bob_barron

Next week's show with LL is the finale. And if she looks bad, the jokes are going to be flying! And thanks RJ, I appreciate that.

For the 04-05 season, I'm going to have a mini-review of each show, in depth look at big events and episodes, a look back at the best skit of each show, a ranking of the shows, various lists and a rating of the castmembers.

The fans should just go and cheer for who they were told to cheer for. That'd be awesome

I've never seen All That so I don't know. I'm more of Amanda Show fan personally. But Cosby is one of those impressions that I think almost anyone can do and it'll be funny. BURN. Good one Mik.

I don't think she talks out of one side of her mouth. I watched like 3 WUs and didn't notice a thing.

SNL Review- Will Ferrell/Queens of the Stone Age So next week is my 100th consecutive SNL review and I think that’s really cool. So next week my season finale review is going to be pretty big. It’s going to be a 100 page look at SNL this season, the pre-review stuff I always do and a really big look at SNL over the past 5 years. I rank every episode and will present my list of the top 100 skits, top 100 musical guest performances, top 50 monologues, top 50 cold openings and top 50 monologues and I go in-depth on the top 10 in each list. So I understand if you don’t read all of it, but I hope you guys enjoy it. I never thought I’d make it to 100, and I can’t believe that I did. Also the #1 moment is next week. Can you guess what it is? TOP 20 MOMENTS IN SNL HISTORY: 2. As a mother of two, which I am not…. I, like many people was sceptical about the Fallon/Fey update. I had no idea who Tina Fey was or why I should care and I thought Jimmy was best suited for skits and not for the desk. I was very nervous watching their first Update, but 12 minutes later I was convinced Update was going to be just fine. THE MOMENT: Update begins with an opening slogan that would be dropped after one Update. (When we get together, it’s news). We then get Tina’s first joke: Before Tuesday's presidential debate, a coin toss was used to determine which candidate would speak first. When Governor Bush was asked to call it in the air, he yelled. "It's a quarter!" One joke in and she’s already knocking Bush. So far, so good. Now it’s Jimmy’s turn: This Sunday, the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia came to a close, with the United States winning 97 medals, the most of any country. So, suck on that, Portugal! Two for two. We’ve already established the differences between our anchors. Tina is more news oriented, while Jimmy likes to have fun. This would be a recurring theme throughout their four years together. The jokes continue and despite some stiffness and nervousness, the anchors already seem well suited to the desk and look like their comfortable there. Jimmy and Tina then do their first bit together, about the presidential debates. This establishes a theme that would continue throughout Update, but was more pronounced in the first season. Tina’s the smart one who knows her stuff, Jimmy’s the guy who is only there because he’s cute. He really knows nothing about the world. Update then really hits its stride with a cameo by a guy who just left SNL- Tim Meadows!! And he’s doing the Ladies Man too, for the last time. Meadows’ commentary is hilarious as he shamelessly plugs his movie. The commentary works on two levels in that it’s funny and a good way to get Fallon/Fey off to a good start and establish them in the slot. Jimmy and Tina go back to telling some funny jokes and then more Update is history is made as we get the first ever Fey rant. And it’s a doozy as Tina does a rant about how nice Britney Spears’ ass looks and what Britney should do take care of her ass. It’s really funny and also we get one of my favourite Tina one-liners. Tina: As a mother of two, which I am not, I worry about the lack of positive role models for today's young girls. Fallon/Fey also have some good banter and despite this being their first Update, they already have good comedic timing together. Tina even gets her first oooooooooo joke: This week Pat Robertson reportedly invited Joe Lieberman to address the Christian Coalition, but the date he chose was Rosh Hashana, one of the holiest days in the Jewish religious calendar. Robertson apologized, saying that he meant no disrespect to the Jewish faith and tried to make it up to Lieberman by sending him a two-pound Honey-Baked ham. After a couple of more solid jokes, we get a great commentary with Horatio Sanz and Jerry Minor playing old school rappers Kiz Shazaam and Grandmaster Flash. They even rap along with Eminem. That’s how the first Update ends. While it’s not the best Update ever, it’s really good and you can tell that Tina and Jimmy were destined for Update greatness from day one. Once they got their timing down and stopped being nervous- the classic Updates were soon to come. Sports Report- Braves- They won tonight and were on a bit of a roll but they have troubles. The bullpen has been blowing games recently. Reitsma scoreless streak ended and Kolb has been awful lately. Once the Braves get their bullpen straightened out and their offence gets more productive, I see no reason why they can’t win the NL East. Mailbag!!!!!- Chad Ruffner writes- Monday's Raw was a pretty "meh" program that snapped the string of largely entertaining shows the brand has been churning out lately. I'm pretty lukewarm on another Tournament for The No.1 Contender Position for The World Title, especially since The Smackdown! Brand just finished one up. At least It's not another Battle Royal, though. Raw also sported It's usual array of Internal Logic Problems once again. (I.E. Raw GM Bischoff goes from Heel GM to Tweener GM In the course of 2 hours; La Resistance gets a Tag Title Shot despite losing a "Last Chance" Tag Title Match against then Tag Team Champs William Regal and Tjiri(sp?) on Heat a couple of weeks ago.) problems like that wouldn't be so maddening If It were actually hard to fix, but It's not. I guess Steph and The Creative Team don't think The Majority of The Audience pays attention or cares about that kind of stuff, so why bother? Sigh. I did enjoy The Shelton Benjamin/HBK Tournament Match. Really good contest as Shelton continues to Impress. That's about It, though. Better luck next week. What Did You Think? Chad I have to disagree with you there Chad. Any show that has a match as good as HBK v. Shelton is going to be a thumbs up in my eyes. I’ve been a fan of Shelton since Day 1 and it’s great seeing him evolve into a major star before our eyes. [email protected] writes- Hi Bob, This is Ken Hayashi from Voy yet again. I have a couple of questions concerning your review of the Cameron Diaz episode from last month. In that review, you mention that you were once a big anti-Green Day fan back in the day. I was wondering what made you hate them so much, since almost everyone in my school at the time praised the shit out of Dookie and Nimrod. I like Green Day, but mostly because of their classic hits, such as When I Come Around and Time Of Your Life. And I think American Idiot is a pretty overrated album. Funny how people are establishing this Green Day v. U2 feud because both bands' careers have run parallel to each other since the 90s. The thing is that U2 started going downhill a bit in the late 90s, while Green Day was on an upswing. Right now, the younger audience is favoring Green Day over U2, but that is not a surprise considering the popularity of the punk wannabe movement. Speaking of the younger generation, how do you think Green Day matches up against contemporary punk-pop bands like Blink 182, Good Charlotte, Simple Plan, Sum 41 and New Found Glory. I was wondering since you enjoy American Idiot so much. Thanks again for your time, Bob. Later, Ken I liked Time of Your Life, mianly because of Seinfeld. So yes, I was like everyone else. I just never got into their music. It always seemed loud and annoying and since at the time I was really into Paul Simon, and music of that ilk so loud screaming music didn’t really appeal to me. Except for Time of Your Life, every Green Day song pre-AI that I heard, I thought was pretty terrible. Regarding the other bands, Simple Plan is pretty terrible, as is New Found Glory. I saw both of them open up for Avril Lavigne and wished death on both of them. I like Good Charlotte and Sum 41 and not just because the lead singers of both bands are poking two of my favourite artists. Wanna be in the mailbag???? Email me at [email protected] And now the review… Cold Opening Cast- Lorne Michaels, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Poehler, Chris Parnell, Finesse Mitchell, Kenan Thompson Thoughts- Welcome back Will! Well welcome back in an official hosting stint, since we’ll try to forget your awful cameo in Jack Black and the Luvahs from Walken. This was a tremendous way to begin the show with our old friend, Will the asshole. The bit with Parnell was really funny and the bit with Finesse and Kenan (Finesse not Kenan) was one of the highlights of the show for me. And Lorne Michaels getting mocked is always a plus. An excellent way to kick off Ferrell’s return to SNL. ****1/2 Monologue Cast- Ferrell, Steve Higgins Thoughts- WILL FERRELL’S RETURN TO SNL AND THIS IS THE BEST THEY CAN COME UP WITH??? SNL MUST DIE! Okay, maybe not as I thought this was pretty funny and it took me a second to get the joke. Ferrell singing gave me a real Spacey vibe and I was instantly laughing. His interplay regarding the weather with Steve Higgins while peeing all over himself was funny. The ending (Will looking down and realising what he did was funny) also worked very well. They probably could’ve done something better, but I’ll take what I can get. ***3/4 Celebrity Jeopardy Cast- Ferrell, Darrell Hammond, Amy Poehler, Kenan Thompson Thoughts- I don’t know if Amy doing Sharon Osbourne would’ve been my pick for the other impression but she did a good job. Kenan as Bill Cosby and Darrell as Sean Connery being in the same skit is pretty awesome though. I was glad to get to see Kenan truly shine in a very high profile skit. He did Bill Cosby in his first show and it’s my favourite thing he’s done, and he held his own tonight. I was also glad someone remembered the Potent Potables, because I would’ve labelled the skit a DUD and moved on. Ferrell was excellent as the straight man as always and I love the Trebek-Connery relationship they’ve established. Lots of great lines here, especially from Cosby (Jello Pudding!) and Connery (Jap anus relations) and we got in a good poop joke at the end. Easily the best skit of the year and it was great seeing an old favourite return. ****3/4 Oracle Conclave Cast- Ferrell, Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph, Will Forte Thoughts- The beginning with the horrible singing was a good way to begin the skit and then it was all Will. It took me a little bit to get into this but once Will had me hooked, I was hooked. The botched joke at the beginning, the reaction to the slideshow (they have redeye reduction now) and him falling at the end and the fit he threw, it was all good. Sadly, after watching this skit, I still don’t even know what a conclave is. This was a lot of fun and another good Will performance. ***3/4 There She Goes Cast- Poehler, Horatio Sanz, Forte, Armisen, Jason Sudeikis, Thompson, Mitchell Thoughts- This took way too long to get the point and once the point was gotten, it really wasn’t that funny. I mean Amy is having a lot of sex- yay! I do like the song There She Goes though so kudos for that I guess. This was way too long and not funny. *1/2 Crazy People who have Artsy Stuff Cast- Ferrell, Parnell, Seth Meyers, Armisen, Rudolph Thoughts- How this ever became a recurring character blows my mind. I mean I just don’t get it. And to have it this early in the show? Come on. This is a 12:45er if you definitely need to kill some time. But thank God for Ferrell. He was hilarious here, aside from Seth’s snarky one liners. I still don’t find Fred and Maya’s characters funny and the Noony joke has been pretty much driven into the ground. I mean, there’s only so much you can get out of characters like this. It’s just not funny. ** Queens of the Stage Age featuring Gene Frenkle on cowbell ‘Little Sister’ Thoughts- This is the second time Will Ferrell has played with the musical guest, last being seen in 2001 accompanying Weezer on Island in the Sun. This was a really good performance and was only enhanced by the Frenkle on cowbell. I didn’t really know anything about Queens of the Stone Age going into this show (as you guys know my musical knowledge is pretty limited) but they impressed me tonight and I enjoyed the song. ***1/2 Weekend Update Cast- Fey, Poehler, Meyers Thoughts- Will Ferrell can do a lot, but he can’t work materials. So sadly we were left with the same old Update. If this baby gets Tina off Update and maybe off the show then I promise to never say another bad thing about Jeff Richmond again. I promise. Amy was pretty terrible here. Tina actually had some good jokes but her smugness just kills a lot of them. Tina and Amy really need to stop adlibbing since it’s never funny and just makes me long for one of them to get fired from the desk. Seth’s commentary was really funny. I know I stopped whining about this in October, but I feel like bringing it up again: One person looked like a total natural on Update and was funny. The other still looked kind of awkward and rushed their jokes. And yes, this is my not so subtle comparison of Seth and Amy. Seth’s commentary was awesome but that stuff he did with Amy at the end was horrible. Surprise surprise that the bit all goes back to Tina but I have no idea what the hell Seth felt the need to laugh about and it almost killed my goodwill to his bit. It’s just so stupid and unprofessional and just a cheap way to get applause from the audience and it’s got to go. So yea, Seth had a good commentary for the most part and there were some good jokes but Tina and Amy still suck. **1/4 Grind that Pepper Cast- Ferrell, Forte, Dratch Thoughts- My only real disappointment with this show is that Ferrell and Forte didn’t get enough skits to interact and play off each other. In fact, this was the only one. After the OH NOOOOOOOO letdown last week, it was nice seeing the random Will Forte skit of the week return be funny. I liked the bickering between Forte and Dratch, and Ferrell screaming in pain while twisting the pepper. A couple of good lines (Ferrell’s delivery about turning the paper until the guy says when was really funny for some reason) and nothing too bad makes me for a real solid skit. ***1/4 TV Funhouse Thoughts- Smigel is back!!! After the awesomeness in the Cameron Diaz episode, he does it AGAIN with this one. This was really dark and disturbing and I couldn’t stop laughing. The bit where he abused the guy’s mom, took a dump on him, fiddled with his tongue, it was senseless violence and I was dying. I can see why some people wouldn’t like this, and I can totally understand why the audience didn’t laugh, but this was one of Smigel’s best cartoons ever. I was ready to give this ***** but I didn’t like the ending where they gave the guy an out for his actions. It kind of reminded me of Collateral where Tom Cruise was this really cool badass psycho killer and then in the middle of the movie they mention he was abused as a kid. But that’s really me being way too nitpicky on what was just an awesome cartoon by Smigel. ****1/2 Robert Goulet Ringtones Cast- Ferrell, Meyers, Poehler, Sudaeikis Thoughts- I was never a big fan of the standalone Goulet skits. They always kind of dragged and went on way too long. Goulet was better in a group setting (like the Goulet from Alec Baldwin). This had some very funny lines but like previous Goulet skits just seemed to go on much longer then it should and died off at times. Not the Ferrell recurring character I would’ve brought back, but at least it wasn’t the Luvahs. **1/4 Going 2 C Movies Cast- Ferrell, Parnell, Sanz Thoughts- I really need to find out who wrote this skit and talk wrestling with them since naming a character after Terry Funk is really cool. And Vasquez is awesome in his random appearances. This was really weird and was angling for a Tom Green ranting, especially with all the random non sequiters and discussion of Down Periscope. It started to fall apart at the end with the overuse of the breath jokes so I can’t Tom Green it in good conscience. Still, they gave it a good try with the weirdness. **1/4 Queens of the Stone Age “In My Head” Thoughts- I don’t know what the heck Will was doing at the beginning but it sure was funny. This was a solid performance. I was starting to get really tired so it would’ve taken me big to really like this but as it was, I really don’t have many complaints. **3/4 Jag-u-ar Cast- Ferrell, Rudolph, Sanz Thoughts- A good way to close out the show with a really bizarre Will Ferrell skit that really wouldn’t work with anyone else, but somehow works because of Will and his just general oddballness. Ferrell talking about the Jag-u-ar voiceover ads in his feeble attempts to flirt with Maya was pretty funny and clever. The ending was a bit out there but I still laughed. A good pick to end the show. *** The Bottom Line- The avg. skit was ***.14 making this easily the best show of the year and the best show since Snoop Dogg/Avril. The first half of this show was amazing with great performances by Ferrell and some great skits. While the second half wasn’t as good, it was redeemed by a hilarious TV Funhouse that shows that Smigel is inspired again. Ferrell really brought energy to the show that it needed, and his influence was felt with the type of skits tonight. He was tremendous and it was nice to have him back for a whole show. Unlike Bateman and Ashton, SNL didn’t screw this up and gave fans the show they deserved given the calibre of host. Hopefully they can use this momentum to send us out with a good finale. See you next week with my 100th straight review. Thumbs Up

They cut the Luvahs. So if you didn't like this show, please shut the fuck up.

I think so too. I asked Huebel in August and he said he thought Riggle would get in but that he wasn't too optimistic. But still- Huebel>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Riggle

I don't. I could ask him though.

Riggle works best when he yells and plays drill sergeant type characters. I've seen him do improv a lot and that's pretty much all he does. It gets old after a while but the first few times he'll do it on SNL, it will kill. Look at Leviticus. He's only gotten about two chances to stand out on SNL and he did fine in both of them, so I would like to see him get more airtime. His only drawback is his lack of versatility, but that can easily be disguised.

Huebel auditioned last year and didn't get on which totally blows my mind. He would be amazing on SNL and the show would greatly benefit from his abilities as a writer and performer.

That sounds like a personal thing and not a strike against Amy's abilities.

Riggle 'great'? Come on Beast, the guy's hardly done anything. I've seen Sudeikis do improv and he's hilarious. I hope this translates well on the show.

Fred is the gay looking guy with glasses. Amy's really good and I probably slag on her too much b/c of WU. She really does have a lot of talent in skits but she just can't work at the desk.

Fair enough. I love Seth, Kenan, Fred and Will and would love Amy a lot more if she didn't do WU. Riggle could be funny but they don't seem to get what they have with him. Everyone else is pretty useless

They need to write to Riggle's strengths or he needs to do and get his shit on the air. Finesse is just the other black guy. A role filled by many over the years.

I'm trying to get Fred to do a Ferecito next week with LL as Hilary Duff. He'll be a God to me if he does that

Bob Odenkirk is just bitter. I wouldn't want to work there either, but you know what you're getting into when you sign up and I'm sick of people who just whine and complain about it to no end.

I don't like this line of thinking. Just because a cast doesn't translate into Hollywood doesn't mean it's not good. Look at the 96-97 cast. Norm's done some stuff but is mostly a forgotten name and Darrell's done minor roles and that's it. Molly Shannon's career is dead, Cheri's never started. Yet it's one of the best seasons ever. There is some talent on this show, it just needs sharper writing and less dead weight.

Parnell was fired over a budget issue. It's a damn shame since he got fired at his peak. Will brought him back b/c Will was gone shooting a movie and Darrell had personal issues. He's never been the same since coming back which is a real shame. He's real talented but he's just "that guy." Given what he does on SNL, anyone could take his spot. Parnell and Armisen are the two guys you can't break.

Tina's pregnant so hopefully this is it for her

Parnell got a pilot picked up, but he says he still wants to be on the show. I like Parnell a lot too but he's dead weight. Aside from Merv the Perv, would I miss him? No not really.

I don't know who exactly writes what. But I'm sure Will had a hand in writing a lot of the material and made it what it is today, and it wouldn't surprise me if he wrote Goulet on his own. And any skit he didn't like, unless it was a timing issue, he could've asked to be cut. You want to blame someone, blame him.

Paula Pell, T. Sean Shannon, Tina have all been there for quite a while. As have Eric Slavin and Leo Allen. Steve Higgins has also been there for a bit. I don't know the rest.

Get rid of some dead weight first of all. What do Finesse Mitchell, Chris Parnell, Horatio Sanz, Maya Rudolph add to the show? Nothing. Stop getting event hosts. Get actors who can be funny. Not Lohan again, not atheletes and not Paris Hilton. Don't repeat characters fr no reason. See Debbie Downer. I don't know who writes what but I'd get rid of half of the writing team.