Sketches are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
CHC unconvincingly denies a charge that there’s too much filler in SNL
— Interesting hearing him mention the names of all the writers.
— His fall at the end was even funnier than usual. This one had me howling.
STARS: ***
OPENING MONTAGE
— The show’s title has changed from “NBC’s Saturday Night” to just “Saturday Night”, though Pardo still announced it as the former.
— Ah, and now finally, after spending this season being credited collectively in just a list, each cast member is now credited individually with their own respective picture.
MONOLOGUE
in his first chance to show his true self, host comes off as creepy
— Is that buzzing sound going to turn out to be the Bees?
— Oh, never mind, it’s just supposed to be a fly.
— LOL at Anthony eating the fly.
— I’m loving how creepy Anthony’s intentionally coming off. This is all very funny.
STARS: ****
A PRESIDENT’S VIEW ON MARIJUANA, PART 1
Gerald Ford (CHC) tries to roll a joint
— I’ve always found this bit funny, though for some reason, I thought I remembered this being done after Chevy left the show. I also had remembered this being pre-taped, but this actually appears to be live.
— The format of this sketch is interesting, and the gradual confusion/frustration of the hands is funny to watch.
— If the Triopenin commercial and the “Why Do You Think They Call It ‘Dope’?” PSA sketch had a lovechild together, the result would be this sketch.
STARS: ***½
HELLO DOLLY THERAPY
patient (JAC) sings “Hello, Dolly” as part of (host)’s therapy technique
— I’m usually not a fan of watching straight singing in sketches (where there’s no jokes in the lyrics), but this is a charming little piece.
— I can already tell Anthony is going to work very well in tonight’s sketches.
STARS: ***
HOUSEHOLD HINTS
dominatrix (JAC) tries to whip (GIR) into becoming a better housewife
— I like the reveal of the new “housekeeper” being a dominatrix, though I saw it coming since I recently read a write-up about this sketch.
— Two back-to-back Jane Curtin-led sketches tonight, in the cushy post-monologue spot. They seem to be trying to make up for her having practically nothing to do in the last episode.
— Great line with Gilda innocently assuming S&M stands for “scrubbing & mopping”.
— Funny ending with the “I don’t do windows” part.
STARS: ***½
THE NORMAN BATES SCHOOL OF MOTEL MANAGEMENT
learn proper knife use
— Love the random scary close-ups of mounted animals.
— A fun Psycho parody, featuring another delightfully creepy performance from Anthony.
STARS: ****
MUPPETS SPOT
their set destroyed, Ploobis & Scred ask host’s help in returning to SNL
— Well, they had to come back sooner or later…
— I think this is the first time they’ve ever appeared in the first half of the show.
— Very funny line from Anthony about how far his career has fallen in just the last four weeks.
— Overall, not too bad, surprisingly. The Muppets seem more tolerable when they’re taken out of the “Land of Gorch” setting and interact with people at SNL.
— I get the bad feeling we’re going to be seeing them again later in the night, however.
STARS: ***
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
A PRESIDENT’S VIEW ON MARIJUANA, PART 2
Gerald Ford (CHC) tries another joint
— Oh, this is a running piece tonight?
— I’m cracking up watching the hands struggle to figure out how to use whatever that red thing is.
STARS: ***½
WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 1
Patty Hearst trial report is stop motion animation of dolls & shoes
— The Patty Hearst trial “artist’s rendering” weekly running gag continues. Tonight’s is particularly strange but funny, with clips from some bizarre stop-motion baby doll movie.
— Also, the reporter voice Chevy’s using during this Patty Hearst bit is different from the usual “plugged nose” voice he’s been doing.
LAND IS SCARCE, USE YOUR HEAD
(ALZ) demonstrates solution to land scarcity- use your head
— Kinda weird, but interesting. I get the feeling this is making fun of a real commercial from that time.
STARS: ***
WEEKEND UPDATE, PART 2
prominent photo of Jerry Brown makes CHC’s impartiality claim suspect
March isn’t lion-lamb in other countries- JOB delineates the combinations
Emily Litella phones CHC, sees no need to preserve natural “race horses”
— Chevy’s fair-and-balanced commentary about the presidential candidates got absolutely no reaction from the audience. It took me a while myself to get the joke (that a picture of just one of the candidates was up on the news screen during the entire commentary).
— Hey, we have an Update desk piece that’s NOT Emily Litella for a change!
— I love how John’s gradually getting more and more worked up during his commentary. This is like an early prototype of his later “Luck of the Irish” Update rants.
— The ending with John suddenly wildly flailing himself out of his chair has me DYING right now.
— After watching John’s commentary, I can definitely see the strong influence John had in future cast member Chris Farley’s performances. Much like this commentary, Farley was also very good at doing bits where he starts out calm and then slowly gets more and more intense (e.g. the Herlihy Boy sketches).
— Oh, no. I guess I spoke too soon about Emily Litella not appearing, because here she is now, in the form of a phone call. (groan) Give me a break, SNL!
— Well, at least they tried something slightly different with Litella here, and I did like her thinking Chevy’s name was “Cheddar Cheese”. But, MAN, am I sick of even just the sight of this character after seeing her in so many consecutive episodes day-after-day.
STARS (FOR BOTH WEEKEND UPDATE HALVES): ***
HAPPY HOUR
(host) wants to go beyond saying “Hi” & have affair with co-worker (GIR)
Scred’s willing to leave Muppets & stretch comedically to get back on SNL
— Wait, Scred? WTF? The Muppets hijacking a sketch? I was right when I said earlier that I have a bad feeling we haven’t seen the last of the Muppets tonight.
— Scred doing Emily Litella’s routine – ugh! I’m sorry, folks, but I’ve now gotten to the point where even seeing Litella imitations has me groaning.
— I’m not really liking where this whole thing is going.
STARS: *½
A PRESIDENT’S VIEW ON MARIJUANA, PART 3
Gerald Ford (CHC) gives up joint-rolling
— Eh, the joke has started to wear thin. Should’ve just left these at two.
STARS: **
CATS & DOGS
by Gary Weis- five New Yorkers discuss how they relate to their pets
— (sigh) So is Weis just flat-out admitting that he’s now only doing films involving pets?
— That one guy’s attempt to feed the ceramic cat was pretty funny, at least.
— WTF? That weird Taylor Mead guy again? Please, no.
STARS: *½
YOU GOT A BEE
Sherry complains to professor (host)- “I don’t deserve this Bee (JOB)”
— Funny how we now get the Bees when I had thought we were getting them in the monologue earlier tonight.
— This is boring me so far.
— The “B+” ending with the baby – whaaat???
— Overall, this sketch did absolutely nothing for me, and was a waste of Laraine’s Sherry character.
— Man, the quality of tonight’s episode has fallen off a CLIFF after Update.
STARS: *½
COMING ATTRACTIONS
host screens trailers for his post-Psycho low-budget horror movies
— Okay, well at least THIS seems to have promise.
— Oh, this is going to be performed live? The set-up from Anthony had me thinking the trailers were going to be pre-taped.
— I’m really liking this so far, and the hilarious over-the-top narrator (is that Aykroyd’s voice?) is especially cracking me up.
— Lots of fast costume changes for Anthony in this.
— This was the kind of fun silly sketch the show desperately needed at this point, considering what a dud the post-Update half of tonight’s episode had been until now.
STARS: ****
P-NUT FEVER
by Phil Van De Carr- animated nuts avenge eaten comrades
— This is interesting and fun to watch progress. It’s kinda reminding me of the style of that stop-motion apples film from a few episodes ago.
— Haha, the “eat fruit” ending was excellent.
— SNL has been on a roll lately with these fan-made home movies they’ve been airing the last few episodes. They’ve all been solid so far.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
BUTT COUNTY DANCE PARTY
small town policemen (host) & (DAA) host televised dance party
— Wait, is this the first time we’re seeing Dan Aykroyd all night? Are you kidding me, SNL?!?? How is a cast member as talented and versatile as him relegated to only appearing in the final sketch of the night?
— What the heck is that superimposed typewriter thing that randomly showed up on the bottom of the screen just now?
— Wait, did they screw up and show the typewriter thing way too early? The performers now seem to be waiting for something to appear on the screen, but there’s just awkward dead air as nothing shows up.
— That weird stock footage car crash ending was really random, but made me kinda laugh.
— I usually love weird Dan Aykroyd sketches, but I found this to be a misfire. I didn’t get what this was going for.
STARS: **
GOODNIGHTS
at closing, Ploobis & Scred run out of time before getting to perform
— A decent way to end tonight’s running bit with the Muppets.
— It feels kinda funny seeing the Muppets interacting with Belushi, considering how much he was known to hate them.
— It looked like Belushi actually pulled out a pocket knife and jokingly(?) acted like he was going to stab the Muppets before playfully being held back by some of the other cast members.
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IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— This episode was a tale of two halves: the first half was consistently solid with a long string of good sketches, but there were so many things in the second half that left me cold.
— Anthony Perkins was a surprisingly fun host; one of my favorite hosts of the season so far. He also seemed to be more prominent in the show than most hosts this season, as he appeared in almost every sketch.
— The cast’s airtime has been strange lately, what with Jane being almost completely absent in the last episode, and now Dan only appearing in the 10-to-1 sketch tonight. And hey, was Garrett even IN tonight’s episode? I don’t remember seeing him at all. He might’ve been the black sheriff in the background of the Dance Party sketch, but I’m not even sure if that was him. I guess I just find all this scarce airtime for some of the cast to be weird, considering 1) how small this particular cast is (only 7 people!), and 2) the insanely large amount of sketches packed into each episode this season. The combination of those two facts would have you expecting there to be plenty of airtime for everyone each week. Instead, it’s starting to feel lately like Chevy’s the only cast member guaranteed to appear a lot every week.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Jill Clayburgh):
— a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Ron Nessen