What Won TV? – October 16-October 22, 2016

October 24, 2016

jmunney Television, What Won TV? , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

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.

david-s-pumpkins

Sunday – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Monday – Jane the Virgin
Tuesday – Jen Kirkman’s Prince dream, as recounted on The Meltdown Show with Jonah and Kumail
Wednesday – You’re the Worst
Thursday – Better Things
Friday – Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Saturday – David S. Pumpkins: Any questions?

SNL Review October 15, 2016: Emily Blunt/Bruno Mars

October 16, 2016

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , , , Leave a comment

snl-ann-arbor-short-film-festival

This review was originally posted on News Cult in October 2016.

Love It

Ann Arbor Short Film Festival – This is the sort of satire that really nails a particular piece of culture. This is not the first time amateur filmmaking has been lampooned, but it feels like it is, because it is so incisive, and so cleanly produced. It effectively uses exaggeration and reversal to make its points. Dozens of people work on a one-minute film featuring only one actor, and that feels oddly plausible. And unlike many screenings, in which the wave of questioners overwhelms the panelist, everyone on stage dwarfs the lone audience member. The Holocaust/makeup/“at the end of the day, it’s also a comedy” explanation is one for the ages.

The Hummer party limo’s visit to the Burger King Drive-Thru could have been random for the sake of randomness, but instead, each outré character is sharply defined.

More

What Won TV? – October 9-October 15, 2016

October 16, 2016

jmunney Television, What Won TV? , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

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.

call-ahmad-white

Sunday – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Monday – Full Frontal with Samantha Bee
Tuesday – Most people don’t realize Atlanta‘s quality is another universe. Don’t be dumb.
Wednesday – The Goldbergs
Thursday – Better Things
Friday – Time to a deliver an Eric Andre Show finale! (Time to a deliver an Eric Andre Show finale!)
Saturday – That part in the Ann Arbor Short Film Festival (SNL) when everyone in the crowd stood up to get on the stage

What Won TV? – October 2-October 8, 2016

October 9, 2016

jmunney Television, What Won TV? , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

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.

david-alan-thicke

Sunday – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Monday – Milo Murphy’s Law
Tuesday – The Flash
Wednesday – The Goldbergs
Thursday – Better Things, and its gooey heartwarming ending (Honorable Mention: the classiest exit on Drag Race All Stars)
Friday – The Eric Andre Show, featuring David Alan Thicke
Saturday – Saturday Night Live, especially the power duo of Vanessa Bayer and Kyle Mooney

SNL Review October 8, 2016: Lin-Manuel Miranda/twenty one pilots

October 9, 2016

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , , Leave a comment

lin-manuel-miranda-snl-monologue-backstage

This review was originally posted on News Cult in October 2016.

Love It
Pine Ridge Campground – You know you’ve got something special when the first post-monologue sketch has a nondescript setting. That is a promise of weirdness that you do not see coming. And boy, is that promise fulfilled, as the surprises just keeps piling up. Vanessa Bayer and Kyle Mooney are a pair of incestuous amateur singers with indefinable faux-European accents, and Lin-Manuel Miranda is the captive audience wise enough to stick around and see what happens next.

Michael and Colin just keep glorifying in all the material that Trump wraps up in a bow for them, and they really sell it with asides like Che’s quick take on the tic tac ad with the new Trump-inspired slogan…Netflix: Behind the Scenes reveals the one thing that Stranger Things was missing: racial consciousness! … LMM does a variation of “My Shot” in his monologue, but more importantly his love for SNL shines through in a way that clearly came from the heart as opposed to being written by committee.

More

SNL Review October 1, 2016: Margot Robbie/The Weeknd

October 2, 2016

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , , Leave a comment

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE -- "Margot Robbie" Episode 1705 -- Pictured: (l-r) Colin Jost, Michael Che, and Cecily Strong as Cathy Ann during Weekend Update on October 1, 2016 -- (Photo by: Will Heath/NBC)

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE — “Margot Robbie” Episode 1705 — Pictured: (l-r) Colin Jost, Michael Che, and Cecily Strong as Cathy Ann during Weekend Update on October 1, 2016 — (Photo by: Will Heath/NBC)

This review was originally posted on News Cult in October 2016.

Love It

Season 42 starts off satisfying enough, but with only occasional moments of sustained hilarity. For the sketch of the night, I am going with Family Feud: Political Edition, on the strength of two of the best SNL impressions of all time. Darrell Hammond’s take on Bill Clinton as the ultimate hedonist will never get old, while Larry David’s Bernie Sanders takes the inanities of the Feud (he passes, because playing seems like a hassle) and SNL parodies of the Feud (the whole thing is just hello’s) to task.

Michael and Colin have weeks’ worth of election news and athletic protests to motivate them for an on-fire Weekend Update…Cecily Strong’s recurring Cathy Anne character benefits from her migration from sketches to Update, as she drops by to present her take as an illuminating but frequently incoherent (“predator of Obamacare”?) undecided voter.

More

What Won TV? – September 25-October 1, 2016

October 2, 2016

jmunney Television, What Won TV? , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

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.

atlanta-black-justin-beiber

Sunday – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Monday – Jeopardy!
Tuesday – I actually love Atlanta. (Honorable Mention: that cursed health video segment on @midnight)
Wednesday – The Goldbergs
Thursday – Better Things
Friday – The Eric Andre Show
Saturday – An SNL season premiere actually gets by on the strength of its cameos.

The Best of SNL Season 41

June 26, 2016

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Season Recaps, Television , , , Leave a comment

snl_season_41_cast_photo

Most Valuable Cast Member
Kate McKinnon
Runner-Up: Cecily Strong
Honorable Mention: Larry David

Best Sketches
For my full thoughts on the best sketches, click here.
1. Yo, Where Jackie Chan At Right Now?
2. Mafia Meeting
3. FBI Simulator
4. bern your enthusiasm
5. Dead Bopz
6. Chad and Mrs. Douglas Show
7. Oprah Winfrey: A Life of Love
8. Screen Guild Awards
9. Close Encounter
10. Farewell, Mr. Bunting

Best Dress Rehearsal Cuts (AKA The “Kyle ‘Cut for Time’ Mooney” Award)
For my full thoughts on the best dress rehearsal cuts, click here.
1. Establishment Shuffle
2. New Studio
3. Not Scared
4. March Madness
5. Bieber Concert

Best 10-to-1 Sketches
1. Dead Bopz
2. Oprah Winfrey: A Life of Love
3. Miley Wedding Tape

Best Hosts
1. Larry David
2. Fred Armisen
3. Ariana Grande

Best Monologues
1. Fred Armisen
2. Elizabeth Banks
3. Tracy Morgan

Best Musical Guests
1. Disclosure
2. Courtney Barnett
3. The 1975

Best Weekend Update Segments
1. Drunk Uncle
2. One-Dimensional Female Character From a Male-Driven Comedy
3. Bruce Chandling

Best Episodes
1. Tracy Morgan/Demi Lovato
2. Fred Armisen/Courtney Barnett
3. Larry David/The 1975
4. Ariana Grande
5. Brie Larson/Alicia Keys

Best Lines
For my full thoughts on the best lines, click here.
13. “Why do we have to labia everything?” – The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Conversation With at a Party (Cecily Strong), on Weekend Update
12. “Happy Birthday to Mitt Romney who today turns 69. Which for Mormons is a sin.” – Colin Jost, on Weekend Update
11. “We’re at the point where we’re-” “finishing each other’s sente-” “pedes. Human” ““centipedes. Favorite Christmas movie!”” – Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, in their monologue
10. “Am I dating a girl, or am I dating … a pop quiz?” – Bruce Chandling (Kyle Mooney), on Weekend Update
9. “How far along are you, Theresa? You look like you’re about to pop.” “We think 2 months, we haven’t been keeping count.” “What?” “We don’t really know how it works, and we don’t believe in doctors. We’re just kinda winging it.” – Baby shower guest (Sasheer Zamata) and Theresa (Vanessa Bayer), in Baby Shower
8. “Jackie Chan was in movies as well as karate.” – Kenan Thompson, in Yo, Where Jackie Chan At Right Now?
7. “My tongue’s not as long as Gene Simmons, but my penis is even shorter.” – Ace Chuggins (Larry David), in Last Call
6. “All of you knuckleheads are getting cars.” – Oprah (Mike O’Brien), in Oprah Winfrey: A Life of Love
5. “God bless you.” “He never has and he never will.” – Colin Jost and Olya Povlatsky (Kate McKinnon), on Weekend Update
4. “Quick, somebody give that hologram a Holo-Grammy. Not my joke, guys, I’m just laser beams.” –Bing Crosby hologram (Beck Bennett), in Dead Bopz
3. “Paul Robeson of Porgy and Bess fame was one of the great singers and civil rights leaders of his day. We used a computer to make him sing ‘Trap Queen.’” –Bing Crosby hologram (Beck Bennett), in Dead Bopz
2. “Poetry should not be fun. It should be oppressive and the reader should hate it. Poems are from a hundred years ago. They were written by a bunch of dead men to punish children. The arts in general are for women and homosexuals. When you read a poem you should never feel emotion. In summary, poems stink.” – Mr. Kellogg (Beck Bennett), in Farewell, Mr. Bunting
1. “Can a bitch get a donut?!” – Kevin Roberts (Larry David), in FBI Simulator

What Won TV? – May 15-May 21, 2016

May 25, 2016

jmunney Television, What Won TV? , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

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.

fred-armisen-monologue

Sunday – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Monday – Jane the Virgin
Tuesday – Fresh Off the Boat
Wednesday – The Middle
Thursday – Orphan Black is Orphan ACK!
Friday – Jeopardy!* (with the caveat that I haven’t started watching Lady Dynamite yet)Saturday – Funny Freddy in “Love From New York, I Did Saturday’s Right” (SNL)

SNL Recap May 21, 2016: Fred Armisen/Courtney Barnett

May 23, 2016

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television , , , , , , Leave a comment

SNL: Courtney Barnett, Fred Armisen, Bobby Moynihan (CREDIT: YouTube Screenshot)

 

This review was originally posted on Starpulse in May 2016.

It hardly feels like Fred Armisen, one of the longest-tenured “SNL” cast members of all time (11 seasons), has ever left 30 Rockefeller Plaza. He has returned to cameo 7 times in the 3 years since departing, and he regularly collaborates with other “SNL” vets on his current regular gigs, “Late Night” and “Portlandia” (both produced by Lorne Michaels). But he has shown restraint this season, only appearing once before (to memorialize David Bowie). So while his first time as host is in no way long overdue, it is also not overkill. Speaking of cameos, several other alums also stop by, as befitting a season finale. This means that there is some squeezing out of the regular cast, but not of the good ideas. Year 41 ends on a high note.

Bernie and Hillary – “SNL” wraps up one of its wackiest political years with its two all-star impressions: one that broke big exactly as expected and the other a delightful surprise. The dance between Kate McKinnon’s Hillary and Larry David’s Bernie is as testy as the real deal. As they really explore the studio, there is a celebratory air that the show reserves only for times when it knows it has something special to celebrate. But wisely, it is not all just kissing and making up, because there is plenty of tension in this primary that the last call setting brings into focus. This is a summary of the fictionalized version of a slice of this campaign that “SNL” has managed to have its pulse on. B

More

Older Entries Newer Entries