Saturday Night Live

I have seen several people including EW advocate for Mulaney since his pilot wasn't picked up and he is getting a bit of buzz.

Yeah, Mulaney's an interesting idea. I'd still like to see a two person team, though, if the chemistry is right.

I think a duo is a better idea. Seth did well by himself eventually, but I also hope a duo would cut down on the number of character bits, most of which (Stefon excluded) are excruciating.

I thought tonight was a waste of Ben Affleck and largely tremendously unfunny and boring. Only the opening Iran sketch was funny. And I wasn't sitting close enough to the tv to recognize any of the people singing that last song/bit/boring whatever the hell that was. So not going to miss Armisen.

I wasn't sitting close enough to the tv to recognize any of the people singing that last song/bit/boring

I found it lovely and I wasn't sitting too close to the tv but recognized Fred, Bill, Taran, and Jason on drums (which I found particularly lovely because he tells the story that the lack of drum skills kept him from his lifetime dream of joining the Blue Man Group!/no irony or sarcasm) plus Carrie Brownstein, Aimee Mann, Michael Penn, Kim Gordon, Steve Jones and J. Mascis, but than I have grew up loving the Sex Pistols, Sleator-Kinney, Sonic Youth, and even Dinasour Jr. Why yes I am a Seattle born child who came of age with the Music of the 90s! ( and the sex pistols)!

I am not even a huge Kristen fan but her farewell would be hard to top in a few years much year just one year later, though it would have been a nice touch if Loren was in the band!

Stefon should have stayed and married Anderson and I fast forwarded it but Amy, Ben and no Boston sketch?!?

Also no one last Vincent Price skit!

I found the monologue with Jen so forced! There was no second beat to it and as Checkov said (i might be paraphasing) but if you mention Matt Damon in the monologue he should appear later!

biakbiak wrote:

I wasn't sitting close enough to the tv to recognize any of the people singing that last song/bit/boring

I found it lovely and I wasn't sitting too close to the tv but recognized Fred, Bill, Taran, and Jason on drums (which I found particularly lovely because he tells the story that the lack of drum skills kept him from his lifetime dream of joining the Blue Man Group!/no irony or sarcasm) plus Carrie Brownstein, Aimee Mann, Michael Penn, Kim Gordon, Steve Jones and J. Mascis, but than I have grew up loving the Sex Pistols, Sleator-Kinney, Sonic Youth, and even Dinasour Jr. Why yes I am a Seattle born child who came of age with the Music of the 90s! ( and the sex pistols)!

Ah, okay, thanks. I don't recognize (any) musicians unless they have a massive media presence/reality show/mugshot etc.

I found the monologue with Jen so forced! There was no second beat to it and as Checkov said (i might be paraphasing) but if you mention Matt Damon in the monologue he should appear later!

Ditto. Also, that monologue seemed the only part aside from the Iran sketch that realized Ben Affleck was not just another extra, but the actual host, a good sport, and good at bits. Everything else was flat and could have been filled with anyone.

I also liked Armisen in the beginning but now won't miss him too much. Will miss Hader and Sudeikis ...love taran and bobby so hope to see more of them.

I finally caught Armisen's goodbye sketch (was called out of the room when it first aired), and found it to be sweet, touching, and charming. He went out on a high note after some inconsistent seasons.

His final sketch reminded me of probably my favorite sketch he did as the only pro-Thatcher Punk Rocker.

"He said she reminded him of his mum."

The Dude wrote:His final sketch reminded me of probably my favorite sketch he did as the only pro-Thatcher Punk Rocker.

"He said she reminded him of his mum."

It was the same character and band, so that makes sense.

And the "Who replaces Seth Meyers in February?" question seems to have been answered with two possibilities.

Cecily Strong ("The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started A Conversation With At A Party") will be joining him as co-anchor this September. Depending on how that works, she may be flying solo on the desk come February. On the other hand, since Meyers is going to be hosting Late Night only four nights a week, he may continue on as co-anchor on the weekends, though I can't see that working as a long-term solution.

Miley Cyrus was better than I'd expected, I suspect that the viral-ready government shutdown music video is going to be an online hit, and it seems that my incredibly safe prediction that Taran Killam would be the new standout star (along with Kate McKimmon) is proving to be unsurprisingly true.

I had to skip this episode as I did with the all-Bieber episode, because there's only so much of vile brats I can take.

ActonBell wrote:I had to skip this episode as I did with the all-Bieber episode, because there's only so much of vile brats I can take.

Bieber was absolutely terrible. Cyrus actually has some comic timing and a sense of what's funny, is able to play characters, and is willing to openly mock herself and her reputation without looking like she'd rather be somewhere, anywhere else. While she's not as good as Timberlake, she's much closer to him than she is to Bieber in terms of hosting skills.

I watched it and it was all right, but I do resent being drawn into the whole Miley drama, which I do not give two shits about, and having to like, think about it and have it explored through satire. Even that government shutdown video, I was like, this sort of depends on me being familiar with Miley's stupid song/video, which I am not and I'm annoyed that I'm pop-culturally expected to be.

I don't hate her, and I thought she did fine host-wise (definitely better than many), and it's not like they could NOT address the controversy -- it's just like someone keeps trying to convince you of something and you're like CAN YOU STOP TALKING TO ME, JUST DO WHATEVER YOU WANT IT'S FINE, I JUST DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT ANYMORE, YES YES I AGREE WITH YOU, WHATEVER YOU SAY.

There were a couple of real messy sketches too -- that cheerleaders/aliens one was just a trainwreck, and the Good Morning Miami one was sort of funny but just didn't go anywhere or do anything until the very end when the big punchline was, they had funny names? Which were not that funny? Oy.

I think my favorite though was the 50 Shades of Grey auditions, though those aren't the same without Alan Alda/Bill Hader. Christoph Waltz, though. Hee.

I thought Miley put in a good effort, but the writing staff needs a serious overhaul.

I don't think I'll be able to look at John Boehner the same way for quite some time. Obama looking through the window in horror was the best part.

My favorite impersonation from the Fifty Shades of Grey auditions was Jane Lynch, which had me fooled for a second there.

I thought it was a solid show, considering how bad SNL can be, that's saying something. I thought Miley did a good job and was often the best thing in the bad skit she was holding up (Alien cheerleaders).

I think the show is a little too in love with the weakest/schtickiest female performers in Vanessa Bayer and Cecily Strong, while Nasim Pedrad is hardly being used, and Kate McKinnon is stealing every sketch she's in. Her Connecticut mom killed: "I am Lester Crest and I eat cocaine for breakfast!" "We best step the eff back, caus Mama's a Latino warlord now." Hee.

Instant Monkeys wrote:I watched it and it was all right, but I do resent being drawn into the whole Miley drama, which I do not give two shits about

Yeah, pretty much. It was okay, and Miley is definitely not the worst host - she has good energy and timing. But they also gave her very little to do, I could barely differentiate her from the actress who impersonates her, and most of the sketches were flat out not good. The government shutdown should have been gold, not only an opportunity for Miley to parody her own song. I feel like SNL has completely ceded political humor to the Daily Show and Colbert in favor of alien cheerleaders.

Nasim Pedrad, Kate McKinnon, and Cobie Smulder's husband (can't remember his name) are easily the strongest cast members now. I also like Kenan Thompson but he rarely gets good bits.

I am kind of obsessed with Kate McKinnon; she is awesome. I forgot about her Jane Lynch, which I loved (even though, again, the writing! I forget the line now but she said something at the end of her little bit that was totally obvious and clunky and they should have left off), and that GTAV thing was solid gold. I belly-laughed at the end when she talked about Candy Crush and then said she hadn't updated to iOS7 yet because she was too afraid. Since I too am too afraid, hee. I know she's in everything and she is running the risk of getting overexposed, but so far I'm still totally on board. Taran Killam too is also a favorite of mine, and has been since the Robyn thing on YouTube.

I think she'll be okay -- Wiig Syndrome was that she had characters they kept doing over and over and over again, whereas McKinnon seems to be able to play all sorts of different twisted people. So while it's HER, it's not repetition, really. Kind of like Taran Killam.

Miley was okay, I thought. Certainly not the worst host, but it does make me wonder if sometimes the host's personality inspires or doesn't inspire the writing team. Like, I got the impression from the quality of the episode that they all hated January Jones and couldn't think of a single thing to do with her, hence that "Grace Kelly farts through 'Rear Window'" sketch. Here it felt like they were into it as long as it was abut Miley, or poking fun at her with Miley's permission, and then the rest of it was impersonations or poorly thought-out little short bits.

Other than being naked on the wrecking ball (which did give me a giggle), Bobby Moynihan was absent until the Good Morning Miami sketch, which I actually liked because of him and McKinnon. (Miley was fine, but the facial expressions on McKinnon and Moynihan when they were sitting around looking dead inside were priceless, and I do want to call him Bitch Fantastic from now on.) The cheerleading sketch was... so poorly scripted that it didn't really ever end. And I didn't think the musical parody of the shutdown was as funny -- I mean, it was a clever idea, and this way it saves all their actual sketch ideas about the shutdown for next week/gives them time to come up with some. But it went on too long for me and was basically just an excuse for Miley to do Writhing Miley, but in a Michelle Bachmann wig and suit.

Still don't love Cecily Strong on Update. I don't know if it's her delivery, or that Seth actually IS getting better jokes. Part of me wishes they'd make the show host also host Update every week. Like a gauntlet. You want in again, Bieber? THEN BRING IT.

Heather wrote:
Still don't love Cecily Strong on Update. I don't know if it's her delivery, or that Seth actually IS getting better jokes. Part of me wishes they'd make the show host also host Update every week. Like a gauntlet. You want in again, Bieber? THEN BRING IT.

They did that for a while in the Dick Ebersol years, between Brad Hall and Christopher Guest.

It was an absolute disaster, with only a few exceptions.

Miley Cyrus was a slightly better host than I'd expected her to be, Bruce Willis was worse, but the chemistry between the players is getting strong enough to carry a weak host. Jay Pharaoh was obviously channeling Eddie Murphy during the barbershop sketch, but he was doing it so well that I didn't mind. And while I don't think that we really needed to revisit Taran Killam's overprotective son, he infused it with enough energy for me to laugh despite myself.

Oh, and the rapid-fire Bruce and Kris Jenner divorce jokes worked, in that I'm now totally on board with Cecily Strong.

"You look like you would take care of me if I was in a Japanese named office building" made me forgive a lot.

The Dude wrote:"You look like you would take care of me if I was in a Japanese named office building" made me forgive a lot.

That was a great line. Also, his weird vulnerability during that part made me like the character a bit more. Not enough to think that he should show up again, but enough to think that a repeat on him was in order this one time.

Somewhere around the beginning of the episode I was musing that with everyone gone, at least they wouldn't have the well of mediocre recurring characters and sketches to copy and paste. And then they found two of them. Meh.

Every time I see Katy Perry on something I marvel at how dead her eyes are.

I actually thought Bruce Willis did a good job. Liked the action movie army briefing. Guy from the AT&T commercials is working well as a straightman so far, so I'm keeping an eye on him. (SNL needs another Parnell.)

I thought that Willis was a weak host. His delivery during the sketches was often mumbled, and he seemed distracted the whole time.