Okay, here's my review. One thing I think we can all agree on is that this was the strongest, most focused, least lethargic season premiere of SNL we've seen since at least season 40 or 38. Whether it was truly the beginning of a "new era" outside of a few new cosmetic changes is debatable, but in spite of its flaws, this had a lot going for it. There were hints of sharper writing and more balance and breathing room within a (slightly) smaller cast, but it is still clear some changes still do need to be made in spite of this premiere giving the fans some things that they wanted. My biggest take away from the night is that this is officially going to be the era where the show pushes Bowen, Chloe, Ego and Heidi as the stars of the show (especially with the latter two being the most senior players...of those who joined after season 42). Cecily may (or may not) be temporarily absent from the show but aside from her, nobody felt truly shut out from the show (all the new featured players got something on. Hell, even if only two of them got any substantial speaking roles they were each mentioned by name in the cold open, which...hey, that's something). Anyway, let’s break it down, shall we?
Manningcast - Wow, right off the bat we get faint signs of more experimentaion in a new era (or at least, hopefully, the shedding of the previous era's tired political and topical trappings wrapped in meta commentary that while reminiscent of Tina Feys' last monologue fortunately came across as more genunely self-deprecating and less doubling down and actively flipping off the audience). Still, in the face of JAJs' Trump having his rundowns and his Wordles taken away and being dragged and dropped into the template of a Baldwin era Trump cold open, I'm choosing to remain optimistic that this is SNL signaling that they are leaving this type of cold open, this type of aimless, scattershot Headline Challenge political humor in the past rather than continue it. Surely, even Lorne has to have recognized by now that it's long past the time when they needed to rely or lean on this sort of thing for any reason whatsoever, right? Right?!? (*crickets*). Hmm, anyway, as much as I know realize sketches with cast members and/or special guests playing sportscasters commenting on the show in real time feels like a dated, played out trope (especially in recent years with the likes of Chappelle, Rousey and Portman but they even did TWO with Fran Tarkenton for God's sake) Miles Teller having a dead on Peyton Manning impression in his back pocket (and actually resembling him with the right wig, I might add) was something I did not expect so, it was strong and smart move for the show to open with that. I guess SNL is now two for two in opening the season with unexpected great impersonations from people making their debut appearance on the show, am I right? Speaking of debut appearances, kudos on the four new hires for managing to not get completely shut out of their first episode (even if I would find out that they were all just doing viral TikTok memes that I somehow missed but hey at least by they were criticising themselves for doing just that rather than just merely hazing the new cast members and forcing them to poke fun at their own lack of airtime like they would do just a mere nine years ago? You know, the last time they hired a large group of people in the face of massive established cast departures?) Speaking of cast usage, while I wasn’t crazy about how Mikey and Bowen were used, I did like how they worked Heidi and Sarah in there. The Jon Hamm and Shaun White cameos were fun. I did like how they used a semi-expected cameo that actually makes sense from someone SNL fans genuinely want to see again given their established history with the show and their connection to the host to call themselves out for the unexpected cameos that don't from bafflingly chosen celebs being airdropped into random political flavor of the week roles and then set *that* up to poke fun at the hosts' image and career status in a fun way rather than an overly nudge nudge wink wink say no more way. Again, I choose to take this as a sign that they will stop doing this altogether and leave it in the (recent) past where it belongs. B-
Montage - I love how they strictly adhered to the "one new logo every eight years" rule like clockwork (and this one is VERY reminiscent of SNLs' first three seasons which I also love) and I especially liked how we've once again moved away from still images and went back to the very fluid, one long shot, visual storytelling style openings we previously only got in seasons 11 and 29 (but with the classier, more upscale twist we previously saw in seasons 21 and 44/45). Also, am I crazy or was Cecily absent from this montage? It's pretty strange that I just watched the premiere of a new season and I'm still not able to tell you if she is still employed by this show or not. I know people have said she may be back after she finishes doing her play in Los Angeles (and she just did this exact thing two seasons ago), but I'm gonna give it another month just to see if she truly sticks by that "Irish goodbye" comment she made to the press around that same time.
Monologue - Miles effortlessly carried his confidence and ease at light self-deprication over into the monologue. Plus, he showed us what a longtime fan he was from childhood so it wasn’t hard for me to connect with him on a personal level. He seems like someone who worked well with the cast all week. It's really gratifying to see a host who was rumored to be, well, "difficult" behind the scenes in past projects deliver the exact type of monologue SNL fans have grown to love over the past four years (a heartfelt sincere slice of life monologue that allows them to share their deeply personal connection to the show from a very young age). B+
Send Something Normal - Of course, RIGHT after I praise SNL for trying something different they go RIGHT back to leading off the show with a game show sketch! This wasn't even that original of a premise either. Still, I appreciate everyone's level of commitment to this sketch most if all in the face of it's minor conceptual flaws. Miles Teller wasn't exactly the best suited host for the "game show host" role. Mikey looked nothing like Adam Levine but he had the most appropriate voice for the part. JAJ as Armie Hammer felt like a last second between dress and air addition to this sketch. I mean, he was one of four contestants, for one thing. I like to imagine him telling the hair and makeup people he didn’t have an army hanmer impression as they hastily applied his beard and the writer of this sketch (who was also in the room with them) just saying "screw it, just do your Adam Driver, no one's gonna be able to tell the difference". Kenan as Neil Degrasse Tyson is always fun but an odd choice here. I mean, it felt like this sketch was written by one or two of the five people left on Earth who remembers Neils' real life minor #MeToo era harassment scandal and figured "well, he's never even posted anything remotely normal publicly anyway so...yeah, he's gotta be next. Bowen as himself was a nice meta twist that I appreciated but only didn't feel as tacked on as JAJs' Armie Hammer because his whole part seemed to be a callback to Mikeys. C+
BeReal(ButNotRobbed) - Well, I certainly appreciate the time and effort SNL took in explaining what BeReal was to its viewers OVER the age of 25 who are still *just* active enough on "dishonest" social media platforms to have missed this thing and gotten left out but I'm still having a hard time believing BeReal is...well, if you'll pardon the expression...REAL. It's seems so obnoxious it feels like a fake social media app from a Netflix movie. Still, I have to applaud the airtight execution of this thing. C+
Dance Of The Charmin Bears - The thing that I appreciated about this sketch the most (aside from it's just right length and tight writing) was that it continued showing the strength of this current casts performance skills and this season's established comittment to experimenting with more conceptual humor. Other than that, I found it a bit "on the nose" that they used a Lizzo song in this as it felt like a sketch that would've gotten cut from her episode last season (and, of course, would've been liked a lot less if it hadn't). B-
Rooftop Bar - Once Ego and Chloe, walked in I immediately flashed back to Mikeys' performance as Link Bronwin in the dating show sketch Regina Kings' episode. I ended up liking this a lot more than I liked that on as Mikeys' awkard cringe performance wasn’t as telegraphed here as it was there. Heidi played off them well and it was just the right length for what it was. C+
Nicole Kidman For AMC - I do love how you didn't really need to have seen the original Nicole Kidman ad at all to appreciate this. I like to think of it as the 2022 version of thst Simpsons THX parody from the early '90s ("TURN IT UP!!! TUUUURN IT UUUUUPPP!!!") I also loved how this just got in, went for a weird supernatural Vanessa Bayer and Larry David for Totino for The X-Files Reboot style twist, and just got out. (I'm sure the real Nicole Kidman would know a thing or two about cults. Didn’t she used to be married to the poster child for one in the '90s? Hiyoooo! Sorry, just to bust out that obscure South Park quite there). Mostly, I liked that Chloe finally did another thing that I could fully get on board with. B+
Update was a bit of a rollercoaster. It was odd to see Jost start out string with sharper jokes and a disassociative Che trailing him until he got to that MTG joke. Mitch McConnell might have been the role JAJ was born to play (in his first ever Update feature at the desk, nonetheless). He and Kenan made their segment funny but it's a shame that the string of Oswald Bates-lite malapropisms the writers came up with for him wasn’t as ridiculous as most of the real Herschel Walker's pulbic statements. Micheal Longfellow made a strong, low key debut although mentioning the Sydney Sweeney MAGA family reunion photo commentary was way too forced and labored of a setup for Jost to bring out for him if you ask me. He had great standup material and he was in control of what very few visible nerves he may have had. He didn't feel like he was there JUST to replace Pete (or bring back what they had with Pete) but his dry delivery made me feel like he and Dismukes might cancel each other out (until I remembered what else Dismukes was in tonight and Longfellows first Update standup commentary was a lot more focused and polished than Dismukes "Brink!" commentary from over a year ago was). As much as I feel like the shows' gonna get some flack for letting just the regular white guy get his big showcase out of this seasons group of four newbies, it was still good to see at least one of them break through. Bowens' lantern fly commentary felt at once fresh and almost too within Bowens' comfort zone. It's the same type of absurd anthropomorphic insect humor and patented outlandish absurdity Bowen has strangely become known for yet it felt like wild format breaking for SNL to have this premise worked into an Update feature instead of just written separstely as it's own sketch which is the type we've already seen too much of in the past 25ish years of sketch comedy in general (as it was written specifically as a parody of Maury or Jenny Jones or whatever the trash daytime talk show de jour is now). A somewhat still surprisingly high energy Dismukes as The Masked Si...uh, Buckwhe...er, um, "crops" was the perfect capper to this. B-
Swole, Bi Grimace - I can't believe they found a way to turn a cheap throwaway line from the Avengers'/GOT Family Feud cold open in Sandlers' 2019 episode into its own sketch, but they did it. Still, I remember really zoning out on that one as well as the "Santa becomes thin and kimd of a dick" sketch from Paul Rudds' 2013 episode (which this also reminded me of) so to me, aside from Kenans' speaking part and in spite of Bowen and Sarah trying their hardest, this was the weakest sketch of the night. D+
Carribean Queens - As much as I feel like this is a talk show sketch trope we've gotten our fill of during the Cecily/Kate/Aidy era (hell, even during the Wiig/Poehler years) it's nice to get a different spin on it that shows' Heidi and Ego's dynamic and chemistry (careful what you wish for). Punkie played well off them and good for Devon Walker for managing to sneak in there, too. B+
Well, that was probably the best season premiere we could’ve hoped for in this era. We haven't had a new season premiere that felt like they were doing more than just "shaking off the cobwebs" in a while. Next week, Brendon Gleeson makes his hosting debut. Not knowing much about this man aside from the fact that he played Donald Trump in that "too soon?" Showtime miniseries where Jeff Daniels played James Comey and Joe LoTruglio played Jeff Sessions, I'm just excited for the prospect of an episode hosted by a low-key character actor at the beginning of the season that leaves them more room to experiment more with newer, lesser used cast members. See you soon!
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