SNL's Continued Downward Spiral Thread

[sgreenwell]

Tom Shales is not a fan of Seth MacFarlane.

Apparently a new bylaw at "Saturday Night Live," which began its 38th season this weekend, is "The worse the host, the more sketches in which he'll appear." So it was with big let-down Seth MacFarlane, multimillionaire comedy tycoon who hosted the season premiere. Once he arrived on the show's tiny (and, yes, "iconic") stage, he was punishingly omnipresent for the whole 90 minutes.
We can be grateful he didn't grab a cow bell and crash the musical act.
With the exception of MacFarlane - a man who has gone farther with less than perhaps even Tyler Perry -- the series seemed to be in tip-top ship-shape shape, especially considering that it begins a new year minus two of its greatest cast assets: Andy Samberg, off to make more movies, and the incomparably versatile Kristen Wiig, the funniest woman in television since Tina Fey. Or maybe since Gilda Radner. Or maybe since Carol Burnett. Or maybe since, dare we say it, Lucille Ball?

http://blogs.suntimes.com/shales/2012/09/sat_night_live_lives_-_still_loved_much_needed.html#.UFmm2pwvzx0.twitter

Shales can be so smug at times that you're sure his head is buried up his own asshole, a la South Park.

 

[heyabbott]

Tom Shales is not a fan of Seth MacFarlane.

Apparently a new bylaw at "Saturday Night Live," which began its 38th season this weekend, is "The worse the host, the more sketches in which he'll appear." So it was with big let-down Seth MacFarlane, multimillionaire comedy tycoon who hosted the season premiere. Once he arrived on the show's tiny (and, yes, "iconic") stage, he was punishingly omnipresent for the whole 90 minutes.
We can be grateful he didn't grab a cow bell and crash the musical act.
With the exception of MacFarlane - a man who has gone farther with less than perhaps even Tyler Perry -- the series seemed to be in tip-top ship-shape shape, especially considering that it begins a new year minus two of its greatest cast assets: Andy Samberg, off to make more movies, and the incomparably versatile Kristen Wiig, the funniest woman in television since Tina Fey. Or maybe since Gilda Radner. Or maybe since Carol Burnett. Or maybe since, dare we say it, Lucille Ball?

http://blogs.suntimes.com/shales/2012/09/sat_night_live_lives_-_still_loved_much_needed.html#.UFmm2pwvzx0.twitter

I usually love Shales but Wiig is just ok for me, nothing special.

SNL is DVR'd in my by someone else who resides there. If I do watch it, it takes about 15 minutes.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I thought Wiig was very overrated on SNL. I think she's going to be an amazing movie star, because she has the looks to be a leading lady and the chops to do comedy, which does not happen that often.

The fact that she has enough clout to write her own stuff won't hurt either. Has that ever happened with an actress before?

 

[jr/shotglass]

The Shales stuff on McFarlane smacks of somebody who got stiffed on a lunch check.

 

[RubberSoul1979]

Pharoah is dead on with Will Smith, Jay Z and Kanye. Frickin' hilarious.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Pharoah is dead on with Will Smith, Jay Z and Kanye. Frickin' hilarious.

The Thursday night attempt was awful...

 

[Thomas Goldkamp]

Pharoah is dead on with Will Smith, Jay Z and Kanye. Frickin' hilarious.

Agreed. And I thought his Obama impersonation was off. He oversold the pauses and that really killed it for me.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Pharoah is dead on with Will Smith, Jay Z and Kanye. Frickin' hilarious.

Agreed. And I thought his Obama impersonation was off. He oversold the pauses and that really killed it for me.

It was better than Armisen's. The guy on Key and Peele does a better Obama impression, but Pharoah's was much better than Armisen.

 

[Della9250]

I give him a pass on the first one. He had to have been a tad nervous.

 

[spikechiquet]

Only line that got a rise out of me: "She said it was compacted like a can of V8, followed by two minutes of hot dog water."
~Producer in sex talk skit about host's BM.

 

[lisa_simpson]

This episode is already tops on my list for best of the year, as JGL got partially naked while mocking Magic Mike during the monologue. GOLD! Also, hot.

 

[lone star scribe]

Another cold open for Jay Pharoah, and he seemed much more comfortable spoofing Michael Strahan.