Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Shirley (Hulu, On Demand, and Drive-In Theaters) – Another excellent performance from Elisabeth Moss!
TV –RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 5 Premiere (June 5 on VH1)
–Hollywood Game Night (New Episodes Return Starting June 7 on NBC)
–Don’t Series Premiere (June 11 on ABC) – New wacky game show hosted by Adam Scott
TV
–Central Park Season 1 (May 29 on Apple TV+) – From Bob’s Burgers creator Loren Bouchard, but is it enough to convince me to sign up for Apple TV?
–Space Force Season 1 (May 29 on Netflix) – Steve Carell and friends (including a posthumous Fred Willard) go to space!
–Celebrity Family Feud Season Premiere (May 31 on ABC)
–Press Your Luck Season Premiere (May 31 on ABC)
–Match Game Season Premiere (May 31 on ABC)
–Quiz Miniseries Premiere (May 31 on AMC) – A cheating scandal on Who Wants to be a Millionaire!
–Fuller House Season 5 Part 2 (June 2 on Netflix)
At the end of Season 45, we’ve got some seasoned veterans in this here SNL cast. Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, and Aidy Bryant have all just completed their eighth full seasons, while Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney aren’t too far behind at seven each. Those are some healthy runs, and under normal circumstances, I would be encouraging them to look towards a future beyond Studio 8H. (Kenan Thompson, meanwhile, continues to defy all SNL tenure logic as he creeps ever closer to a previously-unheard of 20 seasons.)
But these aren’t normal circumstances, of course, as the last three episodes of this season weren’t exactly live. So if those veterans want to return for at least part of Season 46 for a proper send-off, they’d be justified in doing so. As for what they and their castmates accomplished in the past year, I would like to celebrate that, as I usually do. So here’s what happened on SNL between September 2019 and May 2020 that made me go, “Good, good.” (My thoughts on the best sketches of the season can be found here.)
Most Valuable Cast Member
The veterans delivered veteran-quality work. Cecily stands out on the very top for her consistently capable canine corralling.
Cecily Strong
Runners-Up:
Kenan Thompson
Kate McKinnon
If you are a human being who watched every minute of Saturday Night Live Season 45 and didn’t laugh at least 15 times, I would be surprised. HERE ARE MY RANKINGS OF THE BEST SKETCHES OF THE SEASON! (All sketches from the 2019-20 season were eligible, whether they were from regular episodes, or from stay-at-home episodes, or posted online after being cut for time. New cut-for-time sketches have continued to steadily trickle in since the season finale; with that in mind, this list will be regularly updated accordingly if necessary.)
15. Food Dudes: Ingenuity can take people far if they’re sufficiently motivated.
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–The Lovebirds (Streaming on Netflix) – Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae finally team up!
–AKA Jane Roe (Premieres May 22 on FX) – A documentary portrait of the woman behind Roe v. Wade.
TV
–Homecoming Season 2 (May 22 on Amazon) – Now starring Janelle Monáe!
–Jeopardy! Teachers Tournament (May 25-June 5, check local listings)
–Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 7 Premiere (May 27 on ABC) – The final season!
Music
-The 1975, Notes on a Conditional Form
Comedy
-Hannah Gadsby: Douglas (May 26 on Netflix)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
TV
-Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020 (May 16 on Various Networks)
–DC’s Stargirl Series Premiere (May 18 on DC Universe and May 19 on The CW) – Starring Brec Bassinger as Stargirl; Luke Wilson and Joel McHale also appear.
–Community Cast Reunion Table Read and Q+A (May 18 on YouTube)
–Celebrity Escape Room (May 21 on NBC) – A Red Nose Day celeb goof-off hosted by Jack Black
–Holey Moley II: The Sequel Premiere (May 21 on ABC) – Mini-golf is so hot right now.
–To Tell the Truth Season Premiere (May 21 on ABC)
Music
-Charli XCX, How I’m Feeling Now
-Moby, All Visible Objects
I’m a little skeptical about choose-your-own adventure stories, but I’m not skeptical about Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, so I happily watched the UKS choose-your-own-adventure special Kimmy vs. the Reverend. I am planning on watching it some more times in the future and choosing different story branches. I will then log my selections after each viewing. Here is Log #1
-LK-9
-Fun dress
-Go to the gym
-Plan wedding
-Donna Maria
-Gretchen
-Call Cyndee
-Take Titus
-Get down to beeswax
-Lillian sings
-Walk to town
-The script
-He knows it
-Karate
-Go with Lillian
-Lose it
-Babysit
-Read to the baby
-Woodland banquet
-‘Splode him
-Spare him
Whoa-whoa-whoa, Saturday Night Live Season 45 wrapped things up before the dates in May even hit double digits. Well, actually, while the finale began airing on May 9, most of it aired on May 10, as this late night sketch show typically airs most of its episodes in the early morning hours (which of course feel more like night).
But no matter what particular minutes this 18th episode of Season 45 aired, it was indeed the season finale. Kristen Wiig wasn’t officially announced as the host during the opening montage, but she certainly performed more hostly duties than any of the other stay-at-home guests, so we’ll call her the host. And as for the music, we’ll take it II Motownphilly with some Boyz II Men (featuring Babyface).
As for my state of mind while watching, I cooked up some scrambled eggs that I started chowing into right as I summoned up the cold opening. I considered just having a quick bowl of cereal, but since it’s Mother’s Day, I decided I must get eggy with it. I added some milk to make it fluffy. It spilled a little out of my teaspoon, but not enough so that the dish up didn’t end up sufficiently fluffy.
Note: in honor of the holiday, all of my grades for this episode will be mom-based.
TV
–Solar Opposites Season 1 (May 8 on Hulu) – New animated series about a family of aliens from Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland.
–SNL at Home Season Finale (May 9 on NBC)
–SNL Mother’s Day Special (May 10 on NBC) – A compilation episode the day after the season finale?! Count me in!
–Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend (May 12 on Netflix) – Kimmy does choose-your-own-adventure!
–The Happy Days of Garry Marshall (May 12 on ABC) – Please, call him Garry!
I watched the new Middleditch & Schwartz improv specials on Netflix recently, and I decided to collect my thoughts on them in the form of the question-and-answer information-gathering segment that typically kicks off a long-form improv session.
Is there anyone here who did anything interesting the past few weeks? I watched some improv specials on Netflix!
Okay, I think I heard someone say they watched improv? Yeah. On Netflix.
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