Jeff "Jmunney" Malone's Self-Styled "Expert" Thoughts on Movies, TV, Music, and the Rest of Pop Culture
February 27, 2022
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television John Mulaney, LCD Soundsystem, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live Season 47, SNL, SNL Season 47 Leave a comment
SNL: John Mulaney, LCD Soundsystem, Cecily Strong (CREDIT: NBC/Cecily Strong)
Good morning to the end of February. This is a review of John Mulaney’s fifth time hosting Saturday Night Live. (N.B.: He also used to be an SNL staff writer.) As such, I will be listing the sketches in order of how close their running times are to five minutes. Noted indie-dance-electronic rock band LCD Soundsystem provided the tunes.
February 25, 2022
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television All the Truth That I Can Tell, Better Things, Dashboard Confessional, Dicktown, Judy Collins, Killing Eve, Oscar Nominated Shorts, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Spellbound, Tears for Fears, The Dropout, The Tipping Point Leave a comment
Dicktown (CREDIT: FX Networks/Screenshot)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
-2022 Oscar Nominated Shorts (Theaters)
TV
-Screen Actors Guild Awards (February 27 on TNT and TBS)
–Killing Eve Season 4 Premiere (February 27 on BBC America) – Final Season Alert!
–Better Things Season 5 Premiere (February 28 on FX) – Final Season Alert!
–Dicktown Season 2 Premiere (March 3 on FXX) – This was originally part of Cake.
–The Dropout Series Premiere (March 3 on Hulu) – Amanda Seyfried as Elizabeth Holmes.
–Our Flag Means Death Series Premiere (March 3 on HBO Max) – Silly pirates.
Music
-Dashboard Confessional, All the Truth That I Can Tell
-Judy Collins, Spellbound
-Tears for Fears, The Tipping Point – I recently saw these guys on CBS Sunday Morning.
February 18, 2022
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television Beach House, Dog, Last Week Tonight, Once Twice Melody, Severance, Texas Chainsaw Massacre Leave a comment
Severance (CREDIT: Apple TV+)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Dog (Theaters) – Starring Dog.
–Texas Chainsaw Massacre (February 18 on Netflix) – Here we go again…
TV
–Severance Series Premiere (February 18 on Apple TV+) – Directed (mostly) by Ben Stiller, starring Adam Scott.
–Last Week Tonight Season 9 Premiere (February 20 on HBO)
Music
-Beach House, Once Twice Melody
February 13, 2022
Commercials, Sports, Super Bowl Commercials, Television Mary J. Blige, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Super Bowl, Super Bowl Commercials Leave a comment
Super Bowl commercials are generally available to be watched online ahead of time, but I waited to watch them during the game, like God intended.
February 11, 2022
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Sports, Television alt-j, Blacklight, Death on the Nile, Earthling, Eddie Vedder, I Want You Back, Inventing Anna, Lucifer on the Sofa, Marry Me, Puppy Bowl, Spoon, Still Jealous, Super Bowl, Tegan and Sara, The Dream Leave a comment
Inventing Anna (CREDIT: Aaron Epstein/Netflix)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Blacklight (Theaters) – Liam Neeson Action.
–Death on the Nile (Theaters) – Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh Version) back on the case.
–I Want You Back (Amazon Prime Video)
–Marry Me (Theaters and Streaming on Peacock) – A rom-com for us.
TV
–Inventing Anna Series Premiere (February 11 on Netflix) – Fun with fraud.
-Puppy Bowl XVIII (February 13 on Animal Planet)
Music
-alt-J, The Dream
-Spoon, Lucifer on the Sofa
-Tegan and Sara, Still Jealous – A reimagining of their 2004 album So Jealous.
-Eddie Vedder, Earthling
Sports
-Super Bowl LVI (February 13 on NBC)
February 4, 2022
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Sports, Television Animal Collective, Disenchantment, Jackass Forever, Jeopardy!, Jeopardy! National College Championship, KOrn, Laurel Hell, Lingui The Sacred Bonds, Mitski, Moonfall, New York Ninja, Olympics, Requiem, Suspicion, The Worst Person in the World, Time Skiffs, Winter Olympics Leave a comment
Suspicion (CREDIT: Apple TV+)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Jackass Forever (Theaters)
–Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (Theaters)
–Moonfall (Theaters)
–The Worst Person in the World (Theaters)
–New York Ninja (2/10 in New York) – A movie shot in 1984, but only recently completed. (It’s arriving in theaters in various cities on various dates.)
TV
–Suspicion Series Premiere (February 4 on Apple TV+) – I’m mostly watching this for Elizabeth Henstridge.
–Jeopardy! National College Championship Premiere (February 8-22 on ABC)
–Disenchantment Part 4 (February 9 on Netflix)
Music
-Animal Collective, Time Skiffs
-Korn, Requiem
-Mitski, Laurel Hell
Sports
-2022 Winter Olympics (February 2-20 on NBC, USA, CNBC, and Peacock) – The opening ceremony is on February 4, but some events start before that.
January 30, 2022
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television Katy Perry, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live Season 47, SNL, SNL Season 47, Willem Dafoe Leave a comment
SNL: Katy Perry, Willem Dafoe, Chris Redd (CREDIT: NBC/Screenshot)
Oh hello there, you’re reading my review of the TWELFTH episode of the FORTY-SEVENTH season of Saturday Night Live. Who’s the host? That’s an important piece of information, and the reality is that it is American actor Willem Dafoe. Also noteworthy: the musical guest is Katy Perry, who’s known for performing songs.
For this episode, since we’re in the middle of winter, I’m ordering sketches from least cold to coldest. It’s a subjective rubric, sure, but hopefully you can see what I’m going for.
January 27, 2022
Best of 2021, Best of TV 2021, Television American Dad!, Best of 2021, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Evil, How to with John Wilson, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Nickelodeon football, Only Murders in the Building, PEN15, Pose, Resident Alien, Rick and Morty, RIverdale, Saturday Morning All Star Hits!, Search Party, Solar Opposites, Succession, The Good Fight, The Other Two, The Sex Lives of College Girls, WandaVision, What We Do in the Shadows Leave a comment
CREDIT: HBO
I probably watched somewhere between 1000 and 2000 episodes of TV in the past year. I don’t keep track of this information too specifically, so it’s hard to say for sure, but going by an estimate of at least 3 episodes per day, it must be somewhere within that range (if not higher). Anyway, these are the episodes out of that bunch that made enough of an impression on me to make me go, “Yeah, they nailed it.”
January 26, 2022
Best of 2021, Best of TV 2021, Television A Black Lady Sketch Show, A.P. Bio, American Crime Story, American Dad!, American Housewife, Animaniacs, Atypical, Best of 2021, Big Mouth, Big Shot, Bob's Burgers, Chad, Chucky, College Bowl, Conan, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dickinson, Earth to Ned, Evil, Fantasy Island, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Ghosts, History of Swear Words, Holey Moley, Home Economics, How to with John Wilson, I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson, Impeachment: American Crime Story, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Jeopardy!, Joe Pera Talks with You, Last Week Tonight, MacGruber, March Madness, Miracle Workers, Never Have I Ever, Only Murders in the Building, PEN15, Physical, Pose, reservation dogs, Resident Alien, Rick and Morty, RIverdale, Rugrats, RuPaul's Drag Race, Saturday Morning All Star Hits!, Saved by the Bell, Search Party, Sex Education, Solar Opposites, Succession, Superman & Lois, The Baby-Sitters Club, The Beatles: Get Back, The Chase, The Conners, The Good Fight, The Handmaid's Tale, The Kids Tonight Show, The Masked Singer, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, The Other Two, The Problem with Jon Stewart, The Sex Lives of College Girls, The Shrink Next Door, The Wonder Years, To Tell the Truth, Tuca & Bertie, Ultra City Smiths, WandaVision, Wellington Paranormal, What We Do in the Shadows, Whose Line is it Anyway?, Y: The Last Man, Young Sheldon, Ziwe, Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist 1 Comment
CREDIT (Clockwise from Top Left): Screenshot, Netflix, Screenshot, Screenshot
For the Year of Our Screens 2021, my list includes all the shows that I would recommend to my fellow viewers as “worth watching.” So that’s 77 shows! There’s a lot of TV nowadays, and a lot of it’s also pretty good.
I utilized a self-imposed rule in which I had to watch at least 50% of a show’s 2021 output for it to be eligible. However, there were some noteworthy shows that I watched less than 50% of, so I’ve spotlighted those in an honorable mention section:
January 23, 2022
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television Måneskin, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live Season 47, SNL, SNL Season 47, Will Forte Leave a comment
SNL: Will Forte, Kenan Thompson, Måneskin (CREDIT: NBC/Screenshot)
Believe it or not, Orville Willis Forte IV is now an SNL host. Formerly he was an SNL cast member. Now he’s both! Rock band Måneskin is neither of those things, but they are an SNL musical guest, and that’s pretty cool, too.
Now I’m going to talk about the episode! For Season 47, I’ve been listing the sketches in various orders. This time, since the episode is being hosted by an alum, and there’s thus an expectation for the return of some of his recurring bits, I’ll be listing the sketches in order from least to most original. So the recurring sketches will be covered first, with those that deviate the least from the formula covered up top. Then I’ll get to the one-off bits, with the big conclusion reserved for the most original sketch of the episode.
