Amph Live From New York, It's Saturday Night!

And the funny thing was, it almost enhanced what was going on. Must have been a cooincidence, but it somehow fits that performance where she completely ditches the techno vibe for piano that her costume isn't working right either.

Maybe I'm speaking prematurely but I'm starting to think this might be a very, very bright girl.

 

Saturn rings?

Darn, I missed it. I just couldn't bear anymore after the fountain sketch.

I suppose Lady Gaga was bizarre as ever.

 

Ryan Reynolds and Scarlet Johannsen were gold in that sketch.

That skit hearkened back to an earlier kind of SNL skit; the kind of skit that has one joke and is only funny on paper. RR and ScarJo saved it, however.

I really like Fred Armisen too, but he did not bring his A game that night. His Obama impression was several steps below what it usually was also. It seemed lazy.

 

Thanks for the image.

I can picture it now.

She is bizarre.

 

I can picture it even better now.

Welcome to the bizarro world!

Thanks again Quest.

 

Drew Barrymore/Regina Spektor

"This is the third broadcast of the 35th season of SNL. Information is subject to change."

Airs: 10/10/09

 

Well, I'm a Drew fan, and I still chose NOT to watch this episode.

I couldn't bear another lame sketch after seeing the previous show, not to mention the premiere.

It actually feels good to finally resist watching!

 

I liked her opening bit, with all the clips of "famous Barrymores" throughout the ages... aside from that, the most exciting thing I saw was that Shakira is going to be the musical guest next week.

 

I went out to a movie with friends last night but got home just in time to see the only one I wanted to see on the show. Regina Spektor. Even Drew introduced her as lovely and very talented. I couldn't care less about the rest of the show, though Bill Hader did do a mean impression of James Carville. For me, Regina stole the show.

 

I was reading up on producer Lorne Michaels, and found it interesting that he has an extreme hatred of people who improvise on the show and don't stick with the script. The best example I found of this was actor Adrien Brody who wore a wig unexpectedly during the opening skit of the show years ago. Apparently he was banned from the show by Michaels because of it.

Frankly, I think a little bit of improvising from guests and cast members would improve the show considerably, because the writing is just terrible.

 

Looks like I didn't miss anything.

 

The first three episodes have been very average for me. There's no edginess of risk-taking so far this season. Most of the skits have relied too much on the old "looks funny on paper" formula from SNLs truly bad years and locks their talented group of comic actors into stale characters and skits.

The best skit last night was at the very end with the great Will Forte as the creepy ultra-conservative (and apparent) love machine, Harrison (was that his name?). I loved that character when I first saw him last year during the "unending stream of increasingly absurd funeral speaker" skit from last years season finale.

The Gilly skit was notable mainly for the differences in ability between Kristen Wiig and Drew Barrymore to play a live action cartoon character. I love Drew Barrymore, but she was out of her league in that skit.

I'd never heard of Regina Spektor before SNL, but since I seem to be genetically pre-disposed to fall in love with pretty girls playing the piano, I'm now in love with Regina Spektor.

 

Gerard Butler/Shakira

This is the fourth broadcast of the 35th season of SNL. Information is subject to change.

Airs: 10/17/09

 

Probably one of the better episodes in quite some time.

The Rock Obama was great. The monologue was entertaining. Beauty and the Beast was awesome. The 300 skit could have been better but was still quite good. So was weekend update. The random James Franco cameo was...interesting.

 

Quite some time? I guess since last season's finale was about 4 months ago, you could make the case the case that that equals "quite some time."

It was certainly the best this year; however I'm not a fan of The Rock Obama.

My only problem was whoever dressed Shakira. What sort of spandex hell was that?

 

I couldn't help but pay attention to the costume. It went out of its way to keep me from appreciating what I wanted to appreciate. Those weird things on her hips combined with the human-form-interrupting spandex to leave me unable to get a proper sense of things.

As far as the rest of the episode, the only thing it was missing was a brilliant Andy Samberg digital short. No such episode can be considered "the best episode of the year" in my book.

It was an unusually consistent episode however. Who knew Gerard Butler was so awesome?

 

300 was all I ever saw him in, and it's easy to chalk up his awesomeness in that to other factors.

 

Where the heck was Samberg? I don't think he was even in the studio!

Have to say i actually thought this episode was kind of lame. They threw in pretty much every token SCOTTISH joke they could because, ya know, he's SCOTTISH! Though Thompson had some fairly hilarious bits..

It was the Kristen Wiig show....And boy....

Wiig is really very untalented..no scratch that she is...and she really knows how to focus it...no she doesn't..she doesn't play the same basic character everytime, yes she does..and it is fresh every single time, no it's not...Its' gotten to the point where i change the channel every time a skit with her pops up, no i don't but i very well might soon, no i won't quite yet. She reminds me alot of Bill Hader and how he was awesome from the start, no he wasn't but he didn't have talent, yes he did it was readily apparent, but it didn't take him long to learn how to channel it, no it did, yes it didn't, no it did and where the hell was Samberg?


I fear they may be forcing the digital shorts a bit too hard. They've been very hit and miss so far this year.. I think everyone can agree they are normally the BEST part of SNL, but they have to let Samberg and the Lonely Island Boys develop them as good material presents itself..

 

I frakking love Kristen Wiig. Everything she does on or off SNL is gold to me.

Yes, I even love Gilly. Drew Barrymore showed us how hard it is to effectively play a living cartoon character the week before last.

BTW, that Kristen Wiig impression was awful.

 

I've never been particularly fond of Kristen Wiig. Her best stuff is usually things other people seem to put her in rather than her own characters which get old pretty quick (like the Wall-Mart lady). I have at times liked her "Mom Film Reviews" on Weekend Update, but otherwise she mostly gets a yawn from me.

Bill Hader, on the other hand, is excellent. As is Sandberg and Seth Myers has proven for a while he's a great comedian (I think he's essentially taken over Tina Fey's position on the show -- not as good at it as she was, but then again that woman's more brilliant than any of these names).