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May 26, 2012

Saturday Night Live: Amy Adams/Vampire Weekend - VIDEOS

by Annie Wu, posted Mar 9th 2008 11:58AM
Amy Adams(S33E07) I was really hoping that this night would redeem Saturday Night Live from the crappiness of Ellen Page's episode, but, boy, was I disappointed. Usually, when an episode is weak, I just shrug it off, write a post about it, and move on. This time, I actually felt a bit of regret when it was over. "I totally could have been using that time to clean my room," I thought. Obviously, I wasn't particularly fond of this one.

I haven't seen Amy Adams in much apart from Talladega Nights and Enchanted and, even though both of these films left me feeling like I could have been using the time to clean my room, I was all right with Adams. Unfortunately, she looked super nervous throughout the episode and sped through her lines so quickly that she would sometimes use really bizarre inflection.

Cold Open: I don't know if it's because I read political blogs and watch a lot of Daily Show and Colbert Report, but I'm already super tired of hearing about this 3AM ad. It feels like an old meme. Sure, SNL handled it in a new way, but still. I wasn't so into this Cold Open, apart from Hillary's "You're not smoking again, are you?!"



Monologue: What a surprise, Amy Adams sang a song. In this duet with Kristen Wiig, Adams took on her dream role of Elphaba from Wicked. She seemed nervous and unsure of herself, and this turned out to be a pretty big problem throughout the rest of the night.

"Mirror Image": This was the first skit? Seriously? I got super worried that this was their idea of a strong start. I mean, it was a cute idea and all, but man, it was weak. The best part was Wiig crashing through that desk.

"Couples Therapy": Again, a funny idea, but weak execution. I think I wanted to go to bed at this point.

"SNL Digital Short: Hero Song": I got bored really quickly and was tempted to just record the rest of the show and leave it for the morning, but I'm glad I stuck around for this. The pay-off was spectacular and I couldn't stop laughing at Jason Sudeikis' repeated one-side punching. Awesome.



"Fierce: The Hot Mess Makeover Show": This was one big Project Runway inside joke, so anyone who hasn't seen the show before probably just got really annoyed. Since I was PR religiously, I thought this was hysterical. Amy Poehler did a spot-on Christian, not only in voice but in body language. Bill Hader was also fantastic as Tim "Silver Tranny Fierocia" Gunn. I noticed that the featured new girl Casey Wilson reads the cue cards like a host, not a player. Actually, Wilson in general irks me, but I'm not entirely sure why. Then again, I sort of felt the same way about Poehler when she started. Hmm. I guess I'll just need to give her time.



"Weekend Update": Man, way to drag me down after the giddiness of a Project Runway skit. "Update" wasn't hot at all this week. I even looked forward to Tim Calhoun and he let me down. I did find Kenan Thompson's Jean K. Jean very interesting though. Is he just really into French? He used to have that recurring Pierre Escargot character in All That many, many years ago. Zut alors!



"Penelope": Even Penelope sucked this week. What's up with this? The only good part was "That's my eye in the pyramid..."



"Dr. Uncle Jimmy's Smokehouse and Outpatient Surgical Facility": Really funny idea, weak execution. I don't know how many more times I can repeat this, actually. It just felt like the theme of the night or something.

"Roger Clemens Presents...": Sudeikis had crazy arms, Poehler and Adams didn't. Umm... Steroids are bad. That pretty much sums it up.

"Tookie Styles Show": Okay, I did sort of laugh at this one, but only during the Adams part when she went back to get her purse. The rest of it was just irritating and not particularly funny.

"Desperate": Usually I can tell when the end of the night is drawing near because they pull out their weakest sketches. Since this night was particularly crappy, I was actually caught off guard for the good-bye. This dancing ladies sketch was just as bad as everything else from the evening.

Vampire Weekend: These boys look like the most un-vampire-y people ever.

Next time: Jonah Hill and Janet Jackson. A match made in heaven, right?

How would you rate the episode?
1 - Terrible!72 (15.3%)
293 (19.7%)
3116 (24.6%)
481 (17.2%)
5 - Awesome!109 (23.1%)

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Gwasmm

I seem to be the only one around who did not think this episode totally blowed. I actually laughed enough to make it a worthwhile watch.

I thought the opening, although too long, was done in an intersting way with pictures rather than video, and I laughed enough to make it worthwhile.

I did not like the monologue, and agree that Amy Adams seemed a bit lost in the entire show.

I had had a number of beers, so maybe the fact that I laughed everytime Wiig winked and farted was due to the alcohol - but, I did.

Couples Therapy - it is fun to see Amy do something understated, she is just so versitile and fun to watch.

Digital Short - did not like it, saw the punches coming a mile away, and even anticipated that the beating was going to go on for a long time.

Fierce - never seen the show it was lampooning so I was pretty lost.

Penelope - I LOVED this character - but it may be time to retire her. It has become too wacky - it used to be ALMOST a real person.

WU - I thought Amy and Seth were funny, some good jokes in there. Tim Calhoon and Keenan were both good. Loved the "Super Tuesday" joke.

STeakhouse - it was stupid, and one joke over and over. But again - I laughed - what can I say? Maybe I'm just easily amused. Liked the "review": They are performins Surgury in a BBQ restauruant. - Jefferson County Police Department.

Roger Clemens - thought the guy who played Roger was good, but this one was definately too long.

Tookie - wierd, but funny. Laughed everytime the gunfire started.

Desparate - OK - I finally agree with everyone -this one blew.

March 11 2008 at 7:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Steve

Wow I really am shocked at the response to Weekend Update. I thought it was the only good part of the whole episode. "Joke of the week!" was hilarious, and as much as I can't stand Keenan, the French Def Comedy Jam bit was the funniest idea he's ever had. Seth's best line "A Baltimore bar owner has built a robot with a water cannon to keep drug dealers away. This just in, a Baltimore bar owner has been killed by wet drug dealers."

March 10 2008 at 1:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dan

Terrible. I only watched to see Amy, but I quickly remembered why I'm a bigger fan of MadTV than SNL. Just terrible.

Still crazy about Amy, however, in a creepy stalker-ish way.

March 10 2008 at 8:53 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kevjohn

Hmm, how about a new categorization for awfulness. I got one. This was the worst SNL episode of the post-9/11 era. In fact the entire writing and performing staff of this ep. is in wanton violation of the Patriot Act. Because it is clear they have committed an act of terrorism against the Art of Comedy.

In particular, anyone who had anything at all to do with that first "Mirror Image" sketch about the nearly identical twins should be shipped off immediately to Guantanamo. That shit is so old I think they did a similar sketch way back when the Olsen twins were still cute. And it wasn't funny then.

You're saying, Ms. Wu, exactly what I've been saying since they returned with the Tina Fey episode. The concepts for the sketches are OK for the most part, but they're coming up woefully short when it comes to fleshing them out into 5-minute skits. It's as if the writers spent their time during the 100-day strike conceiving ideas for the show, but no jokes. And now they're back and unleashing the huge stockpile of rhinoceros crap they've amassed upon us, the unsuspecting public.

There's no way this once-proud show should be on the air in its current form.

March 09 2008 at 11:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
GerryofNorVA

90mins in 15

This show was SOOO poor that I FF'ed through it all in 15-mins. The opening sketch was overdone reminding me of a jr-high skit when kids don't yet understand the concept of overplaying a joke. The intro credits always take so long I ran out to Walmart for a six-pack and still made it back in time for Amy's opening, which I quickly skipped through after it was made painfully clear that she and Kristen look alike. All the skits leading to the woefully mis-named "Vampire Weekend" performance were lame. Weekend Update just doesn't cut it anymore, it's so hit or miss, and inconsistently uneven. There's so much political and cultural material whose potential is just going to waste with their inept writing staff. The digital short featuring Samburg was forgettable, and the backend set of skits was better used as a sedative.

SNL really needs a serious retooling. And to start they should look at going to a 1-hr format, they just can't do justice to 90-mins any way you cut it; they just don't have the goods to fill that much time. They need to let the hosts stand on their own talent during the opening monologue instead of fouling it all up with contrived production numbers and cast tie-ins. Weekend Update should go back to a single person format and shortened but with snappier, comically-timed writing. Heck, bring Chevy Chase back to do it if you must. Finally, lose the musical acts. That's a legacy thing from the '70s, we've got more music variety than we know what to do with these days. Fill that space with better skits, animated interludes, digital shorts, or stand up comics. Anything would be better.

So, there you go, criticisms with ideas to make it better. Whatever.

March 09 2008 at 9:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
James

The show sucked. The musical guest, Vampire Weekend, was pretty much the only thing worth watching.

March 09 2008 at 7:56 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Paul

Was impressed with Vampire Weekend (had no idea what to expect other than that my friend liked them, so I knew they weren't going to be goth-y or anything). Enjoyed the Couples Therapy sketch quite a bit, as well as the Digital Short. Found parts of the rest of the show enjoyable (Roger Clemons Theatre and Tim Calhoun, specifically) but nothing else really stood out too much.

The difference between last week and this week is that nothing stood out as AWFUL this week, either. It was "just okay" all around. Mildly funny and not poorly acted, it didn't make me want to fast forward through anything, which unfortunately WAS the case last week.

March 09 2008 at 6:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Danny Smith

Is "un-vampire-y" a good review or bad.

March 09 2008 at 6:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ben G

i'm glad they used more of Bill Hader (the best person on the show), but sad they didn't use him very well outside of Tim Gunn and the old military guy in the Tookie sketch.

March 09 2008 at 5:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kals

Episodes like this really kill me because SNL really has so much potential right now. With talent like Samberg, Sudekis, Hader and especially Wiig SNL could be brilliant, but the writing seems to ruin it every week. I honestly dont even know if I could watch this without Kristen Wiig, she is easily the standout on the show every week. The new girl is doing nothing for me either. I dont know whether its because the Poehler, Rudolph, Wiig threesome was so good but she just hasn't been working.
Im also really disappointed in the digital shorts, since coming back from the writers strike they haven't been funny where as before they were consistently hilarious. they need another Dear Sister or something. I really hope next week they dont bomb with Jonah Hill because that could be a great episode.
And finally just have to say that Wiig can do no wrong, even if it was the worst Penelope thus far, it still was the funniest sketch of the night in my opinion.

March 09 2008 at 5:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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