FOX News Roundup
- Baldwin over Longfellow as Brett Baier? Come on! Already not getting this episode off to a great start.
- I figured they would do something on Kamala Harris' Fox News interview and Trumps' very strange rallies turned impromptu dance parties. That story dominated the news this week.
- Now, we're back to "viral meme queen" Kamala. Great.
- Well, at least the JAJ/Trump (hey, at least HE'S still playing Trump), Ego/Faulkner & Carvey/Biden segments are a nice, much needed pallet cleanser inbetween the disappointingly hollow Baldwin/Rudolph segments.
- At least the "abortion" call & response is kinda funny & this Univision part is a nice use of Marcello. This cold open came pretty close to balancing itself out. D+
Monologue
- This monologue was pretty fun in sort of a "dancing around the obvious" way. Keaton even sold that "puppets & cocaine" joke in a way no one else could.
- Strange that he's promoting "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" which has been out for a full month at this point instead of that new movie he has coming out THIS month (whose title escapes me at the moment and I obviously don't care to Google it but I know it involves Mila Kunis playing his estranged daughter) but hey, Halloween and nostalgia are a...non-potent combination.
- I see Mikeys' filling the Taran/Bobby void this decade. Makes sense. I mean, if he didn't write that season 40 monologue he still wrote with Taran & Bobby a lot. Too bad they sucked all the music out of the season 40 monologue when they decided to just do it again.
- I did like the meta jokes with Samberg & Sherman, though. If only they could've worked in some kind of explanation for Gaffigans' absence. I mean, was that Al Smith dinner NOT held in New York?
- All in all, a nice low key monologue...even if it seems like one Jim Breuer and Tracy Morgan would've done in season 23. C+
Shop TV
- I'm already mentally preparing myself for a string of obvious strained visual double entendres.
- Who the hell was that in the minion costume? Part of me hopes it was Emil but it looks and sounds a bit more like Marcello (EDIT: I have since found out it was a camera operator named Paul).
- Ah, the cookie looks like a boob. I get it. I was expecting an anus for some reason but I guess that's harder to get past the censors (which must be where 97% of this week's creative efforts went into just for this sketch alone). They must've realized they shouldn't be pushing their luck.
- Good to see Rosebud Baker is still earning a paycheck. I liked Michael Longfellows' phone in question, the pixelated frosting gag and the sudden TV-MA bug.
- Kudos to them for not dragging this out quite as much as I thought they would. C-
PDD: Skydiving
- Good to see the Destroy boys back and as characters and as far away from the office as they can get.
- Nice use of Emil and Keaton in a low-key...morbid depression/suicidal ideation themed short?
- This may hit a little too "close to home" for some but, me personally? I like it! Oddly appropriate for late October. The ending was fun. B-
Forbidden Romance
- Guess Who's Suddenly Covering Trains' "Hey Soul Sister"? (Spoiler Alert: It's Andrew Dismukes)
- Ego might have just set a record for "earliest break in a sketch".
- I liked the incongruous oddness of this. It felt like something Melissa Villaseñor would've done five years ago...and that's never a bad thing. B-
Good Grief! Even More TikTok Scrolling!
- Huh, haven't seen one of these in a while. I guess Billie Eilish being in the building this week was meant to signify we were overdue for a third one.
- I usually liked these back in season 47. Kenan, Devon and Marcello were great. I liked Kenans' junk food reviewer, Devons' "trapped" black man and Marcellos fireworks guy/Trump Podcaster. Michaels' "black wife effect" guy was OK, but still felt like it was canceled out by Devons' character. Not sure how I felt about the whole metaness of Emil using the clip of last weeks' "Espresso/Domingo/Marcello" song clip in his.
- One thing I didn't care that much for was Chloe just straight up recreating Bethany Frenkel, Call Her Daddy and the Costco guys (boy, those were some haunting visuals but seriously, what the hell is that whole Costco familys' deal anyway?) while barely adding anything in terms of jokes to either one but I guess since Pete's gone for good now SOMEONE'S gotta do it!
- I did like Bowens' character who just suddenly sings to a semi-captive JAJ/Trump, Maya/Kamala and Billie (as unambitious as that whole bit was). Dies anyone know for sure if that's based on a real TikToker? Heidi's character was very "Heidi" but she actually managed to sneak in some real biting humor into this one. Speaking of, they did a decent job of sneaking Carveys' Biden into this too.
- I did like Ashley, Emil and Jane's contributions to this. Kudos to Ashley for finally getting some lines in something. I guess one of those people quite literally building their following off TikTok before coming on the show was another indication we were due for another one of these, huh? B+
Weekend Update w/Jost & Che
- I liked Che's Trump Univision/therapy/deep fryer jokes along with his KKKandle and Josts' IVF/civil war jokes but that's about it.
- Emil Wakim had a strong Update debut. His segment was a little long but I liked the way he seamlessly segued through many different aspects of his own background he covered with boundless confidence. His "Colin wrote that joke for me" comment when one of his lines nearly bombed was great. That had to have been the biggest reaction I have seen anyone get out of Colin.
- Nice to see Sarah back at the desk as just "Sarah". It's especially nice to see chose to lovingly roast herself by way of Victoria's Secret instead of roasting Jost. I liked how she limited her few "Jost roast" lines to just ones that allowed her set him up to look like some weird ass perv. B-
Think About It
- Strange how this is Bowens' first live appearance all night, but hey...I'm not complaining. He had some of the best lines in this anyway.
- I'm usually not a huge fan of Ego playing men but her performance really suited this sketch well and I'll admit I chuckled a bit at the "Kamala Cabello" lines
- I liked the strange semi-original concept behind this in spite of it's "we have Cash Cab at home" vibe and how this didn't seem to quite be landing with the audience.
- Sarah being the one who automatically gets each question right felt a little too telegraphed for me but at least they didn't belabor it.
- Michael Keaton felt a little too awkwardly shoehorned into this and I feel like they didn't quite enough with this. In fact, the real rushed ending seems to suggest a lot of this got cut between dress and air. Still, it was one of the better live sketches of the night, flaws and all. C+
Halloween Rises
- I don't know about you guys, but I've gotten my fill of TikTok dancing...during the TikTok sketch. Anyone else?
- This sketch didn't really land for me at all and I don't think Michael Keaton made playing "stereotypical gay coreographer" work, but at least we got to see a more physical side of Mikey we don't always see.
- Another rushed non ending that felt heavily edited between dress and air, I see. Very good. D+
Tableside
- This feels like a cut for time sketch from season 40 or 45 but kudos to Ashley for FINALLY getting some substantial dialogue in a sketch (even if she wasn't the main focus). Other than that, I have absolutely nothing to say about this sketch because it went absolutely nowhere. D-
Ranking The Season (Best To Worst)
2. Ariana Grande/Stevie Nicks (10.12.2024)
3. Michael Keaton/Billie Eilish (10.19.2024)
4. Jean Smart/Jelly Roll (09.28.2024)
Overall Thoughts
- This would sadly be the second worst show of the season for me. I'd place it on the same shelf as Ariana Grandes' episode from last week as both episodes were quite uneven and rocky but the highs weren't quite as high with this one (and sadly the lows felt a bit lower).
- Writing wise, I felt like they leaned a bit too much on season 47 throwbacks, which is something I have some real mixed feelings about. I don't really feel enough time has passed since season 47 that we could really judge anything from that year to be a "classic".
- Keaton was fine as a host but this episode didn't quite feel like the "big event" that his last one was from season 40. He felt underused compared to his previous two episodes bur not as much as his season 8 episode obviously. He felt like he appeared in every other sketch rather than just two in the whole show, but I'd be lying if I said this episode didn't feel like he had a slightly similar presence to season 8 tonight.
- Yeah, I usually rank buig name 3 or 4 time hosts individual episodes when they come back like this but I neither had the time nor the motivation to watch them all in order to do that this week. Out of respect and deference to the good folks over at That Week In SNL I decided to wait until they streamed the Michael Keaton season 8 episode on Twitch to watch it again (which might be either tonight or next week...so if you're reading this from a link I dropped in said Twitch chat instead of fully watching that episode yourself...respect).
- Cast airtime still feels balanced enough. Bowen and Jane took a bit of a back seat obviously but Sarah and Emil really got a chance to step up (plus Mikey and Dismukes to a lesser extent) and everyone else felt visible. We're now two for three on "New featured players who've gotten the chance to introduce themselves on Weekend Update this season." Don't worry, Ashley. You're closer than you've ever been at this point.
Closing Thoughts
- Well, there is still hope for SNL can continue in the right direction for season 50. In two weeks, John Mulaney returns for his sixth time hosting. Mulaney can still be a bit of a wild card but hopefully, he can inspire some more creativity in the writer's room much like Nate Bargatze did two weeks ago (since, y'know...they're both standups and creative joke writers and all). Yeah, I'm sure they'll have no trouble shoehorning Samberg back into the show. Mulaney will have that covered. See you then!
No comments:
Post a Comment