'84-'85 was one of the best SNL seasons. The "White Like Eddie" film, Fernando, the male synchronized swimmers, Lifestyles of the Relatives of the Rich and Famous, Jackie Rodgers Jr's $100,000 Jackpot Wad, Jesse Jackson hosting ("the question is moot!")...
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 9 July 2014 00:34 (nine years ago) link
(amazing to think that all of that was just ONE season)
Not only that, it was a strike-shortened season!
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 9 July 2014 00:35 (nine years ago) link
one thing about those ebersol seasons i did like is they had a looseness (some might sloppiness) to them that the other seasons didn't quite have. they would have spalding gray or penn & teller just pop up and take over the show for a segment. it wasn't quite as inspired at letterman at the time (ok it wasn't anywhere near as inspired as letterman at the time) but it had a similar energy.
― balls, Wednesday, 9 July 2014 01:08 (nine years ago) link
They've had that same update set for going on 15 years now!
Kinda weird that in a 21st century full of tweets, Spider-Man reboots three years after the first series, 15-minute shows on Adult Swim and whatever other cutesy ADHD examples I'm forgetting, SNL is all stodgy and consistent very much unlike its first 20th century incarnations.
― pplains, Wednesday, 9 July 2014 02:15 (nine years ago) link
Wheelan's out:
http://www.avclub.com/article/brooks-wheelan-fired-saturday-night-live-206907
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 12:18 (nine years ago) link
saw him do a short standup set a few months ago and he led with "I'm a Saturday Night Live cast member... for now"
― controversial but fabulous (I DIED), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 14:02 (nine years ago) link
he already seemed like dead weight, but when they straight-up let him do a stand-up routine on Weekend Update it was pretty clear they were running out the clock
― da croupier, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 16:46 (nine years ago) link
According to her twitter, Noel Wells is on a self-imposed "internet break" until September, so who knows when we'll hear her fate as far as "featured players who did jack shit last season" go. But with Nasim leaving she might get lucky.
― da croupier, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 16:50 (nine years ago) link
Compared to a couple of the guys in the featured cast, Noel Wells might as well have been a regular cast member already.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 16:51 (nine years ago) link
i'll give you whelan (moot point) and (sadly) milhiser, but beck bennett, mike o'brien and kyle mooney have done a ton more spotlighted work than wells
― da croupier, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 17:06 (nine years ago) link
gonna miss don pardo saying HWHEE-lan
― dilligaf escape plan (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 17:10 (nine years ago) link
so weird that bennett and mooney have this little fiefdom w/ phone commercials
― balls, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 17:59 (nine years ago) link
man i never even heard that Nasim is leaving, although i guess after FIVE YEARS she didn't seem like a dominant presence so she might as well go do a sitcom.
― some dude, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:26 (nine years ago) link
Who else was brought in to replace Michaela Watkins and Casey Wilson besides Nasim? Was it Abby Elliott? I don't even remember now.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:28 (nine years ago) link
Jenny Slate
― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:30 (nine years ago) link
abby elliott was brought in same year as watkins and wilson (so ironic that she survived them in hindsight), Jenny Slate and Nasim came year after they left, with vanessa bayer replacing slate
― da croupier, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:31 (nine years ago) link
lol I'd already forgotten about Jenny Slate.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:31 (nine years ago) link
she just had an art house hit!
so weird to think of moynihan being the 2nd most veteran cast member, damn that makes me feel old
― da croupier, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:32 (nine years ago) link
Tina Tina Chaneuse is still one of my favorite sketches from that era
― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:32 (nine years ago) link
I hadn't actually forgotten Jenny Slate. I just forgot she was on SNL one season.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:33 (nine years ago) link
yeah did not care for slate on snl, but she's great on kroll show and i wanna see that movie
― da croupier, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:33 (nine years ago) link
i've heard hit and miss about the movie. she's great on parks & rec. i like abby elliot. lorne firing casey wilson and esp michaela watkins was super fucked up but i don't hold that against elliot even if 'she's young and cute' is how she made the cut. nasim almost left last summer when mulaney almost got picked up before the new nbc head said he wasn't interested in any sitcoms that ostensibly looked like nbc sitcoms (ergo brooklyn 99 ending up on fox). i hope she gets to be funny on the sitcom; she's gorgeous but she reminds me of kristen wiig where she almost has to overcome or cover up her attractiveness to do what she's funniest at.
― balls, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:53 (nine years ago) link
Nasim is such a weird case (but maybe not if I'd spent more than a couple minutes thinking about it). She came out of the gate really strong, especially for a featured player. She had recurring characters almost immediately, some of them even successful in the context of the show. Then she retreated the past couple years and it got to the point where it was clear she didn't want to be there or didn't care about screentime, and her last batch of characters have been mostly terrible.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 18:58 (nine years ago) link
even if 'she's young and cute' is how she made the cut
I think she made the cut because she was Armisen's girlfriend at the time.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 19:01 (nine years ago) link
well chris elliot's daughter didn't hurt either. i thought she was fine in the show and she's been fine since though obv she doesn't have a happy endings to her credit (still not over it) and she hasn't had the inspired supporting turns michaela watkins has had in wanderlust and esp trophy wife.
― balls, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 19:04 (nine years ago) link
yeah nasim last season reminded me of david spade's last season, where he didn't remotely feel really a part of the new cast and was just biding his time until a sitcom gig opened up. last season had a problem w/ generally a cast member having a strong week and then seemingly disappearing for weeks after that. paring down the cast should help that.
― balls, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 19:07 (nine years ago) link
https://screen.yahoo.com/annuale-000000661.html
totally apropos of nothing aside from Casey Wilson being adorable in it
― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 19:09 (nine years ago) link
<3 that the "Adobe" commercial autoplayed after that one.
"These days, everyone's talking about the Hyundai, and the Yugo. Both nice cars, if you've got $3,000 or $4,000 to throw around. But, for those of us whose name doesn't happen to be Rockefeller, finally there's some good news."
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 19:18 (nine years ago) link
Always thought a clay cupholder was a good idea.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 19:49 (nine years ago) link
Noël Wells and John Milhiser are out
― polyphonic, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 21:36 (nine years ago) link
so basically every whose funniest sketch was "new cast member or Arcade Fire?" is out
― some dude, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 21:38 (nine years ago) link
Shame about Noel Wells. Milhiser might as well be the last cashier I had at CVS, because that's as much time as I got to spend with him.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 21:50 (nine years ago) link
Felt like Wells could've done something not-uninteresting given decent material to work with.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 21:59 (nine years ago) link
i wonder if whelan, wells and milhiser had a "drunk uncle" or "man with baby's body" bit they just never got to do. even paul brittain had that little lord fauntleroy thing they foisted on us twice, jenny slate the doorbell seller.
― da croupier, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 22:22 (nine years ago) link
Wells had Nancy Grace, but that didn't hold up on repeated viewings (and was sometimes met with dead silence).
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 22:31 (nine years ago) link
I would've liked to have seen Wheelan's character from the Critter Control sketch with Ed Norton brought back in something else, but it never happened.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 22:31 (nine years ago) link
wells had her shots, i thought she might be safe cuz she could do impressions but she also failed badly w/ some impressions (her nancy grace was awful in that overbearing non-eddie sketch from 1982 way) and when she did it suggested that when she was funny w/ an impression it was cuz she nailed the impression, not cuz she's actually funny. would be awesome if they got milana vayntrub. i know she's friends w/ bennett/mooney, she's funny, and it would be another person w/ a regular phone commercial gig. related: i have a weird crush on milana vayntrub.
lol xp
― balls, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 22:35 (nine years ago) link
Oh, Lily the AT&T girl. I'll co-sign that.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 22:38 (nine years ago) link
aww (lol) - https://twitter.com/MrJonCryer/status/489159522003333120
deadline saying there's a chance o'brien is back in the writer's room, there's a smaller chance jost is and o'brien does update (they just say 'some are calling' for that so don't hold yr breath).
― balls, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 22:52 (nine years ago) link
I would take O'Brien at the WU desk, though I'm still a firm believer that Cecily Strong can probably do a good job there solo. Jost is the fucking WORST, though.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 22:54 (nine years ago) link
My Colin Jost hatred doesn't have anything to do with him dating Rashida Jones, but about that...WTF
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 22:55 (nine years ago) link
ALRIGHT I'M ON BOARD W/ THE JOST HATE NOW
― balls, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 22:57 (nine years ago) link
http://assets-s3.usmagazine.com/uploads/assets/articles/66404-rashida-jones-dating-fellow-harvard-alum-colin-jost/1379467741_ffn_jones_rashida_metand_09_rashida-jones-colin-jost-467.jpg
her pants make this a little easier to take
― da croupier, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 22:59 (nine years ago) link
O'Brien and Strong are dating; they could be the first couple to host WU!
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 23:00 (nine years ago) link
Don't stand in the way of love, Lorne Michaels!
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 23:03 (nine years ago) link
my 'trick' for when i inevitably date rashida to get her dad to like me is to just bring this up -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W9RDMnuU_E
- and he'll be like "you know about 'state of independence'?" and i'll be like 'dude!' and then sing the entire thing and at the end he'll put his arm around me and go 'welcome to the family...son'.
― balls, Tuesday, 15 July 2014 23:05 (nine years ago) link
deadline saying there's a chance o'brien is back in the writer's room, there's a smaller chance jost is and o'brien does update
lol i never knew that guy's name so I read this and was like "wait, Conan's gonna come back to SNL to do update???"
― Panaïs Pnin (The Yellow Kid), Tuesday, 15 July 2014 23:56 (nine years ago) link
lol balls. My trick was to tell Q how much I dug his arrangements for Clifford Brown, but yeah, yours is better.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 16 July 2014 02:18 (nine years ago) link
Any dude that can come up with the Sanford and Son theme is a genius in my eyes. There's so much good shit going on in that short little song it's ridiculous.
― Prince Kajuku (Bill Magill), Wednesday, 16 July 2014 03:37 (nine years ago) link
milana vayntrub
oh THAT's who that is
― goole, Wednesday, 16 July 2014 19:34 (nine years ago) link