SNL's Continued Downward Spiral Thread

I've mentioned it before, but I'm pretty sure that's why the cast is now so huge - because everybody has outside projects, and might miss certain weeks. I think the writing has been good this year, but it adds a layer of difficulty because you don't know who you have access to in a given week. (i.e. In the 1990s, Conan would write a skit with Phil Hartman or Dana Carvey in mind. Now, it would be written more toward a Generic Dad character, instead of with one of them in mind.)

 

That's probably true for the timely skits, but the ones not tied strictly to current events can probably be written for certain people. I'm sure they have a schedule and know who's on from week to week. Other than one show that I hated, I think it's all been pretty good this year.

 

Looks like at least one person will be leaving the cast.

"SNL" star Melissa Villaseñor openly agrees with tweets slamming show

Here’s what started it

 

I've always been kind of surprised that Villasenor hasn't gotten more run on the show - she's usually been good to really good in the few times they feature her in a skit. However, it's also been weird that they've kept her around for six years even though they don't use her much.

 

I've been enjoying the "Fly on the Wall" podcast by Dana Carvey and David Spade for the behind-the-scenes SNL stories. Carvey tries a little too hard to wedge in his material, but Spade comes off less obnoxious than I remember. Some anecdotes are repetitive but worth a listen if you're an SNL fan.

 

Spade is a guy that comes off as pretty mellow and reasonable now, in his various guest and podcast appearances.

 

Yawn. This week’s grading out at a C- so far.

EDIT: That was Willow Smith guesting on the second musical performance, BTW.

 

I thought she was painfully strained in sketches for her first year or two. Just an uncomfortable delivery.

She's gotten better since. Not great, but better. Also, a lot of screen time is determined by how much the writers are willing to produce characters with you.

 

Yeah, this was not their best show.

Execution was off, too -- especially in the pollination sketch, where you could see Bowen Yang's pants glitching against the green screen.

 

The Property Brothers parody was hilarious, especially what the Kate McKinnon character collected.

 

Lizzo episode? Crickets. Nothing but crickets.

 

Spade’s story about his assistant almost murdering him made me see him in a more favourable light.