“Try these on for size, Connie Chung”
3 Stars
Coach Belushi gives a pep talk to Fran Tarkenton and the cast. He runs them through funny face drills and makes them mug for the camera as well as making sure they know what to do in the event of blowing a line. I always like when the host is in the cold open just to get some self-referential stuff out of the way. Although this is pretty much the whole episode. The whole cast gets to say “Live from New York…”.
Which I liked and would go on to hate when they start doing it every episode 45 years later.
Fran Tarkenton Monologue
5 Stars
Ah, the 1977 Super Bowl. I remember it well. So obviously this wasn’t intended to be watched 50 years later but even if I had been alive and watching the show at this time in would probably be as familiar with Fran Tarkenton as I was J.J. Watt and Travis Kelce when they hosted. I’m not a big fan of the foosball. But this monologue got me. As soon as Fran started singing Feelings I legit wondered what the hell I was watching. But then Bill breaks in with a report from the sidelines where Coach Belushi is now questioning his decision to let Fran sing. He sends in Garrett to replace him who finishes the song while John berates his star quarterback.
Swiss Army Gun
3 Stars
Pitchman Dan shows us a new hunting tool with bazooka attachments. More about the prop work than anything else but it’s fun.
Amy
4 Stars
Amy Carter comes to class with her secret service detail Dan and Bill. They quickly get all they can out of this premise and get out which I appreciated. They help the president’s daughter cheat and hilariously slam Gilda’s head into her desk when she’s a perceived threat.
Sideline
4 Stars
Dan’s arm has been pulled off and Coach John has him tape it back on before shoving Fran out to do the musical introduction. Not really a sketch but it’s fun and keeps the episode moving…
Leo Sayer
“When I Need You”
…because the mood is about to get really weird. So far it’s been football, guns, and abusing children and now we get a slow love ballad with a dreamy saxophone. Plus Leo Sayer staring deep into my soul every now and then through the TV.
Black Perspective
3 Stars
Garrett interviews Fran about black athletes and Fran says that black people can’t be quarterbacks due to inferiorities. At first, Garrett gets angry but then agrees and thanks him for his explanation. I laughed when I thought I knew where it was going but then felt uncomfortable when it got where it went. I’m assuming it’s all in good fun but it makes you feel a little icky.
Alsatian Restaurant
5 Stars
I can’t remember if I’ve ever seen this but I loved it. Bill and Jane go to a restaurant in the chef’s house. Dan is the chef who gets into a marital argument that escalates into violence and chaos. A great pandemonium sketch with a lot of insanity. The repeated “our daughter Francine will play the recorder” had me laughing every time and it even has a solid punchline with Bill getting the check over Dan’s corpse. Wonderful lunacy.
Sugar-Frosted Anabolic Steroids
4 Stars
Fran does a commercial for a steroids breakfast cereal. He’s giggling a lot but it mixes well with his ‘aw-shucks’ delivery. Good punchline with his wife and child having full beards.
Weekend Update
Jane starts by reading a letter from a woman who misses that sexy Chevy Chase. Apparently the show has been getting letters saying Update has been going downhill and is just plain boring. Have they been reading my blog? Jane rips open her shirt to placate the audience that wants sex appeal over responsible journalism. It’s a great moment and reminds you that Jane is better than this. But then she tells bad jokes but gives sexy winks afterwards. So, what have we learned? Jane is fun. I tend to forget that when watching Update. It’s not her fault that this segment stinks, just kill it.
Community Appeal
3 Stars
Fran does a pretty funny PSA for Belushi who has destroyed his mind with drugs.
And we get more Update with Jane giving sexy winks to the camera after punchlines fizzle. If you can even call them punchlines. The nerve of them to think, we’re gonna write the worst jokes for this woman and then blame her and tell her to be more sexy to save them.
Alice
3 Stars
Fran is trying to get some from Laraine with the help of some Lay Lady Lady but takes a timeout to talk to Coach Belushi on the sidelines again. Think we may be going to this runner too much and this also confused me with the premise. I thought that Fran was getting sketch advice from Belushi since that is what we established earlier. But he’s a character in this sketch getting advice on how to score with Laraine. So I spent half the sketch confused and the other half disappointed they’re going back to this well again.
Grand Stand
4 Stars
Bill and Garrett tease first half highlights after these messages.
And the message is the Wrigley’s commercial that was cut from all the Season 1 episodes it appeared in when I watched it. This was super fun and random, I loved it.
We come back to Fran just bleeding through that Chroma Key but he can’t hear so Bill and Garrett stall for time with shots of the Saturday Night blimp, random clips, and the Howard Shore marching band. This is my kind of funny and a great continuation of the runner to have a halftime show. They play some clips from the show with commentary and there’s also a lot of technical difficulties here that just adds to the fun. A big groan at the ending joke of Garrett providing the “color” commentary. Come on, that’s the second time this episode.
Leo Sayer
“You Make Me Feel Like Dancing”
All right, I can jam out to this. This dude’s voice is insane and he jumps from octave to octave with barely any effort.
Small Worlds
2 Stars
It’s another Gary Weis film and it’s…interesting. It’s a bunch of exotic animals. Does it fit in the show? Not really. But it would work on Sesame Street and the frog was cool.
French Liquid
3 Stars
A perfume that smells different depending on the woman. Smelling like Cecily Tyson’s toothbrush made me laugh.
Donny Harper & The Voices Of Tomorrow
“Sing A Song”
This was fucking awesome too. I wasn’t expecting to like both musical guests. And I ain’t mad about another song. I didn’t feel like writing about a sketch anyway.
Credit Card
3 Stars
Gilda and Jane try to out Long Island each other in a sketch that turned into white noise after a while but I strangely didn’t hate it.
FINAL ANALYSIS
“If we don’t have fun with it, the audience won’t have fun with it”
3.5 Stars
MVP
Jane Curtin
Locker Room, Amy, Alsatian Restaurant, Sugar-Frosted Anabolic Steroids, Weekend Update, French Liquid, Credit Card
Best Sketch
Alsatian Restaurant
Worst Sketch
Small Worlds
How I Would Have Lorne Michaels-ed It
First off, I have no idea what’s going on at the Goodnights, some kind of conga line. I enjoyed this one pretty much from beginning to end. It’s a little weird that Fran isn’t in anything after the half time sketch so why not move Alice to the 10-1 slot and you can end with one last sidelines runner. Speaking of which, the runner was fun. I wouldn’t mind more stuff like this. It gives the episode an identity. What was the Fran Tarkenton episode like? It was fun, they did a whole football themed show. What was the Jon Heder episode like? I dunno, they did a bunch of sketches.
Host Analysis
Pleasantly surprised. Do I want to see him again? No. But he handled himself well and had a naturally fun cornpone delivery that worked. I mean he played Fran Tarkenton all night so I don’t think they were counting too much on his acting abilities but he acquitted himself.
Final Thoughts
An overall fun watch. The football runner kept the show moving at a real nice pace. Both musical guests were good, Update was at least interesting with the Jane commentary, and I finally got to see that Wrigley’s commercial. We also got Amy and Alsatian Restaurant which I’ll probably forget came from this episode but were both non-football related highlights. I really liked this one but it does unfortunately set a bad precedent. As SNL’s first athlete host, Fran Tarkenton was fun and the show was a success. While we’ve gotten some fun athletes since I would always prefer someone who knows why they’re funny as the host. Part of me wishes this was a trainwreck.
Up Next
Steve Martin hosts for the second time this season with musical guest The Kinks
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