Saturday Night Live

yeah Bedelia is kind of great, really hope Nasim Pedrad becomes a full-on cast member in the fall.

Wiig in the soap opera sketch was I think alright as a character, but like many of her sketches it was just lazy and boring about having one krazy character and everyone else is a straight man reacting to them for way too long, really wish she did more stuff that wasn't just The Wiig Showcase.

so who's not coming back next season?

Nasim did enough this year, I think, to at least be considered for full cast member status. Jenny Slate, on the other hand, would surprise me by even being asked back next year. WTF good was she? They could've kept Michaela Watkins (or Casey Wilson, but really Michaela yeah) instead of even hiring fucking waste-of-time Jenny Slate.

how common is dropping a "featuring" cast member after just one season? seems like it would be counter productive to keep cycling new people out

a LOT of people have gotten fired after just a year or a half year in the past.

pretty hard to say what changes'll happen this summer, other than Poehler/Rudolph/Hammond the non-featured cast has barely changed the last few years and it doesn't really feel like any of the current people are ready or eager to leave. would like to see Armisen or Meyers get out of there just to clear the way for a possible better Obama or Update anchor, but i doubt that's happening soon.

Seth Meyers isn't leaving anytime soon, being the head writer. The only reason Tina Fey left is because she had potential outside of the SNLverse (and I don't see Seth having the same kind of potential). I used to really love Fred Armisen, but I'm starting to think he's overstayed his welcome.

armisen is aight as obama, but the writing for the political cold opens have been garbage, which i think is the main problem -- to me they've sort of mirrored the tina fey sketches, where like, they barely even wrote jokes? idk, i wish the poli opens were more absurdist. during the election, they wrote for mccain & biden really, really well, kinda hope they get back to that. maybe they're trying to be too "sharp" or something idk, but pretty disappointing.

i like seth, altho i think update works best w/ two anchors, unless it's norm

I guess it's possible Will Forte could leave. He's been around for 8 seasons now.

i couldn't see anyone besides maaaaybe bill hader leaving of their own volition. maybe one of them will get tied up in a shitty sitcom or something soon.

they really need an infusion of exciting youth. it's weird that there are kids right now probably becoming aware of snl who have no idea that the show used to birth stars. prob don't even remember ferrell.

I think if the first episode you see of SNL is good, you stay hooked until you just can't take it anymore. The first episode I saw was the Buckwheat assassination (Reagan assassination spoof) with Eddie Murphy. I was about 8, and definitely wasn't getting all the jokes, but I knew what I was watching was funny anyway.

the cast is actually the smallest now it's been in a looong time, so hopefully the producers will scouting talent hardcore this summer. tbh i pretty much like almost everyone on the show to varying degrees, but they definitely need to shake things up with some new blood.

the cold opens have been so consistently grueling lately that i actually wanted until the monologue to tune in; what was it last night and should i bother watching it now?

wanted=waited, and so many other typos in that post

It was a BP press conference. Not terribly funny.

from wkend update on this was a funny show

is there anywhere to find out what sketches they cut from the hulu version? forgot to record this last night and they always seem to cut the weirder/funnier stuff.

Watched the digital short again. So lolz.

it kind of paid off toward the end but that thing was mostly torture for me, Samberg's lol singing (not rapping) voice is way more unpleasant than it is funny

Episode report: 50% amazing, 50% atrocious

I find myself in a strange place re: SNL. I like most all of the cast, and some of the recurring characters, and the way that some hosts really commit to the job, but it's just not as reliably funny as it should be. Answer? GET NEW WRITERS.

I thought the writing on Jenny Slate's sketch and Nasim Pedrad's sketch was particularly strong.

I think Nasim kind of writes for her own character, so that explains it somewhat. Jenny Slate's sketch was kind of torturous for me (assuming you mean the old movie on TCM sketch).

Yeah, I adored that one.

they hon should stop doing political cold opens -- we have daily show/colbert thx

feel like sudeikis is the only performer who understands the right tone to set 4 the political cold opens (goofin)

totes

i dug that digi short

Just about the only political sketch this season that was funny was Jon Hamm/Scott Brown interrupting the Dem meeting again and again.

type complete words please i'm begging you

i mean did you really just say "hon" instead of "honestly"?

that's a text messaging habit

anyway, on the script supervisor sketch, on the board bobby m was holding it said J. Lutz and then the actual lutz was an extra on the next sketch

Lutz is the secret force behind NBC at this point. I suspect he's in charge of the evening news and the dropping of most of their sports coverage as well.

do people like kenan's grady wilson? i forget. it's pretty tedious

Grady Wilson has been pretty divisive on ilx iirc. definitely something that doesn't need to be done more than once, even/especially with host joining in, and that was at least the 4th time they've done it.

alec baldwin's greek dude wasn't very different from his generalisimo

I don't hate the Grady Wilson sketches, although they seem more like something that would be made on Youtube than on a live sketch show with a 35 year history.

bobby m's snooki is funnier than it should be

bringing stefon back for this episode signals that they're prob pretty desperate for people to latch on to a character

yeah i think the snooki thing could so easily be too on the nose or too obvious but the tone/execution is just right for it to be really funny. especially the way seth played it last night.

how many recurring characters were there last night (not counting impressions like snooki)? stefon, the armisen/wiig singers, grady wilson, bedelia...

i think my fav part of the snooki impression is that they always make sure bobby m's chest hair is showing

I've liked Stefon both times they've used him, tho I could get really tired of him if he started appearing all over next season.

the jokes in the first one were much funnier, but it's a pretty good character idea

was the jenny slate sketch supposed to be funny ot

or*

The Slate sketch is serious until he asks for a handie.

i love the Stefon thing.

take the shot is best sketch

ehh that wore thin for me, feel like similar premises have been done enough and they didn't do a great job of elevating or resolving it.

as said upthread i liked the handjob sketch and the timecrowave sketch the best.