bob_barron

WWE did a lot of work with the Special Olympics in the mid-90s.

Thanks for pointing that out, Engima. We appreciate your forum vigilance. In the 25 hours since my last post, a lot of people might have thought this topic was actually a good idea, but you set us straight. Thanks, man.

The Disney Channel is one of the top rated channels on TV. So, they are smart.

Norm was in it, so I'd watch it for him

SNL Review- Hugh Laurie/Kanye West Cold Opening Cast- Darrell Hammond, Jason Sudeikis, Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Bobby Moynihan, Casey Wilson Thoughts- Interesting, I would’ve gone with Armisen as the Illinois governor, since I feel they look somewhat similar. I thought the bleeping was pretty funny and I liked the line about him being a disgrace to any other state. Seriously, how was this guy elected twice? And I’m always a fan of Hader’s Byrd. This was pretty funny and I’m sure they’re thankful for the governor for giving them that cold. ***1/4 Monologue Cast- Hugh Laurie Thoughts- Hugh Laurie’s red flannel jacket…what the? It always blows my mind that they make him speak in an American accent on House, when his character is a pretentious pompous prick. It’d be perfect for an English accent. The present joke was hilariously mean and I like that they let Laurie go out there and ramble and sing 3-second Christmas songs, as that was a funny gag. ***1/2 Bronx Beat Cast- Maya Rudolph, Laurie, Amy Poehler, Thoughts- Really? Amy’s last show, and she has to grace us with a Bronx Beat? It was probably her worst recurring character, even worse than Caitlin. At least Caitlin was funny once. I also am robbed of the prestige of having seen the last Bronx Beat ever, having been in the audience for the Brian Williams/Feist show, which was Maya Rudolph’s last show. I also liked the reference to the short-lived WWE tag team Head Cheese. Even going out, Bronx Beat was still terrible. DUD Christmas with the Kranks Cast- Laurie, Sudeikis, Forte, Wiig, Wilson Thoughts- It’s SNL tradition to always do one dysfunctional Christmas skit it seems. Laurie’s such an awesome dick and Sudeikis was good at showing his rage. I was hoping the skit would offer more than it did, as it seemed to be fine stuck in its one-joke go nowhere premise and the ending didn’t work for me. Laurie screaming damnit was really funny though. **1/4 Wedding Toast Cast- Laurie, Sudeikis, Fred Armisen, Wiig Andy Samberg Michaela Watkins, Abby Elliot, Moynihan Thoughts- Fred’s toast was hilarious and I loved his hair, while Wiig was just the usual wacky unfunny Kristen. Moynihan was random and Forte’s toast was just hilariously wrong. Laurie was awesome though and always seems to add something to every skit. Jason was fine as the straight man. ***1/2 Kanye West Thoughts- Kind of weird how Kanye West released another album, and I’ll be honest, I don’t remember hearing much of anything about it. This certainly didn’t get the airplay of Stronger or Gold Digger. Even though Kanye’s voice sounded really bad, I still enjoyed this song, though I didn’t like it as much as some of his other work. *** Weekend Update Cast- Poehler, Seth Meyers, Armisen Thoughts- I actually agreed with the blind organisation that got outraged about this skit. I don’t have a problem with mocking blind people, or mocking anybody, but they mocked the guy for no reason. Now would be a good time to mock Paterson after the whole New York Senate debacle with Caroline Kennedy that his office bungled, but he had done nothing when this aired. This was just mean spirited for the sake of being mean spirited, and I’d like to think SNL is above that. They mocked the guy for being a blind doofus, when there was no basis to do so. I don’t know, I just don’t get who Paterson pissed off to deserve this treatment. We got a Really!!?! While I never loved Amy Poehler on Update, Really!?! fast became one of my favourite Update bits, it never ceases to make me piss myself laughing, with the Michael Vick bit being the highlight. We’ll miss you Really!?! The jokes were pretty good, with Seth’s Michael Jackson joke being the ultimate highlight, and Seth having other good jokes throughout the update. Amy had some solid ones, but nothing stood out on her last Update, which was pretty fitting for her entire Update tenure. I didn’t think she needed to do a farewell speech given they already wrote her off in the Jon Hamm show, but then again I didn’t think she needed a two episode mini comeback to begin with. I still love Jimmy announcing he was leaving SNL on Update, and then awkwardly appearing in the Backpack Shack skit right after. The Backpack Shack featuring the late Robert Stack. The joke side was really good this week, but the Paterson commentary left a really bad taste in my mouth so I can’t go ****+ for Update this week. ***1/2 Lamps Cast- Laurie, Armisen, Samberg, Wiig, Watkins Thoughts- I’m always a fan of SNL skits with random senseless violence. I loved Andy yelling “This is what’s happening. Shannon!” Forte as the Cockney grandfather clock getting shot was just so awesome, but I was hoping the skit would have a better ending then them just saying they can’t feel love and mentioning Lamps going to Broadway in Iraq. Come on that’s the best ending you can think of? You can’t have them brutally killing the owners or something? *** Cat Card Cast- Laurie, Wiig Thoughts- Hey! Wiig playing a creepy woman and it’s actually funny. Her acting like a cat woman kind of sounded like the Target lady. This was definitely a late show gem, as there were too many great lines to count, and I loved all of Wiig’s cat puns. Just a great little skit to help bookend the show with good performances from both sides. **** SNL Digital Short Cast- Laurie, Armisen, Sudeikis, Forte, Kenan Thompson, Moynihan, Elliot, Watkins, Thoughts- I don’t get why these SNL Digital Shorts are being put so late in the show. Is it the Lonely Island’s way of telling Lorne that they suck or Lorne’s subtle way of telling them that they haven’t been very good lately? This was another blah one that just didn’t go anywhere. It didn’t even have to be a digital short, this could’ve been done live. *1/2 Kanye West Thoughts- Wait, why was Elroy Jetson in the background? Can anyone explain this? Did that make any sense? Why not put daughter Judy….or Jane, his wife. This was really good, especially for the second song. He really brought the passion for this one, even though the background video was ridiculous and overshadowed it at times. ***1/4 The Bottom Line- The avg. skit was **.8 making this a thumbs up show and the second best show of the year. It’s impossible to have a bad show with Hugh Laurie, as the guy is just so funny. He should be one of those guys that SNL always tries to get every season. Aside from the first two skits, there really was nothing to complain about and I loved Cat Card being that post-12:30 hidden gem. Nice to see SNL get back on track after two “eh” shows, I guess Dr. House was the right diagnosis. Thumbs Up

SNL Review- John Malkovich/TI Cold Opening Cast- Amy Poehler, Darrell Hammond Thoughts- Hey, Amy Poehler’s back! That was a long couple of episodes. That said, I always enjoy Amy’s Hillary and the skits are usually pretty well written, so double plus. The mocking of Obama was great, and I enjoyed the Chappaqua reference as well. A fun way to kick off the show. ***1/4 Monologue Cast- John Malkovich Thoughts- I can’t believe John Malkovich has hosted the show three times. He’s got to be the least likely three-time SNL host in history. I guess SNL wanted to get their “Lol, John Malkovich is creepy” skit out of the way. This was decent, but was too predictable, and I think Walken is better at creepy. This also ran a bit too long, as Malkovich reading a Christmas story can only be entertaining for so long. ** Gas Right Cast- Fred Armisen, Kristen Wiig Thoughts- Really? Breathe Right Strips? What is this, 1995? It always makes me a little sad when SNL has to go to a fart joke to get laughs, I’d like to think the writers are slightly above that. DUD Hot Girl Cast- Malkovich, Wiig, Andy Samberg, Kenan Thompson, Will Forte, Casey Wilson Thoughts- How can you do a skit about a hot girl at work and not have Casey play the hot girl? That’s just insulting, especially since I really don’t think Kristen is all that hot. For the record SNL, we also would’ve accepted Abby Elliot as the hot girl. Kenan was great here, but the rest was pretty eh. Kenan’s facial expressions were great, and almost made up for everything else. Almost. ** Barack Obama Cast- Armisen Thoughts- At least Fred’s voice is really good, though I still don’t think he should be Obama. This was different, if nothing else, and I have to say that it turned out alright, especially Obama’s nod at the end. **3/4 La Rivista Delle Televisione con Vinny Vedecci Cast- Malkovich, Hader, Armisen, Forte, Thompson, Samberg, Moynihan Thoughts- These skits are fine, but I always get the feeling that SNL does these when they have absolutely no ideas, since they practically write themselves. Malkovich’s a good actor, and I’d rather him act in skits rather than play himself as Hader gets to show off his Italian accent. This was the same as all the other ones. **3/4 SNL Digital Short Cast- Kristen Wiig Thoughts- The Digital Shorts have fallen faster and harder than Mork and Mindy after Season One. DUD Christmas Presents Cast- Malkovich, Hader, Samberg, Armisen, Wilson Thoughts- I hope that when they got the calculators, they did 1+1 and then hit equal as many times as they could. That was the shit. As was multiplying 999999 by 999999. I like that they only got one calculator for the both of them. This wasn’t awful or anything, but I can’t really say I got into it. **1/4 TI “Whatever You Like” Cast- Wait, there’s a T-Pain and a TI? They’re not the same person? How are white people like me supposed to figure out? My rap ignorance aside, this is actually a really catchy and addictive song. So, kudos to TI for being better than T-Pain. ***1/4 Weekend Update Cast- Seth Meyers, Poehler, Thompson, Armisen Thoughts- I don’t know, Amy coming back for two shows kind of bugged me. I mean, she had her nice sendoff at the Jon Hamm show and had her baby and is about to start a new sitcom, there really was no reason for her to be here. The Plaxico Burress commentary was hilarious, especially the line about safeties. I usually dislike Fred on Update, but his Boy George commentary was awesome. Andy as the 9-year old was funny, but I felt it wore thin. I’m always up for a Glengarry Glen Ross reference. It was nice to see a good long Update and I really enjoyed the jokes for the most part, as there were only a few clunkers. **** The Lost Works of Judy Blume Cast- Malkovich, Wiig, Wilson, Abby Elliot, Michaela Watkins, Thoughts- Awesome! Judy Blume was one of my favourite authors growing up, and Superfudge is my second favourite book of all time. In case you were wondering, number one is Going Solo. I remember reading Then Again Maybe I Won’t, and wondering what the hell was going on. Of course, any skit that references Casey’s rack can’t be bad. While I was disappointed that the premise was a little lame, this was actually pretty funny, and I liked Kenan’s song. *** SNL Digital Short Cast- Justin Timberlake, Molly Simms, Jamie Lynn Sigler, Jorma Taccone, Samberg Thoughts- Weird how SNL decided to wait until this late in the show to bust this one out, especially after I made a joke about how awful the Digital Shorts were getting. I have a feeling they had to air it this late because of the content, as I can’t believe they got away with saying jizz on TV. This was great, as Timberlake’s SNL hot streak continues and it was nice to see them do a Digital Short that was genuinely funny. Hopefully this will be the shot in the arm they needed, so we don’t have to sit through digital shorts like the one that aired earlier. ****1/4 T-Pain Thoughts- For a second song, this was really good, even though it sounded a little like Ludacris’ Get Back. Kudos to T-Pain for making me a fan, and for helping this show continue its Drew Barrymore 2004-esque run. *** Jacuzzi Cast- Malkovich, Wiig, Watkins Thoughts- John Malkovich playing himself again? Come on. This ended the show’s 2004 Barrymore-esque run, though the hot tub was a dealbreaker line was kind of funny. I always liked that Dangerous Liasons came out in 1988 and then Valmont came out in 1989. Sucks to be the Valmont people. *1/2 The Bottom Line- Avg. skit was **.43 making this a thumbs in the middle show. The first half was awful, as the show was unable to garner any momentum and they seemed to focus on one-joke skits that didn’t go anywhere. It really picked up once we heard some TI, and it made a decent run, though it was too little too late. Thumbs in the Middle

SNL Review- Tim McGraw/Ludacris/T-Pain Cold Opening Cast- Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Jason Sudeikis, Darrell Hammond, Bill Hader, Kenan Thompson, Casey Wilson, Bobby Moynihan Thoughts- Fred’s Barney Frank is great, and I loved Hader’s Southern accent reminded me of Aykroyd’s Jimmy Carter impression. This was really funny, and the guys were hilarious as the sleazy car executives, especially when they talked about lemons. I do wonder which SNL writer (Jim Downey?) watches C-SPAN so much. ***3/4 Monologue Cast- Tim McGraw Thoughts- Really Tim? You had to wear the cowboy hat? Tim’s a pretty underrated actor, he owned Friday Night Lights, and I loved his brief cameo in The Kingdom. Along with Jon Favreau, he was also one of the few bright spots in Four Christmases. I’d rather him try a monologue rather than copping out midway through and singing some lame song. ** Clear Rite Cast- McGraw, Kristen Wiig, Armisen, Michaela Watkins Thoughts- Kristen playing some awkward and weird- how about that. Typing in Michaela each week is going to get annoying. This tried hard, but it just never seemed to go anywhere and really dragged. Wasn’t too big on the resolution either, though I did laugh at it’s not good. ** Dateline Cast- McGraw, Hader, Wiig, Sudeikis, Wilson Thoughts- Fun fact: Keith Morrison is Matthew Perry’s stepfather. Could he BE anymore of a stepfather? Keith Morrison has legit always creeped me out, so it’s nice to see SNL play up on that. I wish they had done more than just had him make weird noises though because that gold old pretty fast. *1/2 Turkeys in the Grass Cast- McGraw, Andy Samberg, Wiig, Armisen, Sudeikis, Thompson, Watkins Thoughts- Who knew they had black turkeys? I was hoping this skit would be more than turkeys running, but nope- it was just turkeys running as they got shot at. This was more boring than that Titans-Lions Thanksgiving game. ¼* Casino Royale Cast- McGraw, Hader, Forte, Armisen, Wiig, Samberg Thoughts- SNL does know that Casino Royale came out in 2006 right? Granted it was awesome, but still- there had to be something in Quantum of Solace worth mocking. Also, we all know the James Bond has blonde hair, so get with the programme Bill. Call me crazy, but I liked this one, especially McGraw making her say Pussy Galore in the phone. *** Ludacris and T-Pain Thoughts- I guess T-Pain wanted to beat McGraw for dumbest hat. He looks like a stand-in for Flavour of Love. This was better than I thought it’d be as the guys played off each other well. Though boo on Ludacris for plugging his album. **1/2 Weekend Update Cast- Seth Meyers, Hammond, Forte, Watkins Thoughts- I think Darrell is going to be doing Clinton forever, long after Clinton is dead. Somehow, it’s still funny. The closing line was great. Seth couldn’t top last week’s Update as I felt some of his jokes missed the mark. Kudos to Watkins for getting her first Update commentary. I thought the bit and impression were both decent, though nothing to write home about. I usually love Forte’s Zell Miller, but they gave him nothing to work with here. Mocking people’s names? Boo. We need Zell going insane, though him talking about browns and blacks cracked me up. Quite the letdown for Update, but they can’t all be great like last week. ***1/4 Blizzard Man Cast- T-Pain, Ludacris, McGraw, Thompson, Samberg Thoughts- I liked Kenan referencing the Blizzard Man chilling with Common back in 2007. Also, Blizzard Man was rocking the 8-ball jacket like David Puddy. And T-Pain had another crazy hat. That must be his gimmick or something. Blizzard Man’s first rap was lame, but I liked the second one about a strip club, and you got to love Kenan’s reactions. The third rap was just bad and killed whatever this one had going for it. **1/4 Thanksgiving Cast- McGraw, Wiig, Forte, Moynihan, Abby Elliot, Wilson Thoughts- Former Kansas City Royals closer Jeff Montgomery returns! Jeff Montgomery works better as a creepy paedophile, not as some guy trying to get a free turkey. The ending with Forte and the dog was just wrong on so many levels. ** Phony Phone Calls Cast- McGraw, Wiig, Hader, Hammond. Wilson Thoughts- Well they had to do something to appeal to McGraw’s demographic. I liked this more than I probably should’ve, since the bits with Wilson and Hader were actually kind of funny. I felt the prank with Darrell went a little too long, and the Wiig bit was just there. **1/4 T-Pain feat. Ludacris Thoughts- This was crazy hat #3 for T-Pain. The dancers were freaky. I felt the song was really slow and boring, and it didn’t even pick up much when Ludacris came in. *1/2 Mark Payne Cast- McGraw, Armisen, Thompson, Moynihan, Elliot Thoughts- Do you think while in this skit, Abby feared that all her dad’s horror stories about working at SNL were right? DUD The Bottom Line- The avg. skit was *.83 making this a horribly awful show. I’m not going to bitch too much about it (well ignoring that it was two months ago), because they had a tremendous run of good shows so they were due for a stinker. Plus if you had done 9 shows in 11 weeks plus three Primetime Extras, and you saw the host was a country singer, you’d probably phone it in too. Thumbs Down

SNL Review- Paul Rudd/Beyonce Cold Opening Cast- Jason Sudeikis Thoughts- Does anyone even remember that Joe Biden is vice-president elect? Sudekis’ Biden is really funny, and there was a lot of great lines here, especially you know the time and the place for the trainwreck interview. Even though Fred’s Obama is terrible, I’m really looking forward to see what Sudeikis brings to the table as the veep. ***3/4 Monologue Cast- Paul Rudd, Kristen Wiig Thoughts- Seriously, how did it take until 2008 to get Paul Rudd to host SNL? That’s an outrage. The Obama tease was classic, and I enjoyed Wiig’s cameo. ***1/2 Sproingo Cast- Sudeikis, Wiig Thoughts- I don’t know, I would hope that you can feel an erection, rather than needing a springing noise in your penis. I wasn’t feeling this one too much, though the erection over music cracked me up. ½* Affectionate Family Cast- Rudd, Andy Samberg, Fred Armisen, Wiig Thoughts- Remember when I said I watched the Sudeikis-Hader kiss a million times in the Anne Hathaway episode? I swear, I was just joking! I didn’t need to see more of Bill Hader kissing people or Andy and Fred open mouthing it. This was just a one joke and it really wasn’t that funny and it didn’t seem to go anywhere. Fred’s pep-talk had a couple of funny lines at the end. And for the record, Mary Steenburgen is from Little Rock, Arkansas. *1/2 Macintosh Cast- Rudd, Sudeikis, Kenan Thompson, Samberg, Hader Thoughts- Nice to see Kenan have a popular character for once, and it’s always fun figuring out what movies he’s referring to. The Misery reference was funny, though Teen Wolf and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure fell flat. I love the interplay between Sudeikis and Thompson, it’s great. I also liked him hearing say Socrates. *** SNL Digital Short Cast- Rudd, Samberg, Armisen, Hader, Wiig, Abby Elliot, Moynihan, Michaela Watkins, Wilson Thoughts- Wow, this is a Tom Green skit if I ever saw one. I mean really, what the hell? And they act like they still don’t do drugs at SNL anymore! Also, congratulations are in order to Abby Elliot for not only appearing in her first skit, but also having her first skit get Tom Greened. She also died in her first skit! Casey dying….hot. But from the random Indiana Jones cameo to that music, still don’t know what to make of this one. **1/2 Country Singers Cast- Rudd, Will Forte, Thompson, Wiig Thoughts-Paul Rudd’s hair was enough to make me like this. This was a solid skit, nothing overwhelmingly funny, but I liked Fore’s facials and Wiig’s country girl dancing. And come on, you also wanted to know what happened to that package. ***1/4 Garden Party Cast- Rudd, Sudeikis, Hader, Forte Thoughts- Good to see our heroes have graduated from the bar to the car. Though, Garden Party is quite the obscure song to pick. Hader’s Palin story was hilarious, as was Forte’s. While this was funny, it didn’t reach the level of Danny’s Song or Amie even though Hader’s death was great. Rudd needed a good story to really finish it off. ***1/2 Beyonce “If I Were a Boy” Thoughts- While it’s a decent song and Beyonce is really hot, this song is pretty sexist. I mean, it’s not like you’re perfect Beyonce. I anxiously await someone to record a response song. **1/4 Weekend Update Cast- Justin Timberlake, Meyers, Forte, Moynihan Thoughts- Seth’s first Update joke was tremendous, and my reaffirms my love for solo Seth update. And then he gets booed on his second joke. How can you not enjoy this guy? The jokes were awesome this week, hilarious, offensive, testy audience reaction- that’s what Update should be. The multiple joke gag is just awesome and might top Really for best current Update gag. There was maybe only one clunker, which is fantastic. And then we get Bobby Moynihan as Snagglepuss. Now I hate Moynihan, but the way to get on my good side is to impersonate Hanna-Barbera characters. I thought the bit was hilarious until the Great Gazoo bit. Just like the final season of the Flintstones, the Great Gazoo manages to ruin a potential perfect Update. And holy shit, Justin Timberlake! The guy must’ve been pumped given Memphis’ destruction of Fairfield that night. This was an incredible commentary, and I can’t believe he was able to pull that off without tripping over his words too much. The fake JT show sounds legit awesome, and much better than what we ended up getting. Come on, Timberlake doing Nicholas Fein is the best moment of the season, just ahead of Seth and JT dueting on Sexy Back. Amazing Update, and solo Seth has arrived! ****1/2 Single Ladies Dance Cast- Timberlake, Knowles, Rudd, Samberg, Darrell Hammond, Moynihan, Elliot. Thoughts- Wow, Bobby Moynihan in a leotard is probably the most awful thing I’ve seen. At least Beyonce made up for it a little. Timberlake was really funny here, though I don’t think it was as good as everyone thought. And Rudd’s stepson explanation was a little weak. *** I Wish You Would Step Back From That Ledge My Friend Cast- Rudd, Forte, Hader Thoughts- Jackson Pollack painting? Someone’s smart. This was a classic Forte 12:30 bizarre skit (I watched this on DVR, so I’m assuming it aired after 12:30) “That’s a stupid name” and “Do NOT” both cracked me up. Forte complaining about splash back at the end was a nice way to wrap it up. ***1/2 Beyonce “Single Ladies” Thoughts- Beyonce knows my rules for the musical guest. Have the slow song go first, and then rock the house with a loud second song. This song is addictive and catchy as hell. I do admit to not getting why Beyonce, who just married Jay-Z, is singing a song about single ladies. I’d say Jay-Z is a lucky man, but dude does own the Nets, which kind of sucks. I also like that Beyonce didn’t even try to sing half the song, that’s honesty! This was a fun performance and a great second song. ***1/2 Gay Marriage Attendants Cast- Rudd, Hader, Moynihan, Watkins Thoughts- Really? This was SNL’s best way to comment on Prop 8? This didn’t go anywhere, and one-joke premises that aren’t funny usually end up being pretty terrible. ½* Clearing the Air Cast- Rudd, Hader, Armisen Thoughts- Leave the short films to the experts, guys! This was like some bad awkward Office scene or something. ½* The Bottom Line- The avg. skit was **.7 making this a thumbs up show. Rudd was a fantastic host, and I hope he comes back again. Beyonce was a great musical guest, and aside from the last two skits, there really wasn’t anything that awful. Good for them to be able to keep the momentum from the election going, without having an election to cover anymore. And Justin Timberlake on SNL will always be awesome.

I wrote these reviews a while ago, but just forgot to post them. So here's November: SNL Review- Ben Affleck/David Cook Cold Opening Cast- Sen. John McCain, Tina Fey, Cindy McCain Thoughts- And the political cameos just keep on coming. Historians will note that this was Tina’s last appearance as Palin, a dark day for everyone. I don’t mind the political cameos and thought this skit was hilarious, but come on- there’s political cameos and there’s political campaigning and I didn’t like seeing them take needless shots at Obama and Biden on a comedy show. Kudos to McCain for being able to make fun of himself, especially the Palin 2012 bit. Fey was awesome as Palin as always. Gotcha return policies….that’s great. A fitting farwell for the Palin impression. **** Monlogue Cast- Ben Affleck Thoughts- Affleck’s an awesome guy, so why give him such a short monologue? Any SNL that mentions Paul Tsongas has to be awesome, though I’m sad they couldn’t make a crack about him supporting Ross Perot or someone in 1996. This was cute, but just too short. **1/2 The View Cast- Affleck, Kenan Thompson, Fred Armisen, Kristen Wiig, Casey Wilson Thoughts- Kenan as Whoopi is an automatic laugh, but it’s sad that they don’t have another black person to play Sherri Shepard. This was just one big trainwreck and the Elisabeth Hasselbeck mocking just didn’t work for me. Affleck as Baldwin was funny but the whole thing just seemed like an odd rib. It’s a shame this couldn’t reach the Tina Fey written View skits from 1998, those were great. This was too much Elisabeth mocking and not enough Casey playing Jennifer Aniston. **1/4 Countdown with Keith Olbermann Cast- Affleck, Thompson, Armisen, Thoughts- This was funny, but also seemed like a trainwreck. It feels like one of those skits that was too dead-on, kind of like Darrell’s impression of Al Gore during the 2000 election. Yes, they were accurate in the sense that Keith Olbermann is an overreacting longwinded blowhard who takes things out of context, but I don’t know if I want to watch a whole skit that’s basically that. Fun fact: Keith Olbermann mentioned his high school in this skit, and I once met him at his old high school. My other fun fact for this skit (you get a lot of fun facts when skits go on forever), Chuck Knoblach once accidentally hit Mrs. Olbermann in the face with an errant throw. This is when he was the fun guy on ESPN, and not the Olbermann of today. Anyway this was funny, but probably could’ve been chopped down quite a bit. I mean, eight minutes? Really? *** Target Cast- Affleck, Wiig, Thompson, Wilson, Moynihan Thoughts- Damnit, not the Target lady again. At least they got Affleck to play off with her. The character is just annoying, and not funny. Affleck professing his love to Target Lady cracked me up though. **1/4 Giraffes Cast- Sudeikis Thoughts- Yes!! A sequel to Sloths! That made my night. Well that and the insane Leafs win over the Rangers, but this is probably one of Lonely Island’s best bits. Come on, they play Mindsweeper! All the bleeping was great and I love Jason’s reaction at the end. Who goes to the Staten Island Zoo anyway? ****1/4 David Cook Thoughts- On the American Idol scale, at least he wasn’t awful like Taylor Hicks or a [former] closeted homo like Clay Aiken. **1/4 Weekend Update Cast- Sen. McCain, Seth Meyers, Armisen, Will Forte, Wiig Thoughts- Yes! Solo Seth Update! I thought he did better this week, as I think he was just thrown into the fire with the Hamm Update. McCain was funny here, but come on, how can you boo the guy? And while it was funny, it really made him look desperate. You know some Hoosiers didn’t dig that. Also, Rocky didn’t live alone in the wilderness in Rocky IV, he was with Duke and Paulie. Seth had some good jokes and I loved seeing Gunther and Kelly. Somehow that bit never gets old. Aunt Linda was okay, but I liked the other two commentaries better. ***3/4 Night School Musical Cast- Affleck, Samberg, Armisen, Forte, Wiig, Bill Hader, Darrell Hammond, Wilson, Thoughts- This was pretty funny, and it probably helped that I’m a big fan of the HSM series. I loved Casey’s smoking song, and the spoof of Now or Never at the end was great. Plus, you can’t go wrong with Affleck’s Falconer getup. *** Grady Wilson Cast- Thompson Thoughts- Swing and a miss by Kenan. Was this supposed to be the Grady Wilson character from Sanford and Son played by Whitman Mayo? Whitman Mayo played the old guy with Alzheimer’s in that episode of Full House where DJ visited a nursing home. Some of these moves were pretty funny, but this just screamed filler. *1/2 Zaleski Brothers Cast- Affleck, Hader, Samberg, Sudeikis Thoughts- This was…..weird. Hader can play anybody at this point and make it work. I’m going to have to Tom Green this skit as it was out there, especially the freeze frame at the end not really ending the skit. Inventive, if nothing else. **1/2 David Cook Thoughts- I applaud him for bringing the energy in his second song. It went a little too long, but it was better than I expected it to be. **1/2 German Overcoats Cast- Affleck, Armisen Thoughts- For a last skit, this was good, and it seemed like a perfect skit for Fred- his voice reminded me of the Noonies skit. The Yelling Cone and the Flag (Where are you? I need you!) was pretty funny. **1/4 The Bottom Line- The avg. skit was **.55 making this a thumbs up show. Affleck, as always, was a great host, and he helped improve some skits that looked like they were dead on arrival. McCain was a good sport, if coming off a little sad in the process. Hopefully we’ll see Affleck host again, so he can join the 5-timers club, which he deserves. Thumbs Up

But said angle stopped doing big business about a month later.

Last night's episode was fantastic. This is the best show on TV

The fact that it was ONLY Booker as a top star really hurt. They brought in the nWo and Easy E less than a year after the Invasion ended, you can't tell me they couldn't bring them in during the actual Invasion?

How do you know that? The InVasion, a show featuring scrubs and Booker T got an insane buyrate. Now imagine they keep running invasion shows, but with real WCW wrestlers and stars. They'd have enough matches to cycle through months or years.

I believe that's one of the top buyrates ever, and that's for a show as awfully booked as that one. Now imagine a show with WCW guys people cared about. But it wouldn't just be for one show. There's tons of different match combinations you can do with those guys for years, and if booked correctly, a storyline like that could last 1-2 years, and when it's done you can still try to ride the momentum off of that. The InVasion, the one angle you can't screw up, lasted only from May to November. I think with guys like the nWo, Flair and Goldberg, there was less of a chance of the nonsense that you got in the actual invasion, with Stone Cold Steve Austin leading WCW and ECW. If you book it correctly and put on exciting matches, people will still want to see it once the novelty wears off. What ended up happening wasn't financially feasible past the one show, where they conned people into thinking WCW v. WWF was actually going to mean something.

The Western Conference is so wide open. Everyone keeps arguing Detroit to me, and I'm just not sold on Osgood. San Jose seems like the logical choice, but with them it's whether they'll choke in the 2nd round or conference finals. Calgary is coached by Mike Keenan, so no one can get behind them. Chicago's too young, Dallas is streaking right now, Minnesota can't score and Vancouver just came off an 8 game losing streak. I think my favourite might be Anaheim.

Jeter over A-Rod would be a laughable choice. The only thing that A-Rod is better at is banging models. Important,yes, but not enough to outweigh the on-the-field stuff. I think you mean Jeter is better, since Jeter banged Mariah and A-Rod is with Madonna.

Maybe because he's a good poster, not a little emo-dipshit like you. EHME, you forgot to call him a pedo! I feel let down.

I think everyone has jumped on the Nolan Ryan is overrated bandwagon to the point that he might be underrated again

Aren't there logs where you can see who banned who?

They were in Atlanta one week later!

That game was awesome. Al Harrington was on fire too

No. Not everything in the world needs to be dumped into CTDWAT. No. That's not what Brody said at all. He said stupid shit like THIS, should be dumped into CTDWAT. And he's absolutely right.

Pogge is making me look stupid with all my relentless campaigning of him. Then again, in his defence, the Leafs look like they decided to take the game off. Not having Kabs is just killer

Look at the buyrate for InVasion, which had none of these names. Now imagine a PPV with those guys and multiple PPVs with those lineups. They'd be on fire.

Sucky admin is a good gimmick idea, but mole already did it.