caseywilson

(S34E07) Although I have fond memories of Mango and Ben Who-fleck working Saturday Night Live together back in the day, I was pretty disappointed by this episode. I think someone told Ben Affleck that he's pretty all right on SNL and it got to his head, because he was trying way, way too hard. It was almost to the point where it was unbearably awkward. If not for Senator John McCain's appearances, this episode would have been wholly unremarkable. I mean, apart from its super-weakness.

(S34E05) First of all: It felt like Josh Brolin wasn't really hosting the show, but just kind of hanging out until Mark Wahlberg and Sarah Palin got their business done. He did a fair job with what he was given, though. Secondly: Fartface. Why? Why would they do that? I'm glad NBC.com didn't post that video, because it was so bafflingly bad that everyone that was in the room with me, watching the episode, was reeling from the effects. Please note that I am someone who still laughs at "duty," so a sketch revolving around the word "fartface" should have killed me. Instead, it just left me a little confused and wondering what stuff ends up on the SNL writing room floor. Anyway, this was a big episode, so here are some video highlights:

Well, that was a little strange... and maybe a little unnecessary. All right, it was definitely unnecessary. I wasn't quite sure how they were going to work out these Thursday election specials, because even though they called it "Weekend Update Thursday", I didn't believe they were just going to show a twenty-some minute long "Weekend Update" segment. As it turned out, the special consisted of one cold open and the rest was "Weekend Update." This is where I got super-confused. Half of these jokes had absolutely nothing to do with the election, leaving me to wonder if there is anyone out there that could not have waited until Saturday night to hear the relevant jokes. I don't think anyone's going to forget the election or the economic crisis any time soon, let alone by Saturday.

(S34E04) This season so far has been more than a little iffy, but Anne Hathaway managed to make things slightly less painful. Even though the writing still wasn't quite spot-on, Hathaway's enthusiasm brought a light to the show that made even the most irritating sketches a bit more bearable. Honestly, I had my doubts about her hosting abilities, mainly because her good girl giddiness clashes heavily with my black-hearted bitchiness, but I didn't mind her. I'm sure she could even easily make the jump from "pretty good" to "absolutely spectacular," given the right material. Also, she managed to read the cue cards without looking like a complete idiot, which most other hosts have somehow turned into a massive ordeal lately. Mmm, literacy plus natural reading: a combination so deliciously rare, the writers don't even know what to do with it.

I guess it was just a matter of time. Amy Poehler's star has been on the rise for a year or so now, ever since Tina Fey left Saturday Night Live for greener pastures, Poehler has been the female go-to gal on the show. So after the November elections, Amy Poehler will be leaving SNL forever. Sure, she'll still be on NBC, as they're developing a new show around her, that isn't that proposed The Office spinoff. The problem is that this leaves SNL with a serious estrogen problem.

Kristen Wiig is funny, but seems a bit limited, and we haven't really seen much from Casey Wilson yet. I can't imagine she expected to go from a featured player to an important female comedian so quickly. What she needs to do, though, is really up her presence on the show. We've seen a bit of what Bobby Moynihan can do as far as wacky characters, so now it's Casey's turn. Hopefully, they'll bring in another woman to diversify the cast a bit more. I vote for Lindsay Lohan. Then the show will be guaranteed a trainwreck every week!

(S34E01) Well, well, Saturday Night Live is back for another season and we couldn't be more excited. Actually, we probably could be more excited, but we're still tuning in and that's what matters.

Personally, I believe they took a risk in inviting an athlete to open the season with a bang, as I often find their performances super-awkward and damn near unwatchable, but there are folks that go totally nuts when sports people host. Plus, Michael Phelps was definitely the sweetheart of the summer and it was a smart move to grab him before he retired to his giant fish tank in Baltimore. His performance was still pretty awkward, but at least they didn't give him a lot of crazy characters to struggle through.

Just wanted to post a quick report about yesterday's late-afternoon Saturday Night Live panel. On the panel was (new TCA Career Achievement award winner) Lorne Michaels, Weekend Update anchor and co-head-writer Seth Meyers, and cast members Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Kristin Wiig, Will Forte, and Casey Wilson.

Given the comedy star power on stage, the panel was strangely unfunny. That's probably because Michaels answered most of the questions. Anyway, two pieces of news came out of this panel:

• SNL will run live 30-minute Thursday election specials in primetime starting October 9 and running until the election. The specials will feature Weekend Update but may also have sketches. There will also be a primetime "Presidential Bash" episode the night before the election.
• Michaels mentioned that Jimmy Fallon will air his show online for "five or six months" before it airs in Conan O'Brien's old timeslot, in order to give it a headstart in finding its creative legs. "We learned with Conan how brutal it was to find a show when it was on the air," he said.

(S33E12) To ensure a strong season finale, Saturday Night Live made a very smart choice to go with Steve Carell. He is an incredible comedic performer and his first hosting stint went pretty well, so I wasn't surprised to see him pull it off again this time around. Actually, this picture is from the first time Carell hosted. Is it weird that I've had it sitting on my desktop since then? Yes, probably. Anyway, the material was better than some of the other episodes', with a few spectacular highlights, including the hilarious digital short.

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(S33E11) I honestly was not worried about Shia LaBeouf delivering a less than stellar performance, as his first stint on Saturday Night Live showed that he works well with the cast and is naturally very goofy. With a funny guy like this, one can only pray that the writers use him as much as possible and work super-hard to give him embarrassingly crazy sketches. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Again. The writing was okay, but it did not do LaBeouf justice. Also, there seemed to be a strange flow to the episode, as the energy of sketches would start dying halfway through and eventually end on a really weird line. Let's hope the writers aren't already losing steam. They still have a season finale!

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