SNL's Continued Downward Spiral Thread

Gosh, I love watching and listening to Dwayne Johnson. He was a lot of fun in Moana. BTW, speaking of under/over-using talent, Disney hired Alan Tudyk to do the voice work for the chicken.

One other side note: It's evident The Rock is pretty charismatic. It must be off the charts to be in proximity. There's an old episode of one of Martha Stewart's shows where she can barely hold it together when she did a cooking segment with him. She giggled, she lost her place when trying to explain the process, she just... I kept waiting for the reveal that it was Ana Gasteyer playing la Martha.

Regarding Aykroyd. He's talented and smart, but he's also on the odd side and Murfreesboro Pretty.* Maybe some of his choices are a case of taking what he can get?

For the most part, I end up liking most female SNL cast members after they leave or do things outside of the show. Kristen Wiig is a far better actress in movies than she is on SNL. With Leslie Jones, I'm a fan of her as a personality. I would love to have my mind changed about her acting.


*The best looking people in Murfreesboro (or Omaha or Lubbock or Winnipeg or...) would probably get cast as the wacky/plain/homely sidekick using L.A. standards of attractiveness.

 

What John Ratzenberger is to the Pixar movies, Alan Tudyk has become to the non-Pixar Disney animated movies -- the Frozens, Wreck-it Ralphs, Moana...

 

Seth Meyers' Late Night show has four past/present SNL cast members booked for the next eight shows, and three in four days. Colin Quinn, Leslie Jones, Aidy Bryant and Andy Samberg. Is it getting that hard to book guests?

 

Eh, Colbert regularly has on stars of CBS shows, and movie stars of whatever conglomerate owns CBS. Part of the price of doing bidness in late-night TV world.

 

I know Jones, Bryant and Samberg all have non-SNL stuff to promote - and Samberg will also be on Fallon (I get it -it's an NBC show).
I still listen to the Daily Show on podcast - Noah may not get the A-list guests that other shows get, but it's nice to learn about someone you're not familiar with, than hearing about a funny anecdote from a sitcom actor.
I do miss the authors Jon Stewart used to get on the Daily Show. Don't know how they prepped the author or if they just lucked out, but you'd hear the subject of a book and think "boring" and the interviews were always lively and fun.

 

I think after a while, Stewart (and Colbert) just had the clout at Comedy Central to book whoever they wanted. Meaning, someone that interested them, as opposed to the fourth lead from Twilight. It's kind of interesting how each host differs on this. Leno and Fallon will gladly Play the Game with anyone on the couch. Letterman would immediately check out or ridicule some guests, which was fascinating or TV death, depending on how it went. Meyers, Craig Ferguson, Stewart, Conan's non-Tonight Show stuff, they just seem to book people they like.

 

I meant to try this out last week but forgot, if we gave out awards for the first half of the season (pre-Christmas):

Male MVP: Mikey Day. He's become a steady performer who can always be counted on, much like Taran Killam was.
Female MVP: Cicely Strong. I give her the edge on Kate, because like someone said above, she's starting to becoming a little one-note. Special credit to Heidi Gardner, who I think could lead the next generation of SNL women for a while.
Least VP: Pete Davidson. Between his sabbatical for whatever movie he's making and all the other distractions, there's not many people missing him.
Best Episode: Eddie Murphy. I think it's pretty clear there.
Worst Episode: Kristen Stewart, J-Lo and Scarlett Johansson were pretty unmemorable to me.
Best sketch/live moment: I'd have to give it to Gumby on Update, for the pure nostalgia and Eddie just riffing on everything.
Best taped bit: David Harbour in the Oscar the Grouch/Joker send-up. Hilarious, and I love all the subtle references being a Sesame Street kid growing up.

 

Strong's Pirro is probably the best new character, and you're right, she play the straight person in a sketch or the weirdo equally well. Oddly enough, with all the attention the Trump sketch guest stars get, this has been a good year for women. Melissa Villa-Signor's "White Male Rage" song last week was solid.

 

Cicely Strong gets bonus points for being the daughter of a journalist.

I enjoyed Melissa's song, too. Glad she was given a chance to show off a little bit because she's been a little lost in the shuffle with the other women.

 

Akroyd had a pretty decent run in the 1980s, post-SNL. Looking at his career, it seems like he was a guy who made his money and was happy to live off of it, the residuals from a couple of things, and moved on to other interests besides acting.
He hasn't done anything that wasn't related to Ghostbusters or the Blues Brothers in the last 25 years. It's not like he's struggling along in an endless string of B-movies or ill-advised projects. That seems to show he's picked those two properties to stay involved with, for whatever reason, and doesn't much care for the rest.

 

Between the House of Blues (which is the source of most of his wealth) and his wife Donna Dixon - even Ackroyd can't seem to believe his luck.

 

Melissa is strange in an excellent way. I wish they would use her more.