Okay, here’s my review. Overall, this was far from the worst season premiere ever. It was better than most for all its weaknesses and there were faint hints of SNL moving in a new direction. It felt a little refreshing watching the show with the absence of Wiig, Samberg and Elliott and Bayer, Hader and Moynihan really stepped it up. It was almost on par with last year’s Baldwin/Radiohead episode. Seth MacFarlane proved to be a capable host whom I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing asked back in a year’s time. Anyway, let’s get right to it.
Democratic Rally Cold Open - I already like Jay's Obama and Taran's Paul Ryan even (and the makeup department did a great job with both). Taran capture Ryan’s voice and speech mannerisms well, but it’s hard to judge and impression formone line only when they really haven’t found a suitable take on the candidate. Even if the voice Jay used sounds suspiciously similar to Armisen's impression, Pharroh can actually use it to breathe some life into some underwhelming material. Even his Obama speech pauses add more to the sketch and although he hasn’t met the challenge of coming up with a new comedic angle on Obama yet, he’s still capable of taking his impressions to new places that Armisen didn’t. Still, it could use some tweaking (like maybe going a bit deeper with that voice for example). I also laughed at his humming the Sanford and Son theme. I also liked his lines about Romney’s “creepy adult sons” and his energetic LFNY. Having Jason’s Romney just being himself as the Democrat’s “secret weapon” wasn’t that clever enough of a premise, but the writing and performances really saved it. For what had to have been the first time ever, Jason playing Romney as clueless and out of touch actually worked for a sketch. This is most likely because it centered around him actually interacting with other people in such a way as opposed to yet another straight speech into the camera. I especially liked how they referenced the recent video surfacing of Romney’s awkward encounter with a real gay soldier as well as the Lou Rawls references and his “high-fiving” a guy on the head who had no arms. B-
I definitely dig the new opening credits and theme (it's about time). Is anyone else getting a retro 03/04 vibe from them?
Monologue - Seth MacFarlane is proving to be a fine host so far. His voices’ “consuming” him was a rather clever premise for a singing monologue even if it seems like they had little else to go on. I did think Droopy the dog and Marty McFly were sure highlights, but I kind of wish he’d done Roger a little more as “American Dad!” seems to be the only genuinely good show he has on the air right now. Also, his long holding of that high note at the end reminded me a bit of Weird Al in “Spy hard” and live performances of “The Saga Begins”. B-
Obama for America - This election ad was pretty funny. It did kind of remind me of that "Swift Boat" parody from 04-05, but I did like the "What a dick" blurb and Kenan's jobs all being purposely shut down by Bain Capital. I also liked Jay’s opening line “I approve this message, but I’m not proud of it.” It’s a little strange though that this clip is only available on nbc.com and not hulu, though. B-
Sex After 50 - I was a little disappointed to see Roger Brush come back, but at least it felt like they were going in a different direction with it (like making it less repetitive and drawn out). Robinson’s cameo worked well enough for me and I did like Fred’s very last line. C+
Eastwood and Chair - I really think they could've come up with a better take on the Eastwood RNC speech, but that bit had some funny moments like the whoopee cushion/ juggling pins bit, the extra chair rolled out for "Jon Voight" and Jay and Taran's cameos. Also, having the chair “play” different politicians was also clever. I also liked Hader’s line at the end “I gotta hit the can. That’s intermission.” It kind of reminded me of when Jimmy “Rent Is Too Damn High” McMillan was still relevant a year and a half ago and the writers apparently thought that the news had become just so funny and nonsensical on its own that they could just repeat political speeches verbatim without having to add anything and it couldn’t have possibly become dated. Still, this felt like the writers were still somewhat trying and was saved by much better performances C+
Was Kilam impersonating Pardo this week? The announcement of JGL hosting next week didn’t quite sound like him.
Lids (Gangnam Style) - I feel like this sketch would be FAR less interesting if I were actually more familiar with the meme. I had only seen Jeffery Ross’ segment about this on “The Burn” and that’s about it. I also have to agree with Ken Tucker’s assessment that this had no purpose other than showing SNL can still do timely pop culture references regardless of whether they actually have anything to say or not. Still, Seth and Jason's over the top acting made me giggle. I liked Jasons’ line about being fired “for being a total bush”. It kind of reminded me of “The Californians” in the regard that the material was weak and the big acting was the only thing making it watchable. Also, I can't decide whether having the real Psy cameo was a cheap cop-out or him genuinely being a good sport. Still, it was nice to see something this energetic (especially from cast members like Moynihan and Hader) at this point in the show. C-
Inrto to Puppetry Class - I definitely loved this sketch. Hader was brilliant and even though MacFarlane was just a straight man, it was a decent use of his talents. B+
Update was only good for the commentaries. The less said about Seth Meyers’ jokes, the better. I can't really appreciate the "Honey Boo Boo" impressions as I haven't seen the show outside of very brief clips (also on shows like “The Burn”), but Moynihan's droopy dog voice was very funny and I liked his line about lokking like “a video that’s been paused in a weird spot.” Vanessa made the most out of the impression (I'm not sure she would've been my first choice). The subtitles were also funny. I wouldn’t say Tucker was entirely accurate here with his claims because Moynihan had a pretty funny line about how TLC “hooked them up.” MacFarlane's Ryan Lochte was also very funny and had me laughing throughout. Again, I can't really gauge the impression, but he made it his own. I also liked his references to being in a lot of commercials and “American Dad!” Seeing Cecily Strong's debut was nice even if it was a little weak substantially. I would say it worked better as a less broad character piece. It kind of reminded me of a cross between Jenny Slate's Doorbell sketch and those "Lil Joker" sketches MAD TV used to do, but with much better lines. I liked her comments about Romney, Christie and the Dream Act and Jay's smug facial expressions though. Still, I'd like to see more of what Cecily is capable of. It's a shame we've seen so little of Robinson and Bryant so far. C+
Stuttering Drill Sergeant - I didn't care much for this at all, but Seth performed it well. D+
Steve Harvey - I don't see why Kenan needed to bring back this impression, but this talk show parody has some funny lines at least. I did like Seth’s “Iranian DJ” line and Kenan’s “disappear into a tub of Skittle” line, but strangely I’d prefer to see Kenan-as-Steve mispronouncing a bunch of words again than him talking about the style of suits he always wears. C+
First Date – This I didn’t like as much either, but I appreciated the building absurdity of it. I also thought Kenan, Bill, Fred and Aidy’s brief walk-ons saved it. I also liked Nassim’s line about her dead sister. I know a lot of you say it was reminiscent of Molly Shannon’s annoying voice family from around 98-00, but I’d say it reminded me more of that sketch form 1992 with Mike Meyers and Susan Dey on a dinner date and they kept using cartoon sound effects in their conversations. Also, is it just me or are they putting Seth in a bunch of dopey wigs that make him look too silly? C-
Wooden Spoons – This was a decent piece to end on. With Seth reciting every letter in the address the way he did, I was thankful this sketch was as short as it was. I did like his “snake with a sex penis” and “river what took my son” lines. It was nice to see Robinson get a bigger part, but he was kind of outshined by Seth and he did seem nervous. Is it just me, or did this sketch feel like a Family Guy cutaway due to its short length? Almost every sketch almost felt that way just from the familiarity of Seth’s voice. C+
Well, this turned out to be rather different from everyone’s expectations…but in a good way. It was one of the stronger season premieres in recent memory. It was nice to have something to be genuinely intrigued about on SNL for once in a while. I hope the new featured players get more chances to prove themselves in the coming weeks. Speaking of which, I looked at the behind the scenes/meet the new cast clips. The Taran/Tim one was funny, but the Cecily/Kenan one and MacFarlane in makeup ones were strange. I hope they put up some dress rehearsal cuts soon. I’d like to know what sketch had Kenan wearing an afro and a ton of Obama buttons and why they needed to make a plaster cast of MacFarlane’s face. Oh well, I’m sure we’ll hear it from Jamie soon enough. Next week, Joseph Gordon-Levitt returns. My sister seems excited about this, but let’s just hope he doesn’t try too hard. See ya!
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