offensive.  I did notice, though, the clock on the main stage with no other purpose but to show the time in the studio would sometimes be visiblly showing it was a point earlier during the evening during monologues and musical guest introductions.  From what I’m guessing, the strategy is to make the best possible rerun: if something went better in dress, then that’s what they’ll use.  As well, because a new episode of SNL is live, it’s more prone to technical screw-ups, miscues, and awkward “dead seconds”; reruns give a chance to fix some of that.  The audio is also remixed a bit for the rerun airings, which includes a faint bit of ‘sweetening’ to the audience response (just a few extra laughs mixed in).

I’d heard of all these things from different sources and noticed a few things here and there when I watched reruns of shows I’d seen when they aired live, but it didn’t come together until the night when I finally saw a recording of the live broadcast of the first show of 1985-86 hosted by Madonna.   This episode is probably the most extensively edited SNL rerun; the most well-known change being that ALL reruns remove the cold opening about Brandon Tartikoff getting urine samples from the cast for drug testing, giving the impression that the show just went straight into the opening montage.  Other changes include a second Simple Minds musical performance added to the later part of the show, the replacement of the original Sarah Charlesworth “collage” opening montage with the filmed “limo ride” used from the fifth show of the season on (as well as all bumpers to keep consistent), dead seconds removed, hot mics were fixed, the Weekend Update title card was changed to the one used for the rest of the season, and Don Pardo’s line “Two Junkies be located…” in a commercial parody was removed (probably for the same reason the drug testing had to be taken out).

Original bumper from live broadcast of Madonna episode

The thing about that show that really brought everything together was the opening seconds of the Weekend Update segment for that show.  Usually when the bit starts and Pardo announced “Weekend Update with Dennis Miller”, the audience would cheer and applaud.  On this first show, though, there is absolutely NO response.  Miller actually sarcastically quips, “Thank you, Don Pardo, for whipping them up into a frenzy”.  I didn’t remember the audience being dead when I saw the episode before so I checked my recording from Classic SNL, and sure enough, there was the cheers and applause (and Miller’s comment was left in, dethorned by the editing).   It became clear to me how much of a do-over the rerun really is. 

Bumper from rerun of Madonna episode

What’s better?  The rerun version seems to be the final product judging by how prevalent they are, and how everything is done to ensure that they end up with the strongest product.  But part of the show’s title is that it’s live: it’s still live in a sense that the sketches were performed in front of a studio audience, but a lot of what’s done to the rerun is essentially cheating.  Part of the appeal of watching the live broadcast is that anything can happen.  Something may not go right.  Actors may break character.  Somebody might drop a “shit” or “fuck” or tear up a picture of the Pope.  You lose the unexpected aspect with a rerun anyway, but the extra editing only takes it further away from “live”.

Coming soon: a list of ten notable segments removed in SNL reruns.

Restatement of Purpose

I apologize for not updating this blog in a while.  I’ve had a few topics I have saved drafts of, and do intend to finish soon.  I’ll be a little more prolific in my posting shortly, but I figure I’d like to run by a few ideas I have for this site:

-I will be completing  a list of my top 75 albums of all time.   I was inspired to complete this by reading a similar list by Melanie.
-Several regular features will be the Soapbox, a forum for me to rant about certain aspects of the entertainment industry; Underrated Song Corner, a place to expose people to songs I feel have been criminally overlooked; and Tens, a top ten list about random pop culture related topics.
-I did begin an abortive attempt to do a review of the week’s live SNL episode: unfortunately, I got derailed when I was out of town for the Zac Efron episode.  I’ll be starting that in earnest next season, but I’ll also be filling the space between with reviews of selected older shows every week the show’s on a break.  As well, every month, I will be doing a spotlight on a particular season of the show. 
-I will also be doing a rewatch series where I go through a show and review episodes in order on a weekly basis.  I still haven’t decided which shows to do yet but I will do several over the course of a week.

I will fill this blog here with more content as the weeks go on, but if there’s anything in the “real” world which prevents me from getting an update done (aside from a lack of motivation), I’ll update as quickly as possible.

SNL 34.19: Seth Rogen / Phoenix

Obama from Europe
Fred’s voice is still too high for Obama but I don’t mind him doing the impression.  This does seem to have Jim Downey’s fingerprints all over it, from the gentle criticism of government interference to the length of the piece; the decisions about different industries stretched a little long despite a few funny bits.

Monologue
Seth is pretty natural on the SNL stage and I like that they admitted the “Questions from audience” monologues are basically lazy writing; things improved once Bill and Bobby showed up.

The Fast and the Bi-Curious
Another homoerotic Andy Samberg bit.  It would have worked better as a blackout-type gag, but I have to say this movie makes more sense than “Fast and Furious” will ever be.

Save The Papers
Using the same formula as the Broadway crisis sketch, right down to Jason as the slightly annoyed straightman and the repeat of the racism joke (come on, Kenan was playing THE EXACT SAME CHARACTER).  They at least kept things fresh in a few places.

Vinny Vedecci
Bill Hader always manages to provide at least one moment of brilliance in these sketches; the question “You are in movies: why?” would be that.  Nice to see there’s more use of the spaghetti eating producers.  The bit with Bobby had a bit less impact this time because I already knew what to expect from the John Malkovich Vedecci; same structure with the setup and payoff, even though Bear Man was a funny joke.

Digital Short: Like a Boss
Some bizarre funny moments, nothing great.  It felt like Lonely-Island-by-numbers.

Cell Voices
Once they moved from the guys sounding all whipped on the phone with their girlfriends this moved ahead.  The pacing really helped with this one as they had to keep moving forward with the different people answering the phone in different voices; they didn’t linger to long on the calls or the concept itself.  Decent ending.

“Lizstomania”- Phoenix
Interesting song and above average presentation. 

Weekend Update
Seth has really got some snark on with the J Crew/Chrysler thing and the whole Queen/Obama gift exchange…I haven’t seen as much bite to WU in years.  Jason returns as Rod Blagojevich; like Fred’s David Patterson the impression works because of the attitude the performer cops.  Not thrilled about another Jean K. Jean bit; Kenan’s role on the show is basically there to get a quick laugh and a bit of audience recognition but there’s not much that’s actually funny about the character.  Liked Kristen’s Madonna impression and while I had a feeling they would bring Abby’s Angelina Jolie back again, it got delightfully ridiculous; loved Angelina usurping Seth’s line. 

The Project
A bit underwritten but it was good to see the humor come from the reaction shots rather than lines or catchphrases.  Did not care for the ending.

Milestone High
Didn’t really go anywhere; it seemed to peter out after reveal that the basketball metaphor backfired and then degenerated into random stupidity references cobbled together 2006-07 style.

Bachlaratt and Snad
A retread of last year’s sketch with Jonah Hill but Seth’s producer character works better than Jonah’s because he isn’t breaking character.  Kristen and Will are the only two that can sell material this ridiculous and I’ll admit the randomness isn’t working as well as last time but there are a few good twists into the songs; they seem to get a lot of mileage out of random combinations of toddlers, jars of beer, model Ts and spaceships.  Unlike the last sketch the randomness works because of the absurdity involved; I would like to see them come up with four other things to combine though so it wouldn’t be as blatant a retread.

“1901″- Phoenix
Good song, good performance, particularly the energetic drumming.  Liked the touch at the end with the band all facing the drummer.

Muppet Bus
Another retread but this was welcome and seemed to have more of a direction than the Rowlf and the Swedish Chef bit from the last Rogen show.  Part of the fun was seeing the cast’s Muppet wigs/outfits; I particularly enjoyed the incredibly low-rent Kermit outfit they had Will Forte wear and the visual of Zoot holding the smoking gun with the deadpan expression just *works*.

“Too Young”- Phoenix
This is the most bizarre choice for an end-of-show music performance; at least with Coldplay and U2 there was an epic sweep to the music and it felt more like an “event”, and while Bon Jovi was a band that definitely didn’t deserve to play over the credits, it was understandable that they would try to treat it like they were a big stunt (maybe for 1986, but 2007?).  Kudos for giving a lesser known band the chance.

Impressions
Decent episode overall but marred by an overreliance on retreads.  Seth Rogen I don’t mind having as a repeat host because he does show decent chemistry with the cast; there were a few weaker sketches tonight but most of that was writing issues, not performance.