(S35E07) I imagine it played out like this: Joseph Gordon-Levitt was at home last week, trying to mentally prepare for his first go as Saturday Night Live host by watching January Jones. Her performance turned out to be wooden and incredibly low energy and, consequently, the laughs were minimal. This struck fear into Mr. Gordon-Levitt's heart, and, terrified, he dropped the pint of Phish Food that he was eating in my imagination. "I won't let this happen to me," I bet he said. "I'm going to eat two fistfuls of Pixi Stix at 11:25 p.m. Saturday night and have someone inject me with a near lethal dose of adrenaline. I'll also wear a lot of vests."
And that's how Joseph Gordon-Levitt managed to exhaust a seated audience through sheer enthusiasm and volume alone. Maybe.
To be honest, I don't think this is the best sketch they've done about Hoda and Kathie Lee. Maybe she'll think the other ones they've done are funny (probably not). (Stay through the talk about Palin as Hoda and Kathie Lee talk about the sketch more.)
(S35E06) There was a strange moment of nodding recognition at the end of the night, as I watched Jason Sudeikis and January Jones in the cloud-gazing sketch. Throughout, the man pauses to consider the woman's weird behavior and then concedes, "Ohh, you're a very pretty, pretty woman." Yup. That's pretty much how I reacted the entire night, especially during really bad sketches like the farting Grace Kelly (take a moment to think about that: Farting. Grace. Kelly.)
Jones was kind of a stiff host with not particularly daring material, but, goodness gracious, her real-life 50s Barbie prettiness was mesmerizing. Her performances in the mid-century instructional video and the aforementioned cloud-gazing sketch were the best of the evening, but that's not saying much since the rest of her appearances were strange and wooden. Even her good night felt like it had been programmed in and auto-tuned for maximum polite insincerity.
(S35E05) I had to talk myself through being allowed to criticize Taylor Swift. Ever since Kanye West VMA outburst turned everyone in America into Swift's over-protective mom, she's been shown even more as an innocent country-inspired sweetheart. Every time she messed up in this episode, I felt the need to hold back any not-super-great remarks because, well, she's a teeny-bopper! Teeny-boppers are just kids goofin' around!
And then I have to pause and remind myself that she's almost 20-years-old, around the same age as Shia LaBeouf and Ellen Page when they first hosted and Abby Elliiott when she initially joined the featured players. Screw it, there's no need to hold back. Swift is a musician, so we can't expect her acting skills to be super-good, but the fact I keep thinking she's only 14 shouldn't affect anything else.
Don't let anyone tell you that you can't get culture and literature from TV Squad. This is the second post about poetry today. (Tomorrow: e.e. cummings.)
I saw Suzanne Somers on Rachael Ray this morning, and then I go to Best Week Ever and see video of SNL's Kristen Wiig reading excerpts from Somers' book of poetry! Unlike the post link above, these words really are from Somers.
(S35E04) I remember sitting down and staring at Gerard Butler as he made funny, smarmy faces at the camera. And then I blinked, only to see Butler was thanking the cast and viewers for a wonderful show. I looked on the computer screen. There were half-remembered notes haphazardly tapped out at some point.
Somehow, I had jumped forward ninety minutes. Had I finally mastered short-term time travel? Or did I just watch an incredibly forgettable episode of Saturday Night Live? Probably the latter. However, I vaguely recall a destructive robot adorably struggling through a wall. If that was actually a dream and not real life, please don't tell me.
(S35E03) Drew Barrymore is energy. Pure, almost-scary energy. It's disorienting to watch when one is bleary-eyed and staring at a tiny TV in the wee hours of the morning, but this trademark makes for consistent television-viewing. While the quality of Saturday Night Live's writing may waver from episode to episode, every time Drew Barrymore returns, one can safely expect absolute enthusiasm and a palpable willingness to step back and laugh at herself.
All right, little Ms. "I Extra-Love Female Empowerment," prepare for me to work that ego.... Especially when one compares her to the typical "hot girl" host (see: Megan Fox's SNL premiere), Barrymore doesn't box herself in and offers a lot more opportunity for fun characters. Would someone like Fox ever be willing to bolo it up to play Nina Wilkes Booth? I doubt it.
(S35E02) After that Jenny Slate f-bomb nonsense and Megan Fox's not terribly original hot girl material from the season premiere, it was exciting to see a really solid episode (and a star-studded one, at that). Ryan Reynolds did a fantastic job as host (snaps for his wavering voice during the porcelain fountains sketch and accent in SYTYCD), though he didn't have any major stand-out roles. Did I miss the memo that Lady Gaga wasn't just musical guest but co-host as well? Such a role is normally left up to Ryan Reynolds' giant biceps.
It's been a while since we've seen such consistently enjoyable writing in an episode. Usually, there's a distinct lull during the course of the 90 minutes, but I didn't feel it this time. Hopefully, this is a good indication of the rest of the season.
I've caught the first two episodes of HBO's Bored to Death, and while I'm not totally in love with the show (yet), the cast is impressive enough to keep me coming back for more.
The three main characters are Jonathan Ames (Jason Schwartzman), a struggling writer who leads a double life as a private detective; George Christopher (Ted Danson), the editor of Edition magazine and Jonathan's sometimes employer (and pot supplier); and Ray Hueston (Zach Galifianakis), a talented cartoonist who's Jonathan's best friend.
There's plenty of street creds in the other players, too, including Kristen Wiig, Jenny Slate, Heather Burns, Olivia Thirlby, and Trieste Kelly Dunn. Based on all of these folks, as well as the quirky film noir vibe, it seems like a can't-miss TV series. Let's put it this way: I've enjoyed the first two episodes, and will tune in for more to see where it goes.
(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.
Hollywood's latest choice for a Saturday Night Live film remake is both the strangest and most interesting choice they could make, short of a big screen "Weekend Update" action epic or a "Toonces the Cat" feature-length Pixar film.
Variety reports that Lorne Michaels and company are creating a big-screen remake of the show's popular "MacGruber" sketches. Cast member Will Forte will take on the title role and pen the movie's script along with SNL writers John Solomon and Jorma Taccone, the latter of whom is better known as one-third of the musical comedy group The Lonely Island.
Kristen Wiig will also star as MacGruber's object grabbing sidekick Vicki. Ryan Phillipe and Val Kilmer have been attached to the project, but their roles haven't been nailed down yet.
If you enjoyed the Yo Teach ... ! clips Jason Schwartzman did to promote Judd Apatow's Funny People, then you'll dig the following teaser for HBO's Bored to Death. The upcoming comedy stars Schwartzman as a struggling writer who moonlights as a detective.
Writer Jonathan Ames is the man behind the series, which features an amazing cast including Zach Galifianakis (still riding a buzz from The Hangover), Ted Danson, Parker Posey and Saturday Night Live's Kristen Wiig.
Will Forte is hilarious. Last night, he stole the show from Jimmy Fallon on Late Night, which admittedly doesn't seem very hard to do, with non-stop jokes and a mini rock opera. He might not be the most popular comedic actor on Saturday Night Live, but he's definitely one of the funniest. That's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to his MacGruber movie.
Yup, a MacGruber movie. Forte told Fallon about a script he wrote for a feature film based on the SNL sketch. "John Solomon, Jorma Taccone, and I just finished writing it. We're gonna make it in Albuquerque. It's me and Kristen Wiig and cast to be determined," he said. Video after the jump.
(S34E23) Wow. Way to go, Will Ferrell. Maybe they should just bring back Saturday Night Live alumni for season finales from now on, because this episode was spectacular. Ferrell brought back some old favorites and a slew of famous faces, from the familiar to the inexplicable, including Amy Poehler, Tom Hanks, Anne Hathaway and Artie Lange. Here are some video highlights from the evening (Hulu vids are US only. Sorry, kids... you can also watch these videos at NBC's website).
(S34E22) Justin Timberlake returned for his third turn as host and it was tough not to keep expectations pretty high. I mean, if an vengeful warlock were to suddenly put a crippling curse on his music career (like they do), Timberlake could definitely fall back on being a professional SNL host. Yes, this would become a real profession, just for him.
As usual, some sketches fell a bit flat, but Timberlake's over-confident, hammy swagger made things a little more interesting. This particular episode also gave us another legendary musical Digital Short with Timberlake and Andy Samberg and a couple of all-around MILFs. It's tough to top a surprise appearance by Leonard effin' Nimoy, but "Motherlover" was certainly the highlight of the evening. Here are some other notable video moments!
I've caught the first two episodes of HBO's 
(S35E01) Alternate title for this post: "New girl's f-bomb overshadows Megan Fox's slammin' bod."
Hollywood's latest choice for a 
Will Forte is hilarious. Last night, he stole the show from Jimmy Fallon on 
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