Saturday Night Live is officially back for season number 35! The season opened with Megan Fox hosting the show. I think she did a pretty decent job, but it certainly seemed like she wasn’t given that much material. I mean, in half the sketches she pretty much just played a random “hot girl,” and in more than one sketch she played herself. Suffice it to say, I don’t think she’ll be following Justin Timberlake’s lead and winning an Emmy.
The big story to come out of this episode, though, will most certainly be the accidental f-bomb dropped by new featured player Jenny Slate. I really feel bad for her. She must have been really nervous, and frankly, that skit was pretty dangerous. The fallout should be interesting to watch.
Cold Open/Gadahfi: I know they like to stick to current events to open the show, but with the whole summer behind them, I thought SNL could have started the season a little stronger. This bit was funny for a little while, but it did ramble on about twice as long as needed. At this point, that’s sort of become a tradition, though.
Monologue: The funniest part of the monologue was the picture of U2 poorly photoshopped onto naked female bodies. Megan Fox is going to have to win me over. We know that she can run away from robots, but can she be funny? I don’t think she proved it to me in the monologue.
Bladdivan: Not one of the better fake commercials in recent history. I did enjoy the not-so-subtle imagery of the water gun fight, it was a clever nod to the not-so-subtle imagery used in most of the ED medication commercials.
Flight Attendants: I feel like this skit should have been funnier than it was. I don’t know if it just struck me at the wrong time or something, but it wasn’t working for me.
Russian Brides: There were definitely some laughs in this sketch. From Fred Armisen’s outfit to his “blinking” to signing some sort of crazy version of “Get Into the Groove,” his performance had me chuckling.
Digital Short/The Date: This was just not the type of humor that I enjoy. I thought it was bizarre, and in the end predictable.
Grady Wilson’s Burning Up the Bedsheets: We saw Grady Wilson last season. I thought that he was funny then, and the bit is still pretty good now. All the credit goes to Keenan Thompson for selling all the different ways to, uh… “burn up the bedsheets.”
Musical Guest/U2: I’m curious to see if SNL is going to continue with big acts this year, or mix in a good amount of indie acts like they did last season.
Weekend Update: Weekend Update was as strong as always. It’s refreshing to see that the writers can pull together their Thursday Updates and still keep the SNL version strong. The first installment of the year saw a return of Jean K Jean. I found him a lot more amusing than usual this evening. I’m still amazed at Wiig’s Judy Grimes character. It’s impressive that she can get through her manic rambling without stumbling. I think Grimes is probably my favorite Wiig character on the show.
Live Lounge: A pretty funny sketch and a great concept. All I have to add is: poor David Duchovny.
Biker Chick Chat: Oops. You have to admit that this scene was just asking for a slip up, and it totally happened, with Jenny Slate dropping an F-bomb. It will be fun to see what the fallout of this sketch is, but it was pretty decent on its own right.
Digital Short/Megan’s Roommate: This was so much better than the first short. Why was this buried at the back end of the show? The gratuitous male nudity? It was blurred….
Your Mom talks to Megan Fox: I didn’t think it was a terrible sketch, but man, the crowd was absolutely silent throughout the whole thing. As a performer, that’s gotta be rough.
So, what did you think of SNL’s premiere? Do you think the all-powerful Lorne Michaels will show some mercy towards Jenny Slate?
Well, let’s see…Charles Rocket got fired the next day for his F-bomb. Norm MacDonald got a warning. So, in this day and age, Michaels will probably give her a pat on the back for generating some press for the show on her first night out. Either that or he’s been begging Michaela Watkins to come back (bad move firing her!). And just how did Jenny Slate rank a lead role in her very first sketch? It took both Abby Elliott and Watkins several episodes last season before they were even allowed to speak, much less lead a sketch! The plane sketch was just in poor taste and badly timed because all I could think about was the Air France disaster. Overall, not a very strong show to start the season, so Michaels and NBC should be grateful for the slip.
But it’s not the same for Rocket and Jenny Slate. Rocket said the f-word intentionally, because the show was bad in 1980-1981. Jenny said it accidentially, but you’re right. Nothing’s gonna happen, “much ado for nothing”, as Shakespeare said…
This was just a terrible episode and it wasn’t actually Megan Fox’s fault. In fact staring at her at least made the unfunnyness a bit less annoying.
And the newbie said the f-word. Who should really care since the FCC can’t touch her, the kids were all in bed, and the sketch was just asking for someone to slip up.
Also what was up with that last U2 song? Bono was swinging around in a laser suit. Looked like a scene from Cirque show.
I hadn’t watched SNL a very long time, so I decided to watch some of the clips for the 35th (?!) season premiere (I mean, come on, it’s Megan Fox). I truly do not understand why this show is still on. People still like this show? Watching some of the clips made me uncomfortable and awkward. Nowadays, with television shows being canceled after the first 4-6 episodes, you would think executives would rethink the whole sketch comedy show thing, right?
A disaster from start to finish. Even U2 looked foolish. The F bomb was the highlight of the show only because it reminded me that the show was live and that people make mistakes. I am sick to death of Kristen Wiig.
Well, let’s see…Charles Rocket got fired the next day for his F-bomb. Norm MacDonald got a warning. So, in this day and age, Michaels will probably give her a pat on the back for generating some press for the show on her first night out. Either that or he’s been begging Michaela Watkins to come back (bad move firing her!). And just how did Jenny Slate rank a lead role in her very first sketch? It took both Abby Elliott and Watkins several episodes last season before they were even allowed to speak, much less lead a sketch! The plane sketch was just in poor taste and badly timed because all I could think about was the Air France disaster. Overall, not a very strong show to start the season, so Michaels and NBC should be grateful for the slip.
But it’s not the same for Rocket and Jenny Slate. Rocket said the f-word intentionally, because the show was bad in 1980-1981. Jenny said it accidentially, but you’re right. Nothing’s gonna happen, “much ado for nothing”, as Shakespeare said…
This was just a terrible episode and it wasn’t actually Megan Fox’s fault. In fact staring at her at least made the unfunnyness a bit less annoying.
And the newbie said the f-word. Who should really care since the FCC can’t touch her, the kids were all in bed, and the sketch was just asking for someone to slip up.
Also what was up with that last U2 song? Bono was swinging around in a laser suit. Looked like a scene from Cirque show.
I hadn’t watched SNL a very long time, so I decided to watch some of the clips for the 35th (?!) season premiere (I mean, come on, it’s Megan Fox). I truly do not understand why this show is still on. People still like this show? Watching some of the clips made me uncomfortable and awkward. Nowadays, with television shows being canceled after the first 4-6 episodes, you would think executives would rethink the whole sketch comedy show thing, right?
A disaster from start to finish. Even U2 looked foolish. The F bomb was the highlight of the show only because it reminded me that the show was live and that people make mistakes. I am sick to death of Kristen Wiig.