January 24, 2016
jmunney
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television
Ronda Rousey, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live 4111, Saturday Night Live Season 41, Selena Gomez, SNL, SNL Season 41
SNL: Selena Gomez, Ronda Rousey, Cecily Strong (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)
This review was originally posted on Starpulse in January 2016.
With a few exceptions, athletes tend to be rather limited in their usefulness on “SNL.” Just having the host play him or herself or some variation in every sketch can solve this problem. But Ronda Rousey and/or the writers concede this point and give her very little to do throughout the night. Thus, she does not really affect the overall quality of the episode one way or the other. There are a few great sketches, a few okay ones, and some recurring sketches that seem to be hiding their recurring status.
Trump Rally – With Sarah Palin’s typically loopy endorsement of the Donald dominating this week’s election coverage, it felt like a no-brainer to bring Tina Fey back home (so long as she could make it through the snow). Back in 2008, there was the sketch parodying the Katie Couric interview of Palin, which was basically just a recreation of the original. The same approach could have easily been employed again this time around, but it ends up just being the jumping off point; she mentions the “bitter clinging” and adds some new rhymes and free associations (“Mom, 2 Broke Girls, and Three Men and a Baby” is a highlight). In addition, the asides from Trump serve as an astute, though not especially deep, commentary. B
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January 24, 2016
jmunney
Television, What Won TV?
Baskets, Childrens Hospital, Jeopardy!, Mike Tyson Mysteries, Saturday Night Live, SNL, The Grinder, The Middle
In this feature, I look back at each day of the past week and determine what shows “won TV” for the night. That is, I consider every episode of television I watched that aired on a particular day and declare which was the best.
Sunday – Mike Tyson Mysteries
Monday – Jeopardy!
Tuesday – The Grinder
Wednesday – The Middle, which is best appreciated not from a distance, but intimately
Thursday – Baskets is the best show of 2016.
Friday – Childrens Hospital
Saturday – “The Screen Guild Awards,” as seen on SNL
January 17, 2016
jmunney
Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television
Adam Driver, Chris Stapleton, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live 4110, Saturday Night Live Season 41, SNL, SNL Season 41, Social Puppeteering
SNL: Chris Stapleton, Adam Driver, Aidy Bryant
This review was originally posted on Starpulse in January 2016.
If “SNL” is going to book Adam Driver, then he is going to be called upon to do two things (assuming the writers are not suffering from temporary insanity): reference “Star Wars” and utilize his famous intensity. Surprisingly enough, the former is used sparingly; meanwhile, the latter is taken advantage of throughout the episode (which, depending on your opinion of the “SNL” team’s mental state, is either very much expected or totally shocking). This is the right decision. “Star Wars” is bigger than Driver (or any one person), and reliance upon intergalactic material could have been a distraction, but the character conviction he brings is comedy dynamite if deployed properly.
6th Republican Debate – The standard clown car jokes about the GOP field have mostly exhausted themselves, and Darrell Hammond’s legacy Trump impression is really the only performance here that has a strong enough default mode to run on autopilot. Thankfully, Ted Cruz gifted the comedy world a notorious moment with his “New York City values” comment. Instead of just repeating that jibe (which this sketch could very easily have gotten away with), Taran Killam’s Ted makes it just a little bit absurd by pairing it with “Seinfeld” references. Nothing groundbreaking, but enough to get by. B-
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January 17, 2016
jmunney
Television, What Won TV?
Idiotsitter, Jeopardy!, New Girl, The coin didn't flip, The Goldbergs, The Simpsons
In this feature, I look back at each day of the past week and determine what shows “won TV” for the night. That is, I consider every episode of television I watched that aired on a particular day and declare which was the best.
Sunday – The Simpsons
Monday – Jeopardy!
Tuesday – New Girl
Wednesday – The Goldbergs proves once and for all that 2 dates in 1 night can’t be done!
Thursday – Idiotsitter
Friday – Jeopardy!
Saturday – Packers-Cardinals: the coin didn’t flip!
January 14, 2016
jmunney
Awards Shows, Cinema, Oscars
Oscar Nominations, Oscars
-Sad to see no “See You Again” in Best Song, but at least the correct song from 50 Shades of Grey was picked.
-This is the most spread out I can ever remember the field being, as expected. Carol, Star Wars, and Straight Outta Compton had to be pretty close to Best Picture noms. Also Sicario, amazingly. And Ex Machina, too.
–Room got more overall support than I was expecting. Lenny Abrahamson is your iconoclastic Director pick this year.
-Most of what I’m happy to see was expected or close to it, i.e., plenty of love for The Big Short, Stallone for Supporting, Mad Max for Costume.
-Denmark’s been doing well in Foreign Language Film this decade.
-Glad to see The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared for Makeup and Hair. I haven’t seen it, but it’s probably the best title of the year.
January 13, 2016
jmunney
New Girl, New Girl Episode Reviews, Television
Ferguson the Cat, Henry Winkler, Julie Hagerty, New Girl, New Girl 502, New Girl Season 5, Taran Killam, What About Fred?
January 10, 2016
jmunney
Television, What Won TV?
Chardee MacDennis, Chardee MacDennis 2, Downton Abbey, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Jeopardy!, The Grinder, The Simpsons
In this feature, I look back at each day of the past week and determine what shows “won TV” for the night. That is, I consider every episode of television I watched that aired on a particular day and declare which was the best.
Sunday – The Simpsons
Monday – Jeopardy!
Tuesday – The Grinder
Wednesday – It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Thursday – Todd Margaret, again
Friday – Jeopardy!
Saturday – Pittsburgh-Cincinnati, the best episode of 2016 so far.
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