TVSquad

(S35E01) Alternate title for this post: "New girl's f-bomb overshadows Megan Fox's slammin' bod."

Yes, Saturday Night Live new girl Jenny Slate's f-bomb was the most thrilling part of the show's otherwise bland 35th season premiere. It's not like we've never heard that word before, and it's not like accidental verbal naughtiness has never happened on SNL (I still distinctly remember my extra-young self watching Cheri Oteri cringing as she contributed to the swear jar), but the pain still felt fresh with hot embarrassment.

This was partially due to the fact that it's just a generally bad thing to have happen on a player's first show (and in such a mediocre sketch, at that) but mostly because of this face that she made after she caught her boo-boo. Twitter exploded with people's camera phone pics of this one moment.

Jenny Slate, welcome to the big time.

Usually, featured players kind of lurk in the background or pop in for split-second lines and visual gags until a few months pass. Slate has been doing a bit on the Thursday "Weekend Update" specials, so maybe they let her slide by. I was surprised to see a brand-new featured player lead a new sketch so early in the season, and maybe that's the last time I'll see one for a while.

The jazzed up intro looked rather nice, throwing in more colors but maintaining the previous type treatment. All this probably unnecessary excitement around Slate made me forget that Darrell Hammond wasn't in the intro, even though he was in the last "Weekend Update" special. Elaborate fantasy sequences have already played out in my head with all the various ways Hammond could make a case against the new girl so that he can replace her. Leave those poor kids alone, Hammond that exists in my head! You've had enough. I bet even Tim Meadows thinks so.

There weren't any big stand-outs in this episode. Even the Digital Short wasn't particularly spectacular. I spent most of my time trying to figure out what Will Forte's voice sounded like. Shortly after he started whispering about his slaughtered lambs, I nailed it. "Truman Capote!" I triumphantly shouted to no one in particular.

Fox's work with Fred Armisen in the Russian bride skit was kind of cute, though safe. She also managed to pull off the sex line commercial, setting things up for Bill Hader's hilarious frozen face. "Biker Chick Chat" was sad, I must mention again, and it was that way before the slip (which she was kind of asking for, doing something with so many "frick"s). Kenan Thompson's wild gyrations throughout the episode were moderately funny, if only to see how he would creatively bang an invisible woman. As for "Weekend Update," Seth Meyers did a fine job this week. I'm glad they didn't push a co-anchor on him after Amy Poehler left; he's starting to do a really solid job of holding his own.

Megan Fox was an okay host, in the sense that she didn't screw up terribly in any way and looked good while doing it. She even managed to make me briefly forget she has thin but furious caterpillars for eyebrows. Simon Pegg (of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, the upcoming Paul) has been talking on Twitter about his casual visits to the SNL set, and it just made me extra-sad that he wasn't hosting the premiere or any foreseeable episode. Fox also did a lot -- a lot -- of super-slutty-looking characters. She could have afforded to step out of that hot girl comfort zone to win over some viewers. She managed to contribute Brian Austin Green (and a naked Bobby Moynihan [?]) for a quick end-of-the-night skit, too.

Oh, yeah, and the guys from U2 were there and there were lights and Bono looked kind of old and stuff. Right there, I just made it sound a lot more exciting than it really was.

Next week: Ryan Reynolds and Lady Gaga. Guess which one people will be tuning in to see for possible penis-flashing. Trick question! The answer is both.

Here are some video highlights from the evening (Hulu clips; sorry, non-Americans)...











[Watch episodes and clips of Saturday Night Live and other shows over at SlashControl.]