SNL 39.16 Review - Louis CK, Sam Smith

Original Airdate - 3/29/14

One of the highlights of the last season of Saturday Night Live was Louis CK's turn as host amid the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.  He was an obvious choice to bring back as soon as possible.  The decision definitely paid off too.  Having a guy like Louis in the writing room helping develop sketches definitely gives the episode an overall boost.  The show may not have always been funny, but it was definitely interesting from start to finish.  Let's take a look.

Cold Opening

This was one of the weirder cold openings of the year.  For the second straight show, we open with President Obama, this time he is fretting about how many people are signing up for the healthcare.gov services.  The solution is to involve the government's new social media expert who wants the president to go viral.  We then see a parade of e-cigarettes, Pharrell's hat, Kim Kardashian, Harry Stiles, the Pope, and Justin Bieber.  This was probably the most questionable sketch of the night, as well as one of the more disappointing cold opens of the year.  It just wasn't that good.

Monologue

Whatever happened in the cold open was immediately forgotten as soon as Louis CK took the stage for his monologue.  Having a guy like Louis host makes for great monologues because they can simply get up there and give some of their stand-up routine.  This is what Louis did.  It was magical.  Enjoy.

Weekend Update

This was probably the shortest Weekend Update of the season.  Colin Jost is slowly getting more and more comfortable in his new role with the show, and it makes this the type of highlight in the show it should be.  I think with Louis in town they wanted as much sketch time as possible.  The one guest of the show was Stephen A. Smith, who Jay Pharaoh absolutely nails but the bit he does with that character is starting to get a little old.

Best Sketch

It was hard to pick a favorite sketch from this show.  The surprising part is which sketch I picked as my favorite.  This first time the "Office Boss Baby" came around, I hated it.  It was just stupid.  For some reason, everything about the sketch that didn't work the first time around worked this time.  Beck Bennett is a little too good at being a baby, and adding Louis to the sketch can only help.  This went from the worst sketch the first time around to the best in its second installment.

Worst Sketch

For this episode, the worst sketch should really be renamed the weirdest sketch.  Some of them worked great, and some were just weird.  This one was just weird.  Two cops just completed a stressful case and agreed to go on a romantic rendezvous ... in their pajamas.  Then they started talking about cutting holes in them because they didn't want to take them off and ... just watch it.  I can't really explain.

Dark Horse Sketch

Like I said, the beauty of this episode was its quirks.  There were so many laughs packed in so many random places, I could just decide on one dark horse sketch.  They were all kind of dark horse sketches.  The first one features Louis playing himself at the doctor's office getting a check-up.  On his way out the door, he stops to ask one last question that really confuses the doctor.  Apparently, he wasn't the only one with that question as two others (who somehow know each other) ask the doctor to check the same thing ... just in case (as if they wouldn't already know).  I can't give the punchline away.  You just have to watch it.

The second dark horse sketch involves Kyle Mooney's latest installment of "Let's end the show with whatever I feel like doing."  This was one of his funnier pre-recorded shorts as he plays a stoner high school student running for student body president.  This is his campaign video as he makes some pretty random campaign promises as you watch high-speed car accidents.  That's about it.  It's sounds stupid, but all of us knew that kid in high school and can see their face superimposed on Kyle's face during the sketch.  One you do that, it is pure bliss.

Grade

This may have only been Louis's second time hosting, but I predict he will be in the 5-Timers Club within the next five years.  Louis is a writer that brings fresh ideas to the sketches, and he is perfect as the straight man to the goofiness that the SNL cast is so good at.  He kicks the show up to a new level of funny.  It's different than when a guy like Justin Timberlake hosts, but he definitely has added his name to the select group of guest hosts that you want to make sure you catch when it's their turn to be on the show.

***B+***

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2014 MLB Predictions: AL East

It's that magical time of year again.  I firmly believe that baseball Opening Day should be a national holiday so everyone can spend the day enjoying our National Pastime.  With the long grind of 162 games ahead of them, every team is optimistic that this year could be the year.  This off-season, big names were on the move while young top prospects won jobs on the big league rosters.  How will the final standings look when October comes around?  I know I'm a little late getting these predictions out, but they were all made before the season started.

Let's start our look at the 2014 MLB season by previewing the most unpredictable division in all of baseball: the AL East.  For the last few years, this division has had the ability from year to year to legitimately be in any standings order at season's end.  This is shown by how wrong my predictions were last year.  However, one thing I had right was that every team in the division would be good, predicting that the cellar team would still be within 5-10 games of .500 (Blue Jays finished 14 games under .500).  This year is no different.  Every team has seemed to re-load for yet another run with one of the greatest players of our generation making his final tour around the league.  Let's see what could happen.

1.  New York Yankees

The pinstripes always have to be in the mix.  Last year, they did finish in fourth, but were still 8 games over .500 with a seriously depleted roster due to injuries.  They went out in free-angency and made some big splashes.  Even though the biggest splash of the off-season was Robinson Cano leaving the pinstripes, the Yankees added one of the top lead-off hitters in baseball in Jacoby Ellsbury from the rival Red Sox, possibly the most productive offensive catcher of the last decade in Brian McCann, a player so clutch it only makes sense he's a Yankee in Carlos Beltran, and the biggest name on the pitching market in Masahiro Tanaka who is starting the season as their 4th starter.  They spent more money this off-season than the Rays will spend over the next 5 years.  Add that to the fact that they now have a healthy Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter, and this team has to be the favorite in the division.  Now last year I predicted the Blue Jays would win the division because of the huge blockbuster deals they made over the off-season.  That didn't quite work out, but the Yankees are not the Blue Jays.  They have an experienced coach in Joe Girardi, and all the pieces they added are proven veterans that know what it means to win.  I expect them to rise to the top and send Derek Jeter out in style.

2.  Boston Red Sox

There is a constant debate in baseball right now between the old school and new school thinkers.  Can baseball be managed and predicted strictly on statistics, or are things like chemistry and attitude still valuable?  No argument for the old school way of thinking would be more convincing than the 2013 Boston Red Sox.  In 2012, they were in the cellar and sold off most of their top players.  Last year, they got a new manager, added a couple "clubhouse" guys (a term sabermatricians cringe at), and went from worst in the division to winning it all.  A sabermatrician would say this doesn't make sense.  However, it happened.  This year, it's a very similar roster.  They lost Ellsbury and are replacing him with a rookie (Jackie Bradley, Jr.) and a veteran making attempting a comeback (Grady Sizemore).  However, as long as they have guys like David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia leading the way (without a manger that gets in their way), they will be at the top of the league.  Them being in second has less to with what they lost and more to do with what the Yankees gained.  The Yankees ad Red Sox back on top ... all is right in the world.

3.  Baltimore Orioles

I bet the Orioles wish they could switch divisions.  Baltimore has been one of the strongest teams to not go anywhere over the last couple years.  Sharing a division with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays makes this an impossible division to break through in.  They have a great young core led by Chris Davis, Matt Wieters, and Manny Machado.  They made some big moves in free angency, adding Nelson Cruz and Ubaldo Jimenez.  They have a great chance of making a splash.  They would be poised for a deep playoff run if they didn't have to play in this division.  They will instead be fighting for a wild card spot and fall just a little short.

4.  Tampa Bay Rays

In another case of "How the heck do they do what they do," we the Fighting Joe Madden's.  This team has looked very similar to teams that usually are found in the cellars of divisions.  They have solid pitching, but the offense is average at best, embarrassing at worst.  No team has been no hit more recently than the Rays.  With the shopping spree of the Yankees and the emergence of the Orioles, this Wild Card team from last year will drop back a couple notches in the best division in baseball.

5.  Toronto Blue Jays

When thinking about the biggest additions and subtractions of each team entering this season, the biggest subtraction I could think of for the Blue Jays is expectations.  Last year, they went all in, buying and trading for All Stars and Cy Young candidates to build a superpower to rival their divisional foes.  Well, that did not pan out as some players were injured while others simply underwhelmed.  The biggest highlight of the season was discovering that they have the biggest character in all of baseball.  Yes, he is Japanese.  They didn't really lose any of the major players, but this year the expectations are just much lower.  With the strength of everyone else in the division, this is the consensus cellar dweller of the AL East.  However, would it greatly surprise anyone if they made a run at a wild card spot.  Not at all.

There is the AL East.  Stay tuned for more.

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SNL 39.15 Review - Lena Dunham, The National

Original Airdate - 3/8/14

Coming into this episode, I'm not sure how many people in the general public knew who Lena Dunham was.  I'll be honest, I knew Lena Dunham as the weird girl that randomly won a Golden Globe last year.  However, Dunham is becoming a household name as her hit HBO series Girls continues to rise in popularity.  SNL even parodied this show in one of the first sketches of the season.  How well would she perform on the live stage though.  Well, it turned out she did pretty well.  The material seemed to be fresher than it had been in recent episodes, which may have something to do with Lena Dunham being a writer as well.  Here's how the episode went.

Cold Opening

There's a lot of stuff going on in the world around us.  One of the biggest controversies out there right now is the situation in the Ukraine and the reaction of Russian president Vladimir Putin.  You know it's an important news story because SNL decided to use their cold opening to talk about it.  President Obama has tried everything to get Putin under control, so he had to bring in some outside help: a man with a particular set of skills.  It was a perfect cameo for the perfect moment.

Monologue

Much like Kerry Washington's monologue earlier in the year, they decided to use Lena Dunham's monologue to explain to the average viewer why their host is culturally relevant.  In the show Girls, Dunham is naked a lot (apparently ... I've personally never seen the show ... However, when they take two different opportunities to make light of this fact, it must be true.).  Since she is naked so much, many people ask her advice about their own sex lives like cast members and her grandmother.  It's not a particularly funny bit (until Kate McKinnon opens her mouth), but it is effective in letting people know who she is.

Weekend Update

This was a fun Weekend Update.  With Colin Jost's sophomore turn at the desk, you can tell he is settling in nicely.  In fact, the fresh blood has infused some new life into the segment.  Jost is willing to be a little edgier than Seth Myers was, which will be a great breath of fresh air moving forward.  The two groups of guests to come to the Update desk made this one of the stronger Weekend Updates of the season.  First was Matthew McConaughey brought to you by Taran Killam.  The recent Oscar winner that was also starring in the new hit show True Detective is an easy target for SNL with his southern drawl, many eloquent acceptance speeches, and a character on True Detective that makes a habit of speaking in a way that makes you unsure whether he is the smartest man or dumbest man in the world (mainly because you can't figure out what he's saying half the time).  Killam does a great caricature of Mr. McConaughey.  Following him was a comeback of Fred Armisen, now working just down the hall with Seth Meyers, teaming up with Vanessa Bayer as Vladimir Putin's friends from growing up.  It's a bit that really never gets old.

Best Sketch

The tone for the show was set with the first sketch following the monologue as it became the best sketch of the show.  Four friends got into the car and were singing along with a song playing through someone's cell phone.  However, that phone was also giving directions to their destination, and the directions would always come whenever Lena Dunham tried to sing along.  It was a funny premise and a solid sketch, however it's twist ending no one saw coming took this one over the top.

Worst Sketch

You know you have a solid show when the hardest thing to do is pick a bad sketch.  For shows like this, the category turns into the least good sketch because none of them were really bad.  The closest thing to a bad sketch was Mike O'Brien going to his girlfriend's women's group where it is revealed that he is an men's rights activist.  As you can imagine, this news does not go over well.  The sketch still has its moments, but it just didn't deliver quite like some of the other sketches did.

Dark Horse Sketch

I have to be honest, I don't know who Katt Williams is.  I've heard about him, I've seen some video clips of him, but I really have no idea what is significant about him.  However, Jay Pharaoh hosting the Katt Williams Show "Pimpin, Pimpin, Pimpin" showed me what he was all about.  This sketch was great because of the impressions that were brought to it.  First, Pharaoh's Katt Williams is scary good.  Next came Brooks Wheelen's Jared Leto accepting his Oscar.  It wasn't a great impression, but he said what everyone had on their minds, "I'd like to thank me band 30 Seconds to Mars for not being good enough to keep me away from acting."  Lena Dunham's take on Liza Minelli was just fun, but my favorite came last: Taran Killam's Harrison Ford.  If you haven't heard, Harrison Ford has become quite old and senile in his public appearances recently, and Killam brings this to life to perfection.  This is the type of sketch in past episodes that they would try to feature as one of their first sketches of the show and be disappointing.  Putting this sketch at the back end puts a sketch like this in the perfect spot to succeed, and it shows the strength of this episode.

Grade

This show surprised me.  I did not expect it to be this fresh and funny, especially considering some of the lack of originality that had been coming out through the recent episodes.  However, with Shasheer Zumata now firmly apart of the cast, Colin Jost settling into his new role, the show finally has stopped worrying about transitioning and adjusting and started with this episode to focus on being funny.  That's what this episode did.  Let's hope this is a trend and not an anomaly.

***A-***

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Divergent (2014) Review

Directed by
Neil Burger

            Imagine this: In a not-too-distant future, America has suffered through a mysterious war and has subsequently been divided into twelve five factions.  These factions are based on socio-economic class intellectual aptitude, and each year, young people who have come of age must battle each other in a fight to the death choose a faction to join, which will determine which other factions they will battle against in a fight to the death.   

            One fearless, plucky young woman, Katness Everdeen Beatrice Prior, is chosen among the ordinary masses.  She must fight in order to protect her sisterbrother and the rest of her family from some mysterious, dangerous government types.  Along the way, she endures a series of brutal physical trainings and discovers that she excels at bow and arrow knife throwing.  She has a love interest named PeetaFour, who must hide his admiration for her in order to himself survive.  All the while, the ominous President SnowKate Winslet looks on, realizing that Katniss Beatrice has a special ability to resist conformity and lead a revolution against the evil people in charge.

            OK, so Divergent isn’t the world’s most original concept.  Like The Hunger Games, it adapts a popular Young Adult book series on to the big screen and opts to tell a dark, dystopian story that’s clearly too adult for Disney.  But let’s give it credit where credit is due – it does manage to be different than The Hunger Games in a few notable ways.  The Hunger Games holds an 84% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes; Divergent only has 40% approval.  The Hunger Games grossed an extraordinary $190 million in its opening week, while Divergent only grossed a modest $68 million.  And while The Hunger Games managed to entertain both fans of the book as well those who were uninitiated, Divergent is impaired because of numerous loose story ends, which may have been accounted for in the book series but remain underexamined over the course of the nearly two-and-a-half hour film. 

            The story.  On the surface, its most obvious similarities are to The Hunger Games, but viewers older than 15 years old will also recognize parallels to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Minority Report and Inception (there’s even a scene where two characters hook up diodes to each other’s brains and enter a dream world).  As Beatrice explains in the most jam-packed opening two minutes of exposition since the first scene of Casablanca, the survivors of the unnamed war now inhabit what remains of greater Chicago, and are divided into five factions: Erudition, Dauntless, Amity, Candor and Abnegation (one wonders whether the book series was published with the hopes of boosting teen readers’ verbal SAT scores).   Beatrice and her family belong to the Abnegation clan, which operate the government because of their selflessness and care for humanity.  As she reaches adulthood, she must take a personality exam which will advise her which faction to join.  Once she makes her choice, it is permanent, meaning that if she chooses to join a group other than Abnegation, she will likely never see her family again.

            But why?  What is the point of this seemingly unnecessary and burdensome dispersal of the small remaining human population?  Even after seeing this movie, I’m still not sure I can answer this question (and like a couple of the houses at the Hogwarts School, at least two of the factions seem entirely irrelevant to the story).  Of course, we didn’t have all the answers at the end of The Hunger Games either, but that was OK because the main thrust of the narrative was simple to understand – two dozen kids killing each other in front of giddy audiences.  But the lack of clarity sticks out in Divergent like a sore thumb.  Every time we begin to become involved with the story, nagging unresolved issues frustratingly come into the fray, and fail to get sufficiently answered.

            The best part of the movie is in the first hour, when Beatrice has decided to reject her family and its faction by joining Dauntless.  She does this because the personality test she takes indicates that she has characteristics of Dauntless, Abnegation and Erudite – in other words, her results indicate that she is a “divergent,” which we’re told is dangerous because – well, again we’re never really told why.  Oh well, maybe they’ll explain it more in the sequel.  So concealing her true test results, she joins Dauntless, which is supposed to be the military clan, but the ways in which they crawl up buildings and leap off trains make them seem more like delinquent hoodlums.  The movie shows rites of initiation, and Beatrice (who renames herself “Tris”) must learn to suppress her “divergent” psychological tendencies and instead channel bravery and gleefully approaching dangerous situations. 

            These training scenes work because, like the training sequences in Rocky, Hoosiers or any sports movie, we like to see characters gradually transform themselves into more confident and powerful people – especially when it involves sweat, knife-throwing, and an upbeat soundtrack.  But even here, basic logic interferes with the skillfulness of these scenes.  What are they training for?  Is this future society preparing for war?  The stakes are never fully established until midway through the film, when we learn that Erudition is attempting to launch a coup against Abnegation’s unilateral control of the government.  But even this explanation is unsatisfactory because Dauntless is never able to put up a fight after Erudition induces them with a magical serum (gotta love those magical serums!) in which they blindly follow the orders of the radical and deranged would-be revolutionaries (headed by Kate Winslet, looking uncomfortably close to Hilary Clinton and invoking the diabolic spirit of Jodie Foster in Elysium).  Meanwhile, all people who are divergent, like Tris, are sought after because . . . well, maybe someone who read the books can explain this better than I can.

            You’ve probably had enough of reading about this ludicrous plot (I’m sick of writing about it), but let me just point out the most ridiculous part of the story.  Remember how I said Tris has to take a personality exam?  Well, the person who administers the test (played by Nikita’s Maggie Q) is the one who tells her to conceal her result of “divergent.”  So the movie moves on and we don’t expect to ever see her again, until suddenly, midway through the film, she shows up with the Dauntless people as – get this – a tattoo artist!  That’s right, after her daytime job as a tester on behalf of the state authorities, she moonlights nights at an underground tattoo parlor, where she is conveniently able to remind Tris that she’s in mortal danger and must not tell anyone about her divergence.  What are the odds!  She must have taken the second job because those Abnegations in charge must be underpaying their valuable employees at the testing center.  And that must be the reason why the government is being overthrown, since the screenplay doesn’t offer any other clear explanation. 

            So let’s remove the logic factor for a second and consider whether this movie is worth seeing so long as you are able to completely and totally shut off all deductive reasoning for 140 minutes.  Admittedly, there are good things about it.  As Tris, Shailene Woodley is likable and convincing (although it never feels quite right seeing her run around with a shotgun in her arms) and she has good romantic rapport with her fellow Dauntless member, Four (played by Theo James, effectively able to combine Team Edward and Team Jacob into one analogous dreamboat).  As stated above, the training sequences are lively and the movie manages to move along at a brisk pace (save the climactic battle scenes at the end, which drag on far too long).  CGI Chicago looks great.  Fans of the book will undoubtedly enjoy it.  And even though the story is preposterous, there is something undeniably interesting about it (and it’s not like The Hunger Games is exactly Tolstoy).  Defenders of Divergent will say it is an underdeveloped introduction to a rich and complex world where your personality decides your fate; cynics will say that its appeal is a direct result of its close resemblance to better films in the already well-represented “dystopian future” genre.  But unfortunately for the film, in the internal battle between my heart and my brain, Amity is no match for Erudition. 

Rating: 2.5 stars

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SNL 39.14 Review - Jim Parsons, Beck

Original Airdate - 3/1/14

The show took a month off from filming thanks to the Olympics.  When it came back, SNL was starting a new era.  (By the way, I have never seen a show make so many significant changes in the middle of a season.)  Seth Meyers had moved on, and head writer Colin Jost had moved into the Update desk to take his place.  This now makes 7 featured players in the cast.  I know Weekend Update is just a small part of the show, but it has been the backbone of the show since the first episode.  This was a big deal.  Add to that the first hosting gig for Sheldon, I mean Jim Parsons, you have quite the episode of firsts to start a new era in Saturday Night Live.

Cold Opening

How do you start the show airing the night before the Oscars?  Well, when you have possibly the best impersonator of the host on the cast, it only makes sense to start with the Ellen Show.  Kate McKinnon, as always, gives a haunting impression of the Oscar host (it's actually like a strange mix between Ellen and McConaughey, but whatever).  Her guest was Johnny Weir, played by Jim Parsons, making the fourth time in five shows the once-rare occurrence of the host appearing in the cold open has happened.  What makes this sketch work though is McKinnon.  She has definitely emerged as the new leader of the ladies with some of the best characters since Wiig was around.

Monologue

One of the time-honored traditions of Saturday Night Live is making a host (especially a first-time host) give a little song and dance number in his opening monologue.  I'll admit, I never thought I'd see Jim Parsons sing a song, and I don't really care if I see it again, but it was a fun way to start the show.  The best part of the song was seeing everyone's impressions of other actors who are known more for their characters than their actual personalities.  I would really like to see some more of Bobby's George Kost ... I mean Jason Alexander.

Weekend Update

The big question going into this episode was how would Colin Jost's debut as Weekend Update co-anchor go.  The verdict turned out to be a solid effort for a first-timer.  He definitely has some potential, but you can tell he's been stuck in the writer's room for a few years.  He needs to get used to being in front of the camera, which shouldn't take long.  Outside of Colin's debut, this turned out to be one of the strongest Updates of the season.  It featured another appearance from SNL's favorite basketball commentators, Charles Barkley and the absolutely ridiculous Shaquille O'Neal.  The best part of this bit is how much Kenan and Jay just make each other crack up.  It also featured what has the potential of being the new Stefon, Taran Killam's 19th century critic Jebidiah Atkinson.  With the Oscars the next day, the obvious topic of Jebidiah's disgust was the Oscar nominees.  You know it's funny when Killam, possibly the actor with the straightest face SNL has ever seen, cracks himself up with something new every time Atkinson pops up.

Best Sketch

Parsons's song in his monologue was entitled "I'm Not That Guy" as he tried to prove Jim Parsons is not Sheldon Cooper.  The sketch that best proved this was the hunt for the Dance Floor Killer.  Parsons makes a pretty convincing sociopath as he plays a serial killer that hides in plain sight.  It's stupid I know, but it's pretty hilarious at the same time.

Worst Sketch

As has been the case with most episodes recently, for every great sketch that comes along there have been some real clunkers.  More times than not, these clunkers have been placed at the beginning of the show where they normally place their strongest sketches.  This episode, the sketch right after the monologue turned out to be the weakest of the night.  The sketch showed Parsons being cast all too perfectly as Peter Pan, coming back to take the children back to Neverland.  However, Tinkerbell was not available so her crude sister showed up instead, Tonkerbell.  The idea was original, but the sketch just wasn't funny.

Dark Horse Sketch

There is something in the hearts of every boy and man in America that makes us laugh every time at poop jokes.  I don't know what it is, they're just funny.  Here is the latest one.  I have nothing else to say ... just enjoy.

Grade

Every time something happens on SNL where a star moves on to bigger and brighter things, everyone freaks out and thinks the show is coming to an end.  However, that's the great thing about Saturday Night Live.  It creates stars, and lets them move on and become the bigger stars they are meant to be.  When they leave, the next man steps up and becomes the next star.  Seth Meyers moved on, but the show will be fine; a little different, but just fine.  On the other side of things, Jim Parsons proved his point he set out to prove in his monologue, he is much more than the nerd from The Big Bang Theory.  None of the sketches were landmark in any way, but it was a solid episode that was still entertaining.

***B-***

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SNL 39.13 Review - Melissa McCarthy, Imagine Dragons

Original Airdate - 2/1/14

Melissa McCarthy is the first repeat host from last season to come back for Season 39, and it is one of the last ones I wanted to come back.  McCarthy's turn hosting in Season 38 was possibly the biggest disappointment of the season.  Needless to say, I was not looking forward to this episode.  Then she goes and does something like this ... and TOTALLY REDEEMS HERSELF!!!  Everything that came off as stupid and juvenile last time around worked for the most part this time around.

Cold Opening

This episode originally aired on the eve of the Super Bowl, the first New York City Super Bowl in fact.  SNL couldn't resist commenting.  In their hypothetical situation, Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers got caught in traffic on the way to the Super Bowl and couldn't perform at the halftime show.  So they brought in some Broadway talent that didn't quite understand the essence of football.  What follows is a Super Bowl themed Broadway number that causes one to drop their jaw in utter shock.  It also includes a rare appearance by the host in the cold open (something that has been happening more and more recently).

Monologue

Although this episode was a lot of fun, the monologue was pretty stupid.  Bobby calls Melissa out on a disagreement they had the last time she hosted, and they fight to the death Japanese style while suspended from the ceiling.  It was pretty pointless, but at least it's interesting.

Weekend Update

This was it.  This episode marked the end of Seth Meyers's run on SNL.  They tried to play it off as just another Weekend Update until the end.  Several people came by to bid Seth farewell and good luck on Late Night.  Cecily was moved almost to tears.  It was a great moment for one of the show's standards over the last decade.

Best Sketch

February is Black History Month so SNL decided to take advantage of their latest push for diversity on the show.  The show's three black cast members play three students in a high school history class that are asked to give a special report of their ancestry.  They sing a song called "28 Reasons," giving 28 reasons why African Americans should be celebrated during the 28 days of February.  Believe or not, the list was easier to come up with than you might think.

Honorable Mention: Kyle Mooney hits the streets to interview people about the upcoming Super Bowl.  You couldn't write this stuff.

Worst Sketch

The worst sketch from this episode was the one repeat offender from her last turn as host.  This time around, the abusive Sheila Kelly has become a US Senator as she terrorizes reporters passers-by and cops.  I didn't particularly find it funny when she did it the first time as a basketball coach, and it wasn't funny this time either.

Dark Horse Sketch

There are few hosts that can come in and be truly featured like one of the cast members.  This sketch shows that Melissa McCarthy is one of those hosts.  A women's group is meeting to talk about their passions and dreams.  Well, there's one that doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the group, and she really doesn't fit in.

Grade

Melissa McCarthy really shows why she is such a popular comic personality in this episode.  Not every sketch hit perfectly, but like I said, it went so much better than her last effort.  Add to that the end of the Seth Meyers era, and this really turned out to be a pretty solid effort.

***B***

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SNL 39.12 Review - Jonah Hill, Bastille

Original Airdate - 1/25/14

I have fallen a little behind in my reviews, but it's time to catch up.  2014 has gotten off to a mediocre start with some top flight stars doing their thing, but the writing has been inconsistent keeping up.  A perfect example of this was the Jonah Hill episode.  I love Jonah Hill.  He is turning into one of the most well-rounded and versatile actors out there.  I mean, he was able to get an Oscar nomination the same year he was in This is the End.  That's impressive.  This was his third time hosting the show, and if one thing has been proven in those three shows, it's that Jonah will be consistently funny no matter what he's doing.

Cold Opening

In preparation of the upcoming Olympics, SNL had to take as many shots at Russia as it could.  Here was the first.  One of the biggest issues going into these Olympics (which turned out to be a non-issue) was Russia's ban on homosexuality when some sports in the Winter Olympics are predominantly (or at least stereotypically) done by homosexuals.  So in case there was an issue, SNL decided to hold a heterosexual figure skating competition.  So you have dude in football jersey playing air guitar, black gangster realizing black people done't skate, and more.  As silly and stupid and demeaning all the reinforcements of stereotypes are, it's actually pretty funny.

Monologue

Jonah Hill has made it tradition to make fun of himself and how he's a silly slapstick comedian now with two Oscar nominations in his monologues.  A guy like that has to be getting a big head.  Well, there's nothing that can keep you humble quite like your buddy Leonardo diCaprio (notorious for being full of himself) coming out and treating you like a 10 year old.  This all leads to a top 3 moment of the season so far.  (By the way, when is Leo going to host his own SNL?  I think it's a little long overdue.)

Weekend Update

As the countdown to Seth Meyers's departure continued, there didn't seem to be any signs of change in the near future.  There were two featured guests on Weekend Update.  The first, the cop who arrested Justin Bieber, was less than groundbreaking but topically funny.  The second featured the latest shot at Sochi society as Kate McKinnon portrayed a desperate Russian woman wondering why anyone would ever choose to come to Russia.  She has had characters like this before, and they keep coming back back simply because they are absolutely hilarious.

Best Sketch

You know you can be considered an SNL regular when you have a recurring sketch as a host.  It's even better when your recurring sketch is the first sketch of the show every time and is consistently the funniest sketch of the episode.  That's the case with Jonah Hill's Adam Grossman, a 6 year old Jewish boy chatting it up with those sharing a table with him and his parent at Benihana.  It's hilarious, even though he's always "JUST KIDDING!  I'M SIX!!!"

Worst Sketch

With as hilarious as Jonah Hill can be, there were definitely some duds.  In fact, there may have been more duds than hits this episode.  Here is the biggest dud of them all, possibly the biggest dud of the season.  Jonah and Cecily are taking care of a horse who kicks them and punches them.  That's the sketch!  That's it!  And yes, it's as stupid as it sounds.  Even the last bad joke gets ruined.  It's just bad (so bad it's not available online, but this one was bad too).

Dark Horse Sketch

Almost immediately following this crappy sketch came this gem.  Jonah is trying to impress his boss at a dinner at his house.  He is so nervous that he keeps making silly little mistakes in casual conversation.  Every time he does that, he goes to the bathroom for a pep talk the whole party can hear.  Jonah yelling at himself.  Priceless.

Grade

This seems to be a common theme of SNL recently.  They have some amazing talent, top-notch hosts.  The problem is the writing is just no good.  More times than not, no matter how good the acting is, the writing just hasn't been able to keep up.  This episode is a perfect example.  Jonah Hill, when he was allowed to be Jonah Hill, made the sketches work.  However, too often the sketches couldn't get out of their own way.  It's almost like they try to be too creative.  Either way, Jonah Hill (with some help from Leo) made this episode better than average.

***B-***

Watch the full episode here:

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