(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.
Jimmy Fallon actually has a lot of good regular segments on Late Night: Cell-Phone Challenge, Slow-Jamming The News, and especially that bit where he writes thank you notes to various people or things while the piano music plays. That's always funny (though it reminds me of something Craig Kilborn used to do...).
As my Thursday afternoon time slot to interview Tracy Morgan came closer, I knew I was in for an interesting twenty minutes. As most people have seen and heard over the years, interviewing Tracy is an amusement park ride that even Busch Gardens couldn't conceive. He's blunt. His emotions rise and fall quicker than a roller coaster. And you never know what he's going to say.
When I got to talk to him, he had been interviewing all day in support of his surprisingly emotional and inspirational memoir I Am The New Black, and he was tired. But there was a lot of stuff I wanted to ask him about, only some of which involved his well-publicized smackdowns of SNL co-stars Cheri Oteri and Chris Kattan. There was also his criticism of David Israel and Jim O'Doherty, the creators of The Tracy Morgan Show, and just the general details about his rough upbringing in the Bronx and Brooklyn in the '70s and '80s. Tracy didn't disappoint.
So, buckle up folks, and get ready for a fun ride. Audio and a transcript is after the jump.
(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.
Tracy Morgan has a new tell-all book, I Am The New Black, coming out next week (and he's doing some crazy stuff on his new Twitter page), and one of the things that fans will find out are his true feelings for some of his old Saturday Night Live castmates.
He talks about what he could have brought to the NBC late night show, but that they didn't really listen to him. Instead, he says they... "felt bad for me. None of the cast I came up with saw this future for me. No sir. All I have to say about that is, where's Chris Kattan now? Where's Cheri Oteri now? That bitch can't get arrested."
(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.
For those who missed it (or weren't on the east coast) on Saturday night, new SNLer Jenny Slate managed to do something in her first-ever sketch that hadn't been accomplished on the show in 28 years: she let loose with an f-bomb.
In the sketch, Slate and Kristin Wiig play biker chicks, and instead of saying "friggin'" or "freakin'" or any of the other substitutes they were supposed to use, Slate actually uttered the words "and I fuckin' love you for that." See the video below. The look on her face after she just realizes what she did is even more priceless than the f-bomb itself:
(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.
I'm sure she'd say she's too old for regular television work, or that she's having too much fun guest-starring on every television show and half of the movies, but I just can't get enough of Betty White on TV. With it coming out now that Betty White has signed for a guest spot on NBC's 30 Rock, she might as well start making room on the mantle for her latest Emmy.
After all, 30 Rock gets all the nominees for guest star in a comedy (though White did get nominated for My Name Is Earl this past year). Reportedly White would play herself, which works well considering the premise of the show. 30 Rock does amazing comedy with their guest stars, and when you get someone as brilliant and talented as White, can it be anything but perfect?
Luckily, White wouldn't have to compete for that Emmy with another hot prospect for the folks at 30 Rock. After his Emmy-winning turn hosting Saturday Night Live, why wouldn't they want to nab Justin Timberlake as well?
This video from Funny or Die is actually pretty amusing. It's called "Charla Loves To Dance" and features Casey trying to find other people dance with at a bar. I wonder if she wanted to do this on SNL and it got voted down?
It's one of those tasks that may look easy on the surface, but becomes increasingly difficult as you try to do it, as evidenced by the efforts of our sister (heh) site, Lemondrop.com. Some of their staff tried to do the same thing and ended up with what looked like mutated twin brothers of the U.S. that their parents keep locked in the basement and feed a bucket of fish heads once a week.
But Franken's mutant power (his X-Men name would be "Sketchy") dates back farther than his recent days of pandering to voters in an election that made the Dade County, Florida recount look like a jelly-bean counting contest.
It seems that every season is the "Saturday Night Live isn't what it used to be" (aka "Saturday Night Live sucks!") season, but it always survives. And some years, like last season when they had the election to riff on and appearances by Tina Palin and lots of buzz in the news, they thrive. But The Washington Post's Tom Shales visited with executive producer Lorne Michaels and finds that Michaels is worried about the upcoming season.
I didn't mind Watkins at all, she was fine, but I can't say I'll be sad to see Wilson go. I really don't think she added too much to the show and was often over the top/irritating in her performances and impersonations. I think she's the type of cast member that can be replaced rather easily. I know that other SNL fans never grew to like her either. But at least she had a sense of humor about it.
As my Thursday afternoon time slot to interview 
(S35E01) Alternate title for this post: "New girl's f-bomb overshadows Megan Fox's slammin' bod."
At 8, ABC has the series premiere of FlashForward, then the two-hour season premiere of Grey's Anatomy.
I'm sure she'd say she's too old for regular television work, or that she's having too much fun guest-starring on every television show and half of the movies, but I just can't get enough of Betty White on TV. With it coming out now that 
So 
The Internet's series of tubes were glowing red hot last week when a video surfaced of 
Short answer: no. Longer answer: probably not.
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