"I love the way my voice bounce off your face and come back to my ears"
Cold Open: Larry King Live!
Cold Open: Larry King Live!
4 Stars
Bill Clinton faces his accusers, all of them
Norm plays Larry King and his guest tonight is President Bill Clinton, bumping Craig T. Nelson from the show. When Clinton is introduced the graphic below him reads "Craig T. Nelson, former star of Coach". Clinton wants to face his accusers to end all of the pointless allegations against him. Monica Lewinsky appears via satellite, Paula Jones is live from Arkansas, Susan McDougal appears from a Texas penitentiary where she's serving time for refusing to testify against the President, we also get John Huang, the Chinese businessman in the middle of the campaign finance scandal, Jim Guy Tucker, former Arkansas Governor serving time for Whitewater, William Ginsberg, Lewinsky's attorney, Leon Panetta, an insider in the Travelgate scandal and Vernon Jordan, an adviser to the President. Bill starts to speak but Larry has some more in the form of Lewinsky's mother, Paula Jones's attorney, a democratic fundraiser caught in a scandal, another man accused of illegal fundraising, Kathleen Willey, played by then writer Tina Fey, a state trooper involved in the Paula Jones case and another adviser to the president. They all speak at once and Bill tries to get out of an awkward situation by saying, "Live from New York..." but Larry won't let him get off that easy. He then turns to all the accusers who say the sign on in unison.
Scott Wolf Monologue
Norm plays Larry King and his guest tonight is President Bill Clinton, bumping Craig T. Nelson from the show. When Clinton is introduced the graphic below him reads "Craig T. Nelson, former star of Coach". Clinton wants to face his accusers to end all of the pointless allegations against him. Monica Lewinsky appears via satellite, Paula Jones is live from Arkansas, Susan McDougal appears from a Texas penitentiary where she's serving time for refusing to testify against the President, we also get John Huang, the Chinese businessman in the middle of the campaign finance scandal, Jim Guy Tucker, former Arkansas Governor serving time for Whitewater, William Ginsberg, Lewinsky's attorney, Leon Panetta, an insider in the Travelgate scandal and Vernon Jordan, an adviser to the President. Bill starts to speak but Larry has some more in the form of Lewinsky's mother, Paula Jones's attorney, a democratic fundraiser caught in a scandal, another man accused of illegal fundraising, Kathleen Willey, played by then writer Tina Fey, a state trooper involved in the Paula Jones case and another adviser to the president. They all speak at once and Bill tries to get out of an awkward situation by saying, "Live from New York..." but Larry won't let him get off that easy. He then turns to all the accusers who say the sign on in unison.
Scott Wolf Monologue
2 Stars
Audience members from New Jersey loudly interrupt Scott's monologue
Scott Wolf comes out and as soon as he mentions that he's from New Jersey, two loudmouth guys in the audience hoot and holler. They go on to say that they went to the same high school as Scott and kicked his ass. Another New Jersey native screams from the audience that Bon Jovi rules. Scott unifies everyone by quoting 'Born To Run' by Bruce Springsteen. This was on the weak side.
T.G.I. Friday's
Scott Wolf comes out and as soon as he mentions that he's from New Jersey, two loudmouth guys in the audience hoot and holler. They go on to say that they went to the same high school as Scott and kicked his ass. Another New Jersey native screams from the audience that Bon Jovi rules. Scott unifies everyone by quoting 'Born To Run' by Bruce Springsteen. This was on the weak side.
T.G.I. Friday's
3 Stars
Mary Katharine Gallagher trains for a server job
At least they're putting Mary Katharine Gallagher in a fresh location by having her train for a job at T.G.I. Friday's but this was still more of the same. She puts her hands under her armpits, she falls into some tables and she does a monologue from a TV movie. What really let me down about this sketch was how it was introduced. Will is the manager telling his employees to push the Cajun pot stickers and berating his employees for not knowing the temperature of the mozzarella sticks.
"Maybe that B.S. flies over at P.J. McWhiskers, but not here."
I thought I was in for a Will Ferrell yells at people sketch and then in crashes Mary. It's perfectly fine if you like the character. I love Molly Shannon as a performer but I am getting so bored of seeing the same thing over and over again. Lather, rinse, repeat.
The Celine Dion Show
At least they're putting Mary Katharine Gallagher in a fresh location by having her train for a job at T.G.I. Friday's but this was still more of the same. She puts her hands under her armpits, she falls into some tables and she does a monologue from a TV movie. What really let me down about this sketch was how it was introduced. Will is the manager telling his employees to push the Cajun pot stickers and berating his employees for not knowing the temperature of the mozzarella sticks.
"Maybe that B.S. flies over at P.J. McWhiskers, but not here."
I thought I was in for a Will Ferrell yells at people sketch and then in crashes Mary. It's perfectly fine if you like the character. I love Molly Shannon as a performer but I am getting so bored of seeing the same thing over and over again. Lather, rinse, repeat.
The Celine Dion Show
2 Stars
Celine Dion overshadows guests on her own show
This is one of the laziest things SNL does. A cast member wants to show off their celebrity impression so they make them the host of a talk show. This same premise could have worked in a sketch. Celine Dion meets other female singers and when they sing she feels compelled to sing louder and better than them. She then apologizes for being the best singer in the world. They could have been at a concert, backstage at the Grammys or a number of other possibilities but I'm instead supposed to suspend my disbelief and think that Celine Dion took a huge pay cut to host her own 5 minute talk show where she has guests like Mariah Carey and Erykah Badu. Which leads me to the other issue with this sketch. There are no black women on SNL yet they wrote a sketch with roles for two black women. Tim plays Erykah Badu and Cheri plays Mariah Carey. So many things wrong with this. First off, you can hire a black woman or you can have white people play white people. Cheri could have been Sarah MacLachlan or Alanis Morisette, at least they didn't darken her skin like they did when Billy Crystal played Sammy Davis, Jr.
Party Of Five
This is one of the laziest things SNL does. A cast member wants to show off their celebrity impression so they make them the host of a talk show. This same premise could have worked in a sketch. Celine Dion meets other female singers and when they sing she feels compelled to sing louder and better than them. She then apologizes for being the best singer in the world. They could have been at a concert, backstage at the Grammys or a number of other possibilities but I'm instead supposed to suspend my disbelief and think that Celine Dion took a huge pay cut to host her own 5 minute talk show where she has guests like Mariah Carey and Erykah Badu. Which leads me to the other issue with this sketch. There are no black women on SNL yet they wrote a sketch with roles for two black women. Tim plays Erykah Badu and Cheri plays Mariah Carey. So many things wrong with this. First off, you can hire a black woman or you can have white people play white people. Cheri could have been Sarah MacLachlan or Alanis Morisette, at least they didn't darken her skin like they did when Billy Crystal played Sammy Davis, Jr.
Party Of Five
2 Stars
A black man on Party Of Five?
Don't mock me or judge me but I never watched a second of Party Of Five. I have no idea what the show was about. Based on this sketch I think it's a drama about 5 people without a paternal figure but I don't know who the 5th person of the party is because this sketch only has Scott, Will, Molly and Cheri. They're talking in the kitchen, Will is on a hospital bed and then Tracy comes in. He tells them all that Annie is drinking again and he's gonna bring the car around so they can go see her. The four have no idea who this black man is. They wonder if he is Claudia's violin teacher or someone Scott met in AA. When they finally question him he shrugs and runs away. A better concept than an execution.
Weekend Update
Don't mock me or judge me but I never watched a second of Party Of Five. I have no idea what the show was about. Based on this sketch I think it's a drama about 5 people without a paternal figure but I don't know who the 5th person of the party is because this sketch only has Scott, Will, Molly and Cheri. They're talking in the kitchen, Will is on a hospital bed and then Tracy comes in. He tells them all that Annie is drinking again and he's gonna bring the car around so they can go see her. The four have no idea who this black man is. They wonder if he is Claudia's violin teacher or someone Scott met in AA. When they finally question him he shrugs and runs away. A better concept than an execution.
Weekend Update
"Caroline In The City was renewed for another season. When reached for comment, atheists everywhere said 'I told you so'"
Colin had a better delivery and better jokes this week. I still don't like this segment without Norm but I feel it necessary to point out when Colin is improving. Where Norm focused on well crafted jokes about things in the news, Colin seems to really be interested in the news. This leads to a lot of analogies most of the time. His story on Monica Lewinsky leads him to talk about he treats interns poorly, a story about homosexuals in the boy scouts makes him tell a story about how when he was a kid everybody knew the scout masters were gay and a story about the U.S. going to war with Iraq makes him compare the two countries to two people fighting in a bar. I also like to single out the O.J. jokes to disprove the theory that those were the reason Norm got fired. O.J. Simpson has reportedly been taking an online law course, he is now furious that he was acquitted.
Gunner Olsen, rock star, is here to help younger people understand stories in the news. So he sings them all in a heavy metal style. This seemed like it went on forever. It was the same bit over and over. Jim scream sings topical stories then tries to get the crowd pumped. My favorite part of the bit was that Colin introduced him as Gunner Olsen then during the bit called him 'Heavy Metal Guy', like he forgot his fake name, then at the end he just gives up and just called him Jim Breuer.
Natalie Imbruglia
"Torn"
I can't argue with this at all. I always loved this song when it came out and had kind of forgotten about it.
The 3rd Annual Reenactment Awards
3 Stars
An award show honoring the actors who reenact celebrity tragedies in TV biographies
Robert Stack (Darrell Hammond) hosts this award show dedicated to those fine actors who play parts like Marilyn Monroe's feet, Marvin Gaye's father's torso and the hand that opened the door to reveal a dead Mama Cass. A couple of good jokes here, I liked the cutaways to James L. Brooks, Jay Leno and Steven Bochco laughing from the crowd and got a laugh when Tim Meadows accepted his award saying, "Marvin Gaye's father this is for you!" but the problem with award show parodies is that all the jokes stem from how boring everything is. So I'm watching funny people tell bad jokes on purpose. Molly and Scott Wolf do an intentionally lame song and dance number about an actor who gets the call from his agent that he's been cast as the arms of Tommy Lee and a lifetime achievement award is given to John Crane who has played such characters as FDR's finger, DB Cooper stuffing money into a duffel bag and Joey Buttafuoco's back talking on the phone.
East Lake Cinema
Robert Stack (Darrell Hammond) hosts this award show dedicated to those fine actors who play parts like Marilyn Monroe's feet, Marvin Gaye's father's torso and the hand that opened the door to reveal a dead Mama Cass. A couple of good jokes here, I liked the cutaways to James L. Brooks, Jay Leno and Steven Bochco laughing from the crowd and got a laugh when Tim Meadows accepted his award saying, "Marvin Gaye's father this is for you!" but the problem with award show parodies is that all the jokes stem from how boring everything is. So I'm watching funny people tell bad jokes on purpose. Molly and Scott Wolf do an intentionally lame song and dance number about an actor who gets the call from his agent that he's been cast as the arms of Tommy Lee and a lifetime achievement award is given to John Crane who has played such characters as FDR's finger, DB Cooper stuffing money into a duffel bag and Joey Buttafuoco's back talking on the phone.
East Lake Cinema
2 Stars
Craig and Arianna do some cheers outside a screening of Titanic
Much like with the Mary Katharine Gallager sketch this episode, I felt cheated by the setup of this one. It starts with Kattan and Tim leaving Titanic and saying they loved the movie but were annoyed by some people screaming. Oooh, what's this gonna be? I say to myself, a fun new Tracy Morgan character? Nope, just the same old Spartan cheerleaders. It's too late in the show for a bit I've seen a million times. They're proud that they have finally met their goal of seeing Titanic 80 times and they have been standing outside movie theaters to cheer the movie on and encourage others to see it. Then Arianna talks about how she has changed her Party Of Five lunchbox into a Titanic lunchbox which upsets Scott Wolf as he knew she was his biggest fan and misses her. The three do the perfect cheer, lather, rinse, repeat.
Issues
Much like with the Mary Katharine Gallager sketch this episode, I felt cheated by the setup of this one. It starts with Kattan and Tim leaving Titanic and saying they loved the movie but were annoyed by some people screaming. Oooh, what's this gonna be? I say to myself, a fun new Tracy Morgan character? Nope, just the same old Spartan cheerleaders. It's too late in the show for a bit I've seen a million times. They're proud that they have finally met their goal of seeing Titanic 80 times and they have been standing outside movie theaters to cheer the movie on and encourage others to see it. Then Arianna talks about how she has changed her Party Of Five lunchbox into a Titanic lunchbox which upsets Scott Wolf as he knew she was his biggest fan and misses her. The three do the perfect cheer, lather, rinse, repeat.
Issues
1 Star
Two high people host a show
We get a Lost Deep Thoughts that tells us what the worst thing about King Kong walking down your street is, the children seeing the giant genitalia.
Guitarists
2 Stars
Two guys playing guitar on a college campus compete for female attention
Cheri, Molly and Ana are on a college campus when they come across Scott Wolf playing guitar and singing Simon And Garfunkel. They ooh ans aww over him until their attention turns to Kattan playing guitar and singing Desperado. Scott gets them back with Cats In The Cradle, Kattan fires back with Danny's Song, Scott responds with Wild World and they go back and forth like this for a while before Kattan says he's gonna play one of his originals. The girls reject him immediately as they don't know that song, can't sing along and now hate him. They beat him over the head with his own guitar and return to Scott who asks them up to his dorm to have sex.
Breath Spray Plus
4 Stars
A breath spray that's also a powerful chemical spray
A woman on the go can't have a cluttered purse. That's why Breath Spray Plus is a minty breath spray to keep you feeling fresh and a powerful and lethal chemical spray to ward of attackers. When the switch is on aqua it's a breath spray and when it's on sea green it's mace. Although each time you refill, the settings reverse and they may also reverse after going through x-ray machines or just depending on the lunar cycle. It comes with a conversion chart so you'll always know which setting it's on. From the makers of Eye Drop Plus which relieves irritated eyes and also emits a 1,000 volt shock. Don't know why the show puts new commercial parodies at the end of an episode instead of saving them for next week. Seems to me that if they are running short on time they would throw on a repeat. Its placement actually helped it though as it's shot in a style of a late night infomercial. I really liked the look of this and it reminded me of something I would see late in the evening on TV in the mid 90s.
FINAL ANALYSIS
A woman on the go can't have a cluttered purse. That's why Breath Spray Plus is a minty breath spray to keep you feeling fresh and a powerful and lethal chemical spray to ward of attackers. When the switch is on aqua it's a breath spray and when it's on sea green it's mace. Although each time you refill, the settings reverse and they may also reverse after going through x-ray machines or just depending on the lunar cycle. It comes with a conversion chart so you'll always know which setting it's on. From the makers of Eye Drop Plus which relieves irritated eyes and also emits a 1,000 volt shock. Don't know why the show puts new commercial parodies at the end of an episode instead of saving them for next week. Seems to me that if they are running short on time they would throw on a repeat. Its placement actually helped it though as it's shot in a style of a late night infomercial. I really liked the look of this and it reminded me of something I would see late in the evening on TV in the mid 90s.
FINAL ANALYSIS
"Party Of Who? Leonardo DiCaprio: Armani. Scott Wolf: K-Mart Jacqueline Smith Line"
Average
2.5 Stars
MVP
Molly Shannon
Larry King Live, T.G.I. Friday's, Party Of Five, Reenactment Awards, Guitarists
Larry King Live, T.G.I. Friday's, Party Of Five, Reenactment Awards, Guitarists
Best Sketch
Larry King Live!
Worst Sketch
Issues
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
First off, what's that commercial parody doing at the end of the night? Put that after the monologue where it belongs. As for the rest of the show, there was an abundance of recurring sketches and uninspired original sketches so placement wasn't really the issue. I would definitely move the Spartan Cheerleaders to before Update. Call me old fashioned but I like my SNL episodes to be cold open, monologue, commercial parody, recurring bits and topical sketches, Weekend Update, then all the weird stuff. When they throw in something I've seen a dozen times at the end of the show it just makes me think that they weren't even trying this week.
Host Analysis
A big old bag of meh. He did what was asked of him, which wasn't that much. I got the feeling that the one note characters he played were intentional. Like they didn't want to give him something he couldn't handle that would make him look bad. So he played a fun loving kid for the whole show and he didn't do anything to distract but he wouldn't be someone I would ever want to see on the show again.
Final Thoughts
A notch below average and nothing to get excited about. So many recurring bits made the whole episode just feel like they were coasting. On top of that, throw in a host who I will completely forget about come the end of the season and you have a very "meh" episode.
Up Next
Knowing the show's history of not usually trusting first time female hosts to be funny, I'm keeping my expectations very low for Julianne Moore. I'm also assuming that we will see at least 2 performances from musical guest The Backstreet Boys.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete