LDC hasn't been feeling well this week, so I've been providing the entertainment to keep her mind off the coughing and the wheezing and the whatnot. Now, comedies have been tough to recommend, because they lead to coughing fits. So I suggested SNL, which should be safe from laughs. Let's take a look.
Cold Open: Dennis Haysert thing about the Mark Foley thing. The sad thing about this is that years ago, this sketch would have been cutting edge. But now, there are 15 other shows on every day that have already taken their shots on this topic. That makes this already feel dated. What a disappointment. As LDC said, it (the Foley scandal) was handed to them on a silver platter and they dropped it.
Monologue: Jaime is interrupted by all sorts of southern stereotypes. Enjoyable.
Logo: It hit me that the new SNL logo isn't new at all. It's the same one used in the lackluster early 1980s seasons. Smart move there. Puts me in the mind for some Gary Kroeger.
Nancy Grace: More Foley stuff and Nancy Grace is insane. A chuckle or two, but potential was wasted. Kenan is awesome though.
New York City Stories: Taped pieces rule. This one had Martin Scorsese (Fred Armisen) and Rosie Perez (Amy Poehler) having recollections about a particular New York street. The tracking shot from Goodfellas was filmed inside a pipe. Awesome.
Jon Bovi: Too ridiculous to explain, but there was a laugh or two. Will Forte, when not doing his weak Bush impression or The Falconer, is pretty funny. And Jason Sudekis is growing on me. This new reduced cast might work out after all.
Hands on a Hard Body: Female reporter thinks that Jaime (as the contest winner) is hot. Awkwardness ensues. Borderline creepy. So far the host is being used as nothing more than a prop.
More New York City Stories: Music version this time. Not as good as the first one.
Private School: Kenan rules.
Corinne Bailey Rae I: I've never, ever heard of her, but at least she can sing. Classy, but not something that'll wind up on my iPod. I still maintain though that SNL musical guests should rock, to keep the energy levels up. This mellow stuff, well, mellows out the crowd.
Weekend Update: Hader's Peter O'Toole is hilarious. A couple other good jokes here and there as well.
Nascarettes: Um, what was this?
New York City Stories: They needed to stop with the first one.
Big Wigs: The first time someone in this sketch said the word "bigwigs" I said to myself "Please don't let people come in wearing giant wigs". Lame. That was like a junior high school talent show sketch.
Kuato: So the material that this bit is based on is so old, they had to spent two minutes explaining it to the audience. Timely Total Recall jokes. Timely.
Next week: A repeat of last week's show. Seriously.
Corinne Bailey Rae II: More of the same, I guess.
Cider: So someone had a leftover Delicious Dish script and retooled it?
Out of Breath Jogger: The hell? They've crammed two skits into the final three minutes? Weak.
I'm guessing that commercial parodies fell victim to the budget cuts. Imagine that, the most consistantly entertaining and creative part of the series, gone.
Everything up through Weekend Update was a slight improvement over last week's entire show. But after that it took a giant downward spiral. It seemed like the energy was up a bit and the cast was clicking a little better at first, but then, like always, it all fell apart. I can't wait for next week's rerun!
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