Saturday Night Live Season 16 Reviews - Best Ofs, Worst Ofs

Saturday Night Live Season 16: The Best And The Worst

Best Cold Open

A good opening can set the stage for a good show or raise expectations for a bad one.  Affair from the weak Catherine O'Hara episode showed a dramatization of Nancy Reagan making love to Frank Sinatra while her husband addressed the nation.  The second time we saw The McLaughlin Group was when it opened the Alec Baldwin episode.  Before the Persian Gulf war, George Bush met Saddam Hussein and Joe Mantegna in an Italian restaurant in a spoof of The Godfather in Assassinating Hussein.  George Steinbrenner had a Dream that he was the entire starting lineup of the New York Yankees.  Kevin Nealon dodged very specific questions about military intelligence from reporters during a Press Conference before the Kevin Bacon episode.

Worst Cold Open

 

On the other side, a bad cold open can really lower expectations to an episode or set the bar for a clunker.  In fact, all of these came from my least favorite episodes of the season.  Hans & Franz opened two episodes.  They went to Iraq to stomp Saddam a few weeks after the war was over in the Jeremy Irons episode and got beaten up by Steven Seagal.  Regis & Kathie Lee went to Saudi Arabia to entertain the troops before the Dennis Hopper episode.  Phil Hartman showcased Remington Shavers as New England Patriots owner Victor Kiam in a very thrown together piece before the Susan Lucci episode.  These were the only stinkers, my 5th slot goes to Presidential Address from the Dennis Quaid episode.  It wasn't terrible but it was the laziest of the president Bush talks to the camera pieces.

Best Monologue

 

This season gave us Tom Hanks getting inducted into the 5 Timers Club which is still a classic.  But it also gave us to of my new favorites.  I loved Joe Mantegna tough talking a child into staying for the show after he was disappointed that he wasn't 49ers quarterback Joe Montana.  I also got a big kick out of George Wendt wrestling and square dancing with the queen of England.  The final two spots on my list go to Kyle MacLachlan who spoiled the mystery of Twin Peaks before getting a phone call from an angry David Lynch and Michael J. Fox who went back in time with the help of two other Michael J. Fox's played by Dana Carvey and David Spade.

Worst Monologue

 

These all seemed lazy but have one more thing in common.  They are all from unfunny people who could have used a little help.  First we have Sting who instead of trying his hand at a comical monologue sang a song.  This was fine but since he was also the musical guest and would sing two more in the episode it was a bit of overkill.  Then we have George Steinbrenner who basically just walked out and said he was oblivious to any of the jokes that would be made on his behalf this evening.  Jimmy Smits had his monologue simulcast in Spanish by Don Pardo until the bit started not working and was abandoned.  Roseanne Barr did a "stand-up" monologue that had less jokes and more Roseanne bitching about her public life.  My least favorite came from Dennis Quaid who said he's famous for his grin and then stumbled over a poor excuse for a punchline.  Hinting at his poor performance to come.

Best Commercial Parody

 

My two favorites of the year both came late in the Roseanne Barr episode. Happy Fun Ball is a seemingly harmless plaything but comes with a lengthy list of warnings and Opposites Attract is a romantic comedy trailer that takes the Pretty Woman concept of falling in love with a prostitute to a reality the film didn't touch upon.  Hedley And Wyche is a classic commercial for British toothpaste which includes the entire cast sporting bad teeth.  Farley spreading his sugary toothpaste on a cracker is one of the highlights of the season.  Patrick Swayze and Dana Carvey sand competing insulting songs about each other in Super Feud.  Then there's the meta No Commercial where a narrator explains that the commercial planned for that night "Execu-John: The briefcase you can poop in" is too tasteless to be broadcast.

Worst Commercial Parody

 

As usual, the commercial parodies on SNL are usually pretty good so these aren't really bad but are just the weakest of a good crop.  Phil Hartman plays Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton in two versions of Tax Ad where he tells America to call their congressmen to vote against a tax hike on the super rich.  Phil also announces that if you fly Pan Am you get to keep the plane.  Dana does some silly dances in an exercise machine in The Dancer.  My least favorite comes from the all around bad Jeremy Irons episode where the host promotes a music compilation of classical compositions that were heard on cartoons in Looney Tunes Classics.

Best Sketch

 

Season 16 gave us the all-time great Chris Farley sketch Chippendales where he goes toe to toe with Patrick Swayze in a sexy dance-off.  Before watching this season I was also familiar with Tom Hanks playing Mr. Short-Term Memory when he competed on Game Beaters and Twin Peaks from the Kyle MacLachlan episode.  Those 3 were already classics in my mind but I discovered a lot of great sketches that I had either never seen or forgotten all about.  Joe Mantegna appeared on a radio show about crime in Hello New York.  Patrick Swayze regretted coming back to his disgusting girlfriend in Ghost.  Charlton Heston introduced a dramatization of what life would be like if gun laws passed in NRA Theater from the Delta Burke episode.  Sting played Dr. Frankenstein teaching his monster how to be a civilized gentleman.  The Kyle MacLachlan episode also gave us 2 Live Crew where a bunch of white people pitched offensive song lyrics to Luther Campbell.  The Dennis Quaid episode was a complete stinker except for Mustang Calhoun where Quaid played a renegade pilot who avoids the rules in more and more absurd ways.  Finally there's Misery II from the Roseanne Barr episode where Annie kidnaps Dana Carvey and forces him to play the Church Lady.  A rare sketch that I feel is strong enough to sustain an entire episode of SNL.

Worst Sketch

 

It wouldn't be a discussion about season 16 without mentioning Steven Seagal and while I liked that episode for the most part, Daddy's Girl where Seagal played a threatening father is one of the worst of all time.  Although looking at this list, it's not as bad as some of the other crappy ones.  Jeremy Irons singing a Cowboy Song may have been funny on paper but in execution it was abysmally unfunny.  Justice League was a big mess where a bunch of superheroes complain about the way Catherine O'Hara flies.  Manhattan Mobile Homes from the all around terrible Jimmy Smits episode was basically just a sight gag that they thought could sustain a full sketch.  My absolute least favorite is probably The Godfather Part IV because it was not only bad but also unnecessarily long as Alec Baldwin plays Michael Corleone in space.  The Susan Lucci episode appears twice on this list.  All My Luggage was a soap opera about lost bags at the airport that really outstayed its welcome and I Will Not Cry has the same joke over and over as Mike Myers keeps holding back tears.  The George Steinbrenner episode was fun when they were making fun of him, when they made him act like in Paying For Dinner his limitations as a performer were made painfully obvious.  High School Reunion was a big misfire from the Michael J. Fox episode as Kevin Nealon keeps implying that he is going to murder people, over and over and over and over again.  Finally there's Civil War from the Dennis Hopper episode where a bunch of soldiers pose for a photograph.  It was a bad idea made worse by Hopper's fumbling with the cue cards.

Best Recurring Sketch

 

These are the 5 I didn't get sick of.  There's something inherently silly about The Dark Side With Nat X that I kept enjoying as Chris Rock in his afro wig cursed whitey.  I could probably see The McLaughlin Group once a week and never tire of it.  Wayne's World appeared 4 times this season and was consistently good.  This year introduced the Superfans first with Joe Mantegna then with George Wendt who would continue the sketch through future seasons.  What makes a great recurring sketch to me is growth of character.  Most recurring sketches are the same thing over and over but the really good ones continue the story of these characters for years.  The first time we saw Johnny Carson he was interviewing Arsenio Hall and worrying about his longevity and the last time we saw him he's emulating Arsenio as Carsenio a hip version of himself.

Worst Recurring Sketch

 

Remember how I said I enjoy character growth?  These were exactly the same every single time.  The least offensive was Sprockets as there was always something a little different each time but it seemed that they brought out Dieter when they had nothing else that week.  No ideas and a lame host?  Maybe Dieter could interview him.  We were introduced to and grew tired of 4 new characters this year.  I'm Chillin' was the same every single time as Rock and Farley advertised malt liquor and told 'yo momma' jokes.  Richmeister was annoying every single time and never changed except briefly once when his beloved copy machine was taken away.  Coffee Talk with Paul Baldwin was so dull that they kept retooling the character.  He first appeared with slicked back hair, then a gray wig then next season he will be replaced altogether with with Linda Richman.  Finally It's Pat which I have been a defender of.  I enjoy the film and think it takes the character to places the sketches never did.  However, the first 4 installments of the ambiguous gendered character come off as mean spirited and trans-phobic in retrospect.  I'm hoping we get more humanity and less mean gags next season.

Best Musical Guest

 

Based on performance my winner this year is Fishbone.  They took over the stage and brought a jolt of energy to the pretty crappy Jeremy Irons episode.  Based on what got my toes tapping the most my winner is Michael Bolton.  I always thought of him as a joke when I was a kid but maybe it's because I'm older and lame now but I loved his set and his appearance in Musicians For Free Range Chickens.  Other guests I liked include INXS and Whitney Houston.  Then there's The Time who were a nice yin to George Steinbrenner's un-hip and old white guy yang.

Worst Musical Guest

 

I think Deee-Lite has a place but SNL was just not the right fit for their repetitive dance pop.  While their outfits were colorful, their songs never seemed to end and kept going around in circles.  Pumping at a gay dance club, fine.  Sitting on my couch trying to enjoy an episode of SNL, not so fine.

Best Weekend Update Desk Piece

 

Some new faces and a few old standards.  Chris Rock's first season brought him to the Update desk numerous times where he was basically just doing his stand-up routine but they were always smart and funny.  Adam Sandler came on late in the season and visited the desk twice, the second time where he had a one-sided conversation with his mother was the funnier of the two.  Dana Carvey brought back two of his old favorites this year with Grumpy Old Man and, along with Tom Hanks, sang Jingle Bells as dueling Dennis Millers.  My favorite of the year were the few times we got Al Franken as a one man mobile reporter in Baghdad.  Once getting lost and sick from drinking his own urine and once getting hit by a missile that honed in on his radar.

Worst Weekend Update Desk Piece

 

Nothing this year really stunk but I groaned every time A. Whitney Brown came out with some topical humor.  I'm guessing this worked at the time but sometimes it was a bit too high brow for my tastes.

Best 10-1 Sketch

 

The last sketch of the night, it's time to get silly.  Like when Alec Baldwin needed help from Cyrano De Bergerac who taught him to speak hip and jive to his woman as Cyrano here was played by Tim Meadows who had the widest nose in all of France.  George Wendt played Graffi, a children's singer who is transitioning to more adult themes in The Sunrise Show.  Jack Handey had a short film at the end of the Jeremy Irons episode called Football Days which took his Deep Thoughts to the next level as it added absurd visuals.  Mouse Trap Seminar from the Patrick Swayze episode taught a group of idiots not to grab cheese from mouse traps, including mouse traps that they see on film.  As Kevin Nealon puts it, "This is movie cheese".  Finally there's Brace Steele: Greenpeace Photographer from the Steven Seagal episode.  The more I think about it, the more I like this stupid sketch.  Seagal plays a pacifist photojournalist who keeps getting slapped around and not fighting back.  Even Seagal's terrible performance and seeming inability to string words together cohesively could derail this.

Worst 10-1 Sketch

 

These were all weak cappers to weak episodes.  Catherine O'Hara married a dead guy in A Wedding And A Funeral which had promise but did nothing.  Kevin Bacon sang an unfunny song while cleaning his gun in Cleaning My Rifle.  Chris Rock danced around as M.C. Hammer in the rushed and seemingly thrown together at the last minute The Sound Of Music from the Susan Lucci episode.  Delta Burke and Jan Hooks yelled at their children in Shouting Mothers.  Jimmy Smits repeated everything anyone said to him in Detectives.

Best Host

 

A good host has the ability to play the comedian and the straight man as all of these guys did.  It should be no surprise that Tom Hanks and John Goodman fared well.  George Wendt is also a recurring guest at 8H and handled himself extremely well in a multiple variety of sketches.  The two biggest surprises for me were Kyle MacLachlan from the season premiere and my pick for best host of the season Joe Mantegna.  Mantegna was hilarious both playing funny characters and straight men.  Watch him in Nightline where he plays a soldier being interviewed by Ted Koppel.  He has no jokes but gets all the laughs just with his reactions.

Worst Host

 

Sometimes an actor not known for comedy can surprise.  Sometimes they show you why they are not known for comedy and should never attempt it again.  Steven Seagal is reportedly one of the worst hosts ever but I liked his episode.  I thought the writing helped a dreadful host.  He was terrible, the show was good.  The other 4 on this list brought down everything around them.  Jeremy Irons played dry characters all night that elicited no laughs.  Susan Lucci proved that soap opera acting and live sketch comedy are two very different mediums.  Jimmy Smits seemed to to see humor as a foreign language.  The absolute worst of the season was Dennis Quaid.  He not only had a really hard time reading off cue cards, stumbling in pretty much every sketch, but he also displayed a complete lack of comic timing.

Best Episode Ratings

Joe Mantegna/Vanilla Ice - 3.8 Stars
George Wendt/Elvis Costello - 3.5 Stars
Patrick Swayze/Mariah Carey - 3.5 Stars
Roseanne Barr/Deee-Lite - 3.5 Stars
Sting - 3.5 Stars

Worst Episode Ratings

Susan Lucci/Hothouse Flowers - 2.2 Stars
Jimmy Smits/World Party - 2.3 Stars
Jeremy Irons/Fishbone - 2.4 Stars
Dennis Quaid/The Neville Brothers - 2.5 Stars
Michael J. Fox/The Black Crowes - 2.6 Stars
Catherine O'Hara/R.E.M. - 2.6 Stars

Episode average for the season - 3 out of 5 Stars, right in the middle.  A perfectly average season of SNL.  Much like every season of SNL.

Up Next
Season 16 Cast Rankings