(S32E15) Julia Louis Dreyfus hosted less than a year ago, so I was surprised to see her back so soon. She did an all right job last time, but I wonder what drove Saturday Night Live to have her return this quickly. It's not like she had anything new to promote. Hmm.This episode was pretty boring. If I wasn't planning on writing this review, I probably would have tuned out a little after "Weekend Update". Yawn.
"Cold Open (Road to the White House)": Hey, hey! Chris Rock. Good to see him back on SNL. I think he was originally supposed to do this little rant on "Weekend Update" because the commercials showed him approaching Seth Meyers at the desk. Anyway, this was pretty funny and started off the episode on a high note. Little did I know that this would be one of the few amusing moments of the night.
Monologue: Wow. I hate Julia Louis-Dreyfus... How is it that she looks more beautiful now than she did back when she was younger and in her Seinfeld years? The monologue was good, especially during her Golden Globes loss to America Ferrara. The green card comment to Felicity Huffman was priceless.
"Oprah and The Secret": I wonder if anyone that hasn't heard about The Secret understood what this sketch was about. Oh, and it seems like Maya Rudolph just likes to shout John Travolta's name whenever she plays Oprah.
Monex: Ugh. This was a bad commercial that dragged on for way too long (although that was probably the point). After a while, the word "gold" started sounding weird to me. Gold. Gold. Gold, gold, gold. Goldie Hawn
"Restless Penis Syndrome": A funny concept that wasn't executed in the best way possible.
"La Rivista Della Televisione con Vinny Vedeci": I think this could do well as a recurring character sketch. He doesn't have an annoying repeated catchphrase (like the "I'm just keeding!" guy) but it's formulaic enough to tailor to various guests. Oh, and I liked Julia's giant pink Turd Ferguson hat.
"Weekend Update": Weak "Weekend Update". I mean, c'mon, they're still making fun of the judge from the Anna Nicole Smith trial?
"Deep House Dish": The only good part about this was Jason Sudeikis' dancing. I guess it really was him during the caveman sketch from the Jeremy Piven episode.
"CBS Cares": This was okay. Boom jokes seem to be pretty easy ways to get laughs.
"Bots": Robot sex is always funny and disturbing. This garnered one of the better audience reactions of the night, I think.
"The Search For The Next Doll": They captured the purpose of the show perfectly, but it was still boring.
Snow Patrol: Oh my darling Snow Patrol. You all deserve better than this.
Next time: Peyton Manning and Carrie Underwood. That's going to be an awesome episode because it's a well-known fact that athletes are always -- always -- fantastic hosts.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-18-2007 @ 12:57PM
Tim Dorr said...
Man, this was a BAAAAD episode. I mean, really, it was just horrible outside of the Chris Rock monologue. Does no one there realize that they are just writing just horrible, unfunny comedy? I don't get why they can't just bring on a few "writing consultants", or whatever you want to call them, to jazz things up a bit. They've got a good budget, they should be able to afford some quality writers.
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3-18-2007 @ 1:15PM
Nate said...
I agree, terrible show.
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3-18-2007 @ 1:44PM
Ben Scripps said...
I have high hopes for Peyton Manning--there's a long tradition of athelete acting there. After all, who can ever forget Joe Montana's fantastic portrayal of Phil Hartman's roommate, and his magnificent delivery of the immortal line "You won't bother me--I'll be in my room masturbating"...
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3-18-2007 @ 1:47PM
BigTed said...
I wonder if they brought Julia Louis-Dreyfus back because NBC doesn't have very many comedies of its own right now, so there aren't a lot of stars who are funny, well-known and willing to do "SNL."
While the Chris Rock monologue was good, it wasn't exactly fresh -- he already told a lot of the same jokes during the many talk-show appearances he's made recently to promote his new movie.
I judge new "SNL" episodes by how long it takes to watch the good parts when I fast-forward my TiVo through the slow/unfunny parts. This one: 22 minutes.
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3-18-2007 @ 2:00PM
Bill said...
I'm with everyone else. Yawner.
During the boom mic sketch though, when Heder told Sudeikis to put the mic below the frame, a small part of the audience responded with shocked laughter. So I think I wasn't the only one thinking they were going to have him put the mic up her skirt? If they're allowed to do that on tv... which I'm not sure they are.
http://popculturejunk.blogspot.com/
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3-18-2007 @ 2:15PM
ac said...
Bad episode, except for the opening and Snow Patrol. The hairy vagina was just disturbing. And whats scary is that there are women with vagina's that hairy.
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3-18-2007 @ 3:26PM
Edward said...
Why all the hate for this week's episode? I actually think this has been one of the better episodes in a while. The only weak, non-funny, trying too hard were Weekend Update and Deep Dish House. I have no idea how Deep Dish House stays on. It sucks. I can't stand it. ANNOYING.
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3-18-2007 @ 5:54PM
Pamela said...
Deep Dish is not funny---Ever. Kill it, Enough already. I agree about Julia's looks, fabulous, gorgeous, she still looks so young and in great shape. The Vinny Vedeci character was fresh--the longer it went on, the funnier it was. Agree this could be a recurring character with guest hosts.
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3-18-2007 @ 5:53PM
Mark said...
I guess I'm going against the grain too - I only caught the last 20 mins of the show, but thought it was quite funny - both the robot sex sketch and the PussyCat Dolls parody had me laughing out loud.
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3-18-2007 @ 7:29PM
James said...
I only caught from about Weekend Update on, and judging from the review and comments, they must have backloaded the episode, cause it wasn't bad. The robots were awesomely unnerving, and even Deep Dish House wasn't nauseating, just blah. The writing was weak, but I usually watch for the host, and I happen to think Julia is funny with everything she does.
Not sure what the answer is for "SNL," but I think it's definitely not Seth Meyers. In any part of the show.
As for Louis-Dreyfus looking better than ever, the only thing I can think of is on "Seinfeld," her hair looked like she had been out in the rain all day and she was dressed like a Raggedy Ann doll most of the series.
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3-19-2007 @ 8:46PM
Michael said...
I thought Julia's hairy crotch, while creepy, was funny. Can't miss with Chris Rock - I wonder if he requested to be on or if Lorne asked him specifically because he knew the show was gonna be a stinker.
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