Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
THE X FILES
Mulder (host) rebuff puts Janet Reno (WIF) in Krycek’s (Nicholas Lea) arm
— A good reveal of “Deep Throat” turning out to be Will’s Janet Reno.
— I like Mulder’s facial reaction to Reno’s invitation for him to come over, watch the movie Aliens, and have brie.
— Hilarious line from Reno about treating Mulder to an unbelievably ferocious orgasm, which is her definition of a UFO.
— Reno drop-kicking Molly’s Scully to the ground was pretty funny.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host gets frustrated upon dropping a pick into his boyhood guitar
— David is coming off more charismatic here than he did when he last hosted SNL in season 20.
— I’m enjoying David’s increasingly frustrated demeanor when trying to get the pick out of the guitar, eventually getting to the point where he smashes the guitar to pieces while saying he hates his father.
STARS: ***½
CHEERLEADING CAMP
(host) instructs Craig & Arianna at Paula Abdul [real] Cheerleading Camp
— After getting their sketch buried in a late spot in the show when they last appeared, the Cheerleaders are back in their usual spot as the lead-off sketch of the night. Just when I thought SNL was phasing out these dying characters…
— Actually, despite what I said above, there’s only two more Cheerleaders sketches remaining after tonight’s episode, one in each of the following two seasons. So, yep, these characters are being phased out after all.
— David’s offbeat characterization in this is cracking me up. This is completely unlike the deadpan, dry performances he gave all throughout his season 20 episode. I’ve been impressed by all of his performances so far tonight.
— David: “My nipples are the size of dinner plates.”
— I like the Jerry Springer Show cheer that Craig and Arianna do.
— A laugh from Craig and Arianna initially confusing Paula Abdul for both Rosie Perez and Debbie Allen.
— Overall, an improvement over the subpar sketch the Cheerleaders last appeared in with Scott Wolf. This didn’t have the sad, desperate, dying feel that was evident in the Scott Wolf Cheerleaders sketch.
STARS: ***
TV FUNHOUSE
“A Hard One To Swallow” by RBS- The Ambiguously Gay Duo seeks origins
— Surprisingly, this entire season has only had TWO Ambiguously Gay Duo cartoons total. That’s very little compared to the preceding season.
— Interesting how this is a continuation of the ending from the last Ambiguously Gay Duo cartoon.
— A lot of laughs from the suggestive uses of the phallic crystals.
— The ending felt abrupt.
— During the TV Funhouse ending credits, there’s a change made to Lorne’s final “Leggo… my… show!”, where we now get an echo-ish effect used on the word “show”, which is a funny touch. Did they only do that because it’s the final TV Funhouse of the season?
STARS: ****
CELEBRITY JEOPARDY
Sean Connery (DAH), Minnie Driver (MOS), Jeff Goldblum (host)
— This is the first Celebrity Jeopardy sketch without Norm Macdonald’s Burt Reynolds, who was a staple of these sketches until now. Darrell’s Sean Connery impression, making only his second appearance in a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch, ends up becoming the new staple of these sketches.
— David continues to step it up tonight, as his Jeff Goldblum impression is hilarious and spot-on.
— A classic category mix-up, with Darrell’s Connery reading off “therapists” as “the rapists”.
— I absolutely love Will-as-Alex-Trebek’s angry delivery of “It’s a friggin’ hammer!” when the contestants can’t figure out what the object he’s holding is.
— A great and memorable part with the very long-winded clues given for the “Who is the current U.S. president?” question, which the camera has to keep scrolling down in order to show the entire thing.
— Will’s Trebek has been having so many great lines tonight. We now get yet another one: “And the show has reached a new low.”
— Sean Connery: “(triumphantly) Then I’m the cock of the walk!”
— What’s up with Will’s voice? It’s strangely sounding more and more hoarse as this sketch goes on.
— Alex Trebek: “Mr. Goldblum evidently doing Tai Chi over there.”
— Overall, an all-around classic. This was what I feel is the first of many five-star-worthy Celebrity Jeopardy sketches.
STARS: *****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Come With Me”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Dominican Lou disregards Bill Clinton & complains about a rival super
unshaven & pantyhoseless Cinder Calhoun says “Unshackle My Legs”
— For the first time in months, a Colin Quinn Update begins with him going right into the traditional news jokes instead of doing a straight-to-camera rant.
— Surprisingly, this is the first time we’re seeing Dominican Lou in an entire year.
— I love Tracy-as-Dominican-Lou’s heavy-accented pronunciation of “I could beat him”, which comes out sounding like “I coo be heem”.
— I got a good laugh from Dominican Lou’s response to the Puerto Rican flag-burning controversy from the most recent episode of Seinfeld: “I don’t care. They Puerto Rican. I Dominican.”
— Cinder Calhoun’s pantyhose protest song isn’t as funny as her usual songs. I hate to say it, but I think I’m starting to get a little tired of this character. Thankfully, I believe she has only one appearance remaining (and it’s one where she’s shown live via satellite reporting from Lilith Fair, so at least we get a bit of a change of pace for her there).
STARS: ***
MANGO
host is enraptured by Mango; cameos by John Goodman, Matt Lauer, Al Roker
— After every single preceding Mango sketch used the exact same template as each other, SNL finally does something different with a Mango sketch. I’m sure I still won’t be crazy about this sketch, though, especially since we don’t have Garth Brooks around to save it again.
— The usual montage of the host being distracted by a thought-bubble fantasy of Mango while trying to do daily activities is coming off a little better than usual tonight, with the amusing Today Show scene. I’ll just ignore how awkward it now feels to see a Matt Lauer cameo, knowing what we now know about him.
— A memorable part with Matt Lauer’s thought-bubble fantasy being about Al Roker doing Mango’s dance.
— Random John Goodman cameo. A precursor to the countless number of Goodman cameos we’re soon going to be seeing in the upcoming season 24.
— Uh, is Goodman drunk? Something sure seems… off about him here.
STARS: **½
OPRAH
Goat Boy is reunited with his brother (host)
— Feels kinda weird seeing an Oprah/Goat Boy crossover.
— This ends up being Goat Boy’s final appearance, as tonight turns out to be Jim’s last episode before getting fired over the summer. I like Jim, but I can’t say I’m going to miss this particular character.
— I definitely didn’t need the addition of David Duchovny as Goat Boy #2.
— This sketch has been doing nothing for me. The sketch is just a whole bunch of Jim and David doing goat-braying sounds over each other. Ugh, why not also bring back Chevy Chase as “Cow Man” while we’re at it? That’s the only way this sketch can get any worse for me.
— Okay, this sketch sure has taken a unexpected turn all of a sudden, with David’s Goat Boy #2 gradually trying to hump Jim’s Goat Boy out of nowhere, eventually leading to both of them getting into a fight with each other. I admit, that’s actually making me laugh.
— Overall, blah, though this did get a little better with the aforementioned turn near the end. For a sketch that ends up inadvertently being Jim’s swan song, Jim deserved to go out on a better note.
STARS: **
INTERBANK
Interbank will do much more than replace your stolen travellers’ checks
— It feels kinda rare for a season finale to have a new pre-taped fake ad.
— Very funny bit with Interbank chasing down and attacking Chris for stealing Will and Molly’ travellers checks.
— Now this gets even funnier with Interbank also hunting down Chris’ friends and relatives, and setting fire to their homes.
— I’m loving the increasing darkness of this.
STARS: ****
FROM THE EARTH TO THE AREA AROUND THE EARTH: THE STORY OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE
a ho-hum Shuttle mission
— This sketch is awfully slow-moving, even if that’s the point. Maybe I would find this funnier if I were familiar with what this is parodying.
— The sketch suddenly picks up with Will and Tim’s prank Bill Clinton message, in which they take turns doing comically bad Bill Clinton impressions. This is hilarious, especially how Tim’s Clinton says “I like sex.”
— Overall, despite the hilarious Clinton bit, I did not care much for the rest of the sketch, and felt it came off underdeveloped and forgettable, especially for what ends up being the final live sketch of the season. Or, again, I might have appreciated it more if I were familiar with the source material it parodied.
STARS: **½
THE GOLORDS
Golords battle James Cameron & his army of Leonardo DiCaprio clones
— This ends up being the final Golords short, as this recurring segment doesn’t last beyond this season.
— I’m getting a kick out of the male Golord’s endless screaming as he takes a very long fall down a pipe.
— As usual, we get some very funny gruesome, gory visuals during the climactic fight scene. I especially like the female Golord dipping one of the Leonardo DiCaprio clones into an acid bath, resulting in the clone’s skeleton being exposed.
— Overall, this Golords short was fine, but didn’t feel quite as strong as these usually are. However, it’s been fun reviewing these Golords shorts this season. These turned out to be much better than I used to find them in the past.
STARS: ***½
THE LOST DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
— Here comes yet another “last” tonight, as this ends up being the final Deep Thoughts that Jack Handey ever does on SNL.
— Unfortunately, tonight’s Deep Thought wasn’t the best note for these to go out on.
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Not the best season finale. I couldn’t help but feel a little underwhelmed by this episode, though it was mainly because of the post-Weekend Update half of the show, which was largely kind of a bore. There were certainly good things tonight, mainly in the first half, but I found this overall finale to be a little on the forgettable side.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Matthew Broderick)
about the same
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS ENTIRE SEASON, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS (Note: These picks were hastily made off the top of my head and will naturally be missing some deserving sketches. I don’t have enough time to do full, thought-out “Best Of” picks for this whole season)
HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1996-97)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 24 begins, with Cameron Diaz as host, and three new cast members joining the show. This is also a very special episode for me, as it has the distinction of being the very first SNL episode I ever saw (though my viewing was during a summer 1999 rerun on NBC).
Thanks for another great season of reviews. I enjoy reading all of these, but had been particularly looking forward to Season 23. It (and the 1997 portion of Season 22) took place during a great time in my life, and I had been interested in seeing what influence that may have had on my opinion of the shows then versus now. Of course, I have seen repeats of many of these episodes, but these reviews have jogged my memories of the actual live shows. Turns out most were about the same as I originally remembered.
On the other hand, the majority of Season 25 would take place during a particularly rough time for myself, so it will be interesting to see if there’s any influence from that side of things when those reviews start coming in
“From the Earth to the Moon” was airing on HBO at the time, inspiring the space shuttle sketch.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Earth_to_the_Moon_(miniseries)
Oh boy, I just realized that Jingleheimer Junction is in the next episode.
With S24, we say hello to three new feature players: Jimmy Fallon, Chris Parnell, and Horatio Sanz. Plus, a new montage that features the city of New York for the first time since S22.
Merry Christmas, Stooge (and everyone else) – or whatever else you celebrate.
David Duchovny is definitely much better in this hosting stint, maybe because he now had more experience with live TV, or because of behind the scenes changes. As was often the case in these years, I wish the show had had more faith in the host – outside of the monologue he’s mostly in generic roles (even Goldblum is a very limited part of the Jeopardy sketch). Nicholas Lea said in an interview not long after this episode that it had been David’s idea for him to cameo, so I wonder if he punched up what was a very generic cold open otherwise (not helped by Will fumbling various lines toward the end – between that and Jeopardy, I wonder if he was under the weather [I was also trying to figure out if his attire in the goodnights was down to a cut sketch, or if he was just wearing something kooky for the finale]).
Colin seemed to have his most garden variety Update delivery and joke content up to this point (only to be greeted with some boos). He seemed to be more confident, anyway.
This Golords has such a bizarrely muted ending – and the violence and sexual themes of past shorts also seem very half-hearted. I wonder if they knew going through this one there was no real value in continuing.
This season mostly continued the pattern of smoothing off rough edges, and of a cast where individual players honed their strengths but had less and less chemistry together (I’d say this season Cheri and Will were the only cast members who consistently worked well together). To me this is a fairly cold cast and that gives the episodes a more forgettable feel at times.
As much as I wish he’d had a better exit, Norm’s messy departure helped bring some life into the back half of the season and also likely helped lead to the guest star experimentation which worked much better than it could have (in large part because the guest stars had defined roles in sketches, rather than just aimlessly wandering around a cold open).
The other change this season was that arguably for the first time, three female cast members all getting pretty equal airtime, being popular with viewers, and all adding something different to the show. In previous years, you would often have a situation where three female cast members would either be lucky to get any airtime (early ’80s) or one or two of them would be in a smaller, more easily degraded role (Laraine in the ’70s, Victoria in the late ’80s). The dynamics here, along with Tina Fey’s increasing power, help finally break the logjam of 3 female cast members which so often hover over the show’s first 25 years.
A part of me wonders how Jim Breuer would have fared with another season – he seemed to really get a second wind in the back half of S23, and he also seemed to have a more stylish, streamlined look, which would have served him well heading into an increasingly homogenized period of SNL. He probably had done about all he could have done, but still, I appreciated him this season, knowing he would be doing something no other guy on the cast would be doing, especially in regards to how he used his energy and physicality.
I know season 24 will be about more of the same (with Jimmy Fallon, probably the most homogenized ‘star’ the show’s ever had, becoming the face of the blandness of this era), but I’m looking forward to seeing Chris Parnell again. I remember even though he never had a very defined role, I connected to him very early on, He, Tim and Ana were my saving graces as SNL closed out the ’90s.
Best episodes of 97-98: Garth Brooks, Steve Buscemi, Claire Danes (I’d possibly put Helen Hunt in there instead)
Worst: Matthew Perry, Roma Downey, Matthew Broderick
Yeah, Chris Parnell was a pretty great cast member. I love listening to his voice. In fact, my first exposure to him was as the narrator of the PBS Kids show, WordGirl (starring Uptight Citizens Brigade alumnus Dannah Phirman).
“I was also trying to figure out if [Will’s] attire in the goodnights was down to a cut sketch, or if he was just wearing something kooky for the finale”
He was actually dressed as his alter ego “Ron”. There’s a story Jim Breuer once shared in an interview about how Will went through the entire week of this episode acting as an alter ego named Ron. Will would not break character from his alter ego, no matter how much his castmates and SNL staffers (including an upset Marci Klein) tried to get him to. There was even an incident during this week where “Ron” walked onstage while Puff Daddy was rehearsing his musical performance. A video of the latter incident was once available at FunnyOrDie.com; not sure if it’s still there.
I wonder if this “Ron” thing was something Will did during the week of EVERY season finale, because a few season finales later, when Christopher Walken hosts in 2001, “Ron” randomly appears as a background extra in a Mango sketch and even performs with musical guest Weezer.
Oh yeah I forgot about all the “Ron” stories. Those were hilarious, this was before they started randomly putting him in sketches.
Thanks. I had no idea. Appreciate the info (and thank you Rickrolled for the video – Jim’s Tracy Morgan impression is uncanny).
Before SNL, Duchovny appeared on the actual Celebrity Jeopardy! in 1995. Most notably, that episode is known for his “addition” to Stephen King’s correct answer. He’s not actually a bad player, he just wagers too much on Final Jeopardy! in both his 1995 and 2010 games:
I remember finding Jim’s departure kinda surprising and out of nowhere at the time since he always seemed to be a fairly popular cast member at the time. But looking at these reviews again, I guess outside of Goat Boy and Joe Pesci, he really wasn’t featured in a lot of episodes as much as I once thought. This season he especially seemed to be struggling to get stuff on the air. I always kinda saw Fallon as his replacement, the guy with younger audience appeal who does impressions and stoner references. I remember actually thinking at the time Breuer might’ve had more chemistry with the likes of Fallon and Sanz than he did with a lot of his castmates.
I was always a bit surprised Jim didn’t breakout bigger after SNL, he seemed like the first of the new guys to get more outside exposure with Half-Baked and already having a couple memorable Comedy Central specials (his Pulp Comics used to be one of my favorites of the late 90s Comedy Central specials) but he ended up becoming more strictly a radio and stand-up guy. I think similar to Dana Carvey, he’s since said he realized not long after SNL that the whole Hollywood thing wasn’t for him.
Farewell to Jim Breuer…Jim’s a tough SNL legacy for me to assess. First of all, I was a fan of Joe Pesci and his heavy-metal news guy…Goat Boy?…eh…not so much. Second, Jim seems like a really cool down-to-earth guy who would be awesome to hang out with, and his stories about life on the show and backstage insights are incredible. Second to none.
With that said, I really didn’t care for him very much on the show. He tapped a lot into “jock” humor or “stoner” humor that was not really my thing in high school. He had a hard time fitting in with the rest of the cast and (apart from Joe Pesci) never really got a breakout role on the show. And as you state throughout your reviews Stooge, he practically disappeared this season. So, overall, not too sad to see him go.
Here are the average ratings for Season 23:
*may not represent review’s perception*
2301: 7.1 (Sylvester Stallone)
2302: 6.5 (Matthew Perry)
2303: 6.6 (Brendan Fraser)
2304: 6.6 (Chris Farley)
2305: 6.7 (Jon Lovitz)
2306: 6.7 (Claire Danes)
2307: 7.3 (Rudy Giuliani)
2308: 7.1 (Nathan Lane)
2309: 7.3 (Helen Hunt)
2310: 6.1 (Samuel L. Jackson)
2311: 7.0 (Sarah Michelle Gellar)
2312: 7.7 (John Goodman)
2313: 6.1 (Roma Downey)
2314: 7.7 (Garth Brooks)
2315: 6.2 (Scott Wolf)
2316: 7.1 (Julianne Moore)
2317: 7.9 (Steve Buscemi)
2318: 6.8 (Greg Kinnear)
2319: 6.5 (Matthew Broderick)
2320: 6.6 (David Duchovny)
Best Episode: 2317 (Steve Buscemi)- 7.9
Worst Episode: 2310 (Samuel L. Jackson) + 2313 (Roma Downey)- 6.1 (tie)
Season Average: 6.9
I’m curious what Vax Novier’s list of average ratings would look like if it was ranked from best episode to worst, so I’ll do it below:
2317: 7.9 (Steve Buscemi)
2312: 7.7 (John Goodman)
2314: 7.7 (Garth Brooks)
2307: 7.3 (Rudy Giuliani)
2309: 7.3 (Helen Hunt)
2301: 7.1 (Sylvester Stallone)
2308: 7.1 (Nathan Lane)
2316: 7.1 (Julianne Moore)
2311: 7.0 (Sarah Michelle Gellar)
2318: 6.8 (Greg Kinnear)
2305: 6.7 (Jon Lovitz)
2306: 6.7 (Claire Danes)
2303: 6.6 (Brendan Fraser)
2304: 6.6 (Chris Farley)
2320: 6.6 (David Duchovny)
2302: 6.5 (Matthew Perry)
2319: 6.5 (Matthew Broderick)
2315: 6.2 (Scott Wolf)
2310: 6.1 (Samuel L. Jackson)
2313: 6.1 (Roma Downey)
For fun, here are this season’s episodes ranked from best to worst based on the “Immediate Post-Show Thoughts” that I wrote in my reviews:
Steve Buscemi
John Goodman
Garth Brooks
Nathan Lane
Rudy Giuliani
Julianne Moore
Helen Hunt
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sylvester Stallone
Claire Danes
Jon Lovitz
Brendan Fraser
Greg Kinnear
Chris Farley
Matthew Perry
David Duchovny
Samuel L. Jackson
Scott Wolf
Matthew Broderick
Roma Downey
The new ‘stories from the show’ video featuring Will has him talking about Ron and includes footage of him crashing the dress rehearsal and footage of him backstage afterward. There are a few other fun stories too.
Here are the five star sketches from the 97-98 season:
Accident (Sylvester Stallone)
The Computer Station (Sylvester Stallone)
TV Funhouse (Helen Hunt)
Baseball Dreams (Helen Hunt)
Dysfunctional Family Dinner (Sarah Michelle Gellar)
The 7th Commandment (John Goodman)
Storytellers (John Goodman)
Riding My Donkey Political Talk Show (Roma Downey)
Loews (Garth Brooks)
TV Funhouse (Julianne Moore)
The Mad Tea Party (Steve Buscemi)
TV Funhouse (Steve Buscemi)
Job Interview (Steve Buscemi)
Celebrity Jeopardy (David Duchovny)
14 Sketches. Up from the previous season but I think a slow start keeps it lower that 95-96. I think I’d have roughly the same amount, but I’d probably swap out half a dozen. I like the commercial parodies like Gatorade Cookie Dough, Chess For Girls and No. 1 Hat far more than Stooge did.
And now the ****1/2 sketches:
Celebrity Jeopardy (Matthew Perry)
The Super Fans Revisited (Chris Farley)
Dunkin’ Donuts (Jon Lovitz)
Graffiti (Rudy Giuliani)
Friggen’ Giuliani (Rudy Giuliani)
Well Babies Tragedy (Nathan Lane)
Monologue (Nathan Lane)
Quentin Tarantino: A Profile (Samuel L. Jackson)
Phone Chat (Garth Brooks)
TV Funhouse (Garth Brooks)
Old French Whore! (Garth Brooks)
Who’s More Grizzled?! (Garth Brooks)
Shirtless Bible Salesmen (Julianne Moore)