SNL's Continued Downward Spiral Thread

Bennett seemed to be about the "lockiest" of the locks to be back this season. Though I'm guessing his contract was up - Mikey Day and Alex Moffatt can handle some of his stuff. Just kind of weird to have Bennett gone, but Kyle Mooney (they were kind of brought on to do weird videos after Samberg left) is staying.

 

I could see Mooney being comfortable with his niche and a steady paycheck. Like, I doubt he's quitting SNL to do a network sitcom or anything like that. I'm not sure what Bennett's next move is, but I'm sure he's going to get plenty of interest.

 

Oh, he could book a half-dozen one day shoots on movies, and probably just kill one of those slightly subversive and dark comedies the streaming services are going for. Or take back the AT&T job from Lily Adams while she's on maternity leave.

 

Looks like they gave Biden to James Austin Johnson, one of the newbies.

 

James Austin Johnson, as evidenced in the show, is basically the house impressionist now. (Also, I realized during the open that SNL now has two people with the same last name in the cast.) When he was announced, I saw he does a very good Trump, which might have a lot to do with why he got the job. Also, impressions has been kind of a hole in the cast since Hader left.

I was pleasantly surprised with tonight's show. Wilson has the charisma to carry a show like this really well, and even with that stupid nose, it seemed to me like a good show. The Lightning McQueen and school board meeting sketches were great stuff. I missed Weekend Update, because I was driving from the office to home but it looked like there was an extended Norm MacDonald tribute.

Of course, my network affiliate appears to not be broadcasting audio right now (they were out when I flipped to their 10 p.m. news), but surprisingly Peacock came through for once.

 

Owen Wilson is one of Melissa Villasenor's trademark impressions, and she doesn't get the chance to do it on the episode hosted BY Owen Wilson?

Seems like it would've been perfect for the Cars 4 sketch.

 

I thought Villasenor was the "go-to" impressionist on staff, but judging by the school board sketch they have a few people who can do interesting stuff. Really thought they'd do Jeopardy tryouts - but there is always next week. JA Johnson seems likely fill Bennet's spot as "the guy in the front of the room" (I heard that description of Bennett and it really fit.) Biggest "miss" of the night seemed to be staging and direction issues with Lorne still in the shot comign out of a commercial - "Sinema" being in the shot before her cue in the open and some bad camera switches. Glad they ended the Norm tribute with an OJ joke.

 

Is it possible that Wilson nixed doing anything involving that? Because everybody had to be expecting something and then it was a big letdown. Like they couldn't do that Fallon-Jagger mirror bit to make it work in some way?

 

Was that the first SNL without Kate McKinnon since 2011?

 

Chicago Reader from 2018 on Sarah Squirm/Sherman

"Her act, she fears, doesn’t neatly fit into a five-minute slot on, say, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, or function as a natural lead-in to starring on Saturday Night Live."

https://chicagoreader.com/arts-cult...-her-body-in-all-its-oozing-disgusting-glory/

 

I shouldn’t have been disappointed when they went to Halsey with Lindsey Buckingham and it wasn’t Bill Hader but here we are

 

They wrote to the host's strengths and she appeared in just about every sketch (so credit for that) - thought the weekend update "guests" were the best part - particularly the movie guy's descriptions of the movies. The guest cameo's on the Bachelor rip-off were okay - but I still don't understand the fascination with the Kardashians. Or why she still uses Kanye's last name after the divorce (unless its for the kids).