SNL Review

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SNL Review- Hilary Swank/50 Cent

 

Sorry this is so late everyone. When the show aired, I was at Ring of Honor getting my hat stolen from Homicide. It took me a while to get a hold of the show and I was too sick to review it anyway. But anyway- now I can review this episode.

 

SNL MOMENT #8:

 

8. Bush returns, responds to 9/11 attacks

 

The terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 changed everything for a time being. One of the changes was that it became politically incorrect to look down on the President. In his first year in office, it had common for people to poke fun at Bush for being less then intelligent and in his over his head. On Saturday Night Live, Will Ferrell thrived at playing Bush as a playful fun guy who just wasn’t that bright- and happened to be president. After 9/11, people began taking Bush very seriously since he was now the guy charged with helping our nation recover and people knew we soon would probably be launched into a war. Suddenly looking at our president as a dumbass wasn’t the best line of thinking.

 

This put SNL in a difficult position. They held off on doing a Bush skit in the season premiere. In the Seann William Scott show, they rolled the dice and decided to have Ferrell do Bush on Update. The bit proved so successful that it was given the cold opening slot.

 

Even though it had only been a month since the towers had fallen- people were ready to laugh, even at the expense of our president.

 

THE MOMENT:

 

Bush begins the skit by addressing Osama Bin Laden with the words, “Buddy- you screwed up big-time.” Already you see a change in the way Ferrell is playing him, now is Bush is more forceful and decisive. The crowd applauds his opening remark. He tells Bin Laden that America is coming to get him and that he should’ve challenged Bush to a game of Scrabble or a beard-off.

 

Bush: You might have won that because I don’t have a beard. And when I do, it comes in patchy.

 

This is another marked change in the portrayal. Usually the ‘Bush is dumb’ jibes could get pretty mean-spirited but here it’s something playful and cute. The crowd is hanging off every word here.

 

Bush then points out to Bin Laden is tremendous record of punishing evil-doers telling him that if he’s sceptical, there’s 200 people in Texas he can ask. He then gets in more funny lines at Bin Laden as he brings up the US’ recent decision to freeze all Al Qaeda assets.

 

Bush: I'm sorry I wasn't there to see your face when you went to the Kabul ATM to get some Quick-Cash. I bet it said "Insufficient Funds". That's right - we froze your assets. It probably ate your card, too.

 

We then get more of forceful Bush as he declares that he’s going to make Bin Laden his own personal Where’s Waldo. We get another easy dig at Bush as the president opines that he’s not very good at finding Waldo. This is a total 180 from the way Ferrell used to play Bush and it was perfect for what America needed at the time.

 

Bush then continues going on talking about catching Bin Laden as he points out that he violated rule numero uno: He messed with Texas. We soon get the LFNYISN and the skit ends.

 

While the cold opening is very short (probably since it was originally on WU), there’s no denying that it helped serve SNL’s purpose as the place to make people laugh again. Ferrell was able to tweak his Bush to suit the needs of the American public and instead of coming across as watered down and afraid to offend, it was genuinely funny and even inspiring. Ferrell’s Bush would soon go back to more what it was before, but for a short time, he was able to capture Bush in a truly positive way, as that’s how the American people saw him.

 

Sports Report-

 

Nets: Coming out of the All Star Break, Vince Carter had two horrible games, but he seems to be doing better now and isn’t jacking up 9 threes a game when it isn’t necessary. They had a great win over Cleveland. Their upcoming games are tough but the team is starting to gel and I still think they can easily make the playoffs.

 

Mailbag!!!!!-

 

Chad Ruffner writes-

 

I only caught The 2nd Hour of Raw this past Monday Night, opting to watch "24" Instead. Now there Is a Show that The WWE Writers can learn a thing or two from. Anyways, I read about what happened In Hour 1 on Raw and I'm glad I choose to watch 24 Instead. This edition of Raw was a complete and total throwaway Program save for The Batista Contract Signing. It was like Creative couldn't be bothered to focus on anything but The Final Segment. Shows like this have been a staple of The Stephanie McMahon led Creative Team since she took over. No surprise there. As for The Batista Contract Signing, It went about as well as I expected. The Thumbs Down was a nice touch. However, I think It would've played out even better had we not been asked to turn off our brains beforehand. Hunter keeps his mouth shut about his Master Plan for weeks, then tells Ric Flair RIGHT IN FRONT OF A WWE CAMERAMAN what he was up to?!? Isn't this why G-T.V./F-View was Invented? Oh, wait a minute. That happened more than 3 Months ago, so I guess were supposed to forget that. My Bad. What did you think? Later, Chad

 

I thought the Batista contract signing was pretty cool even though the thing with Flair and HHH in the locker room was a bit too contrived. The cameraman thing is just one of those things you kind of have to accept when you watch wrestling because if you don’t it’s just always going to bother you. The thumbs down something was pretty awesome- I just wonder whether Batista should’ve powerbombed him through the table. They probably should’ve saved that till Wrestlemania and just have him spinebuster or clothesline him.

 

Wanna be in the mailbag????? Email me at [email protected]

 

 

Cold Opening

Cast- Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Darrell Hammond, Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Kenan Thompson

Thoughts- Poor Dean Edwards. The guy had this amazing Michael Jackson impression, Lorne cut it for the dumbest of reasons, Dean gets fired, and now he has to watch Amy Poehler butcher Michael Jackson every time she does the impression. There are two things in life Amy Poehler can’t do: Read fake news and do Michael Jackson. I really hope the Jackson trial doesn’t mean Amy gets to do this impression too much more. Forte was okay as Macauly Culkin even though I thought they overdid it with the weed jokes. It was a welcoming sight to see Darrell’s Geraldo Rivera- that’s an impression of his I’ve always joined. As usual, I thought Kenan was funny. Fred was okay as Martin Bashir. This skit had some funny moments but Amy’s Michael Jackson is so awful and not funny that it kills any chances of these skits being good. **1/4

 

Monologue

Cast- Hilary Swank, Chris Parnell, Maya Rudolph, Forte, Seth Meyers, Poehler, Horatio Sanz, Dratch, Thompson

Thoughts- This was an interesting idea for the monologue and while a lot of the bits didn’t work, some stuff here was really funny. I marked out a lot for the Lil’ Sleuths reference- one has to wonder why SNL never bothered to bring them back. Seth and Amy were really funny here. The thing with Rachel Dratch was alright while Parnell did nothing for me. Getting to hear Kenan do Cosby again was awesome as always and I thought that bit really saved the skit. Decent monlogue. **3/4

 

Investment Firm

Cast- Jim Downey

Thoughts- Hey- it’s JIM DOWNEY!~ WOO-HOO.

 

Oh wait….this skit isn’t very funny. It had a good premise and some funny lines but this went on forever and was totally dead by the time it was over. Some trimming would’ve done wonders for this and possibly made me like this. *1/2

 

Botox Show

Cast- Swank, Rudolph, Dratch, Poehler

Thoughts- Holy fake hooters on Hilary! Apparently, spell check does not recognise the word ‘hooters’. I have a feeling Tina write this and I will give her some credit and say she did a good job. Not enough to make me consider ending the Tina Embargo or anything but she still can make me laugh when she wants to. Not even Maya was that bad or anything and she may have made me laugh. The stuff with Rachel was hilarious and my favourite part of the skit. Good choice for the first skit. I didn’t really think I was gonna like it, but this really grew on me. ***1/2

 

Investment Firm

Cast- Downey

Thoughts- Hey- it’s JIM DOWNEY!~ AGAIN!~

 

Oh wait…this skit isn’t very funny either. This suffered from the same problems as the previous one in that while it was funny, they just let Downey go on and on and completely kill any good the skits had. **

 

Hot Plate

Cast- Swank, Meyers, Sanz, Poehler, Forte, Thompson, Rob Riggle

Thoughts- For the record, I am one of those people who will immediately touch a plate if told that it’s hot, just to see if it really is that hot. I could totally tell that this skit was going for some hilarious out of control vibe where everyone had to laugh at the craziness that was presented at them. Unfortunately, they forgot to make the skit funny. I thought some of the urgings to touch the plate was funny but I could totally tell where this was going and I lost interest long before it got there. I mean Amy Poehler’s body turning all inside out? Not funny. I know Forte as the devil was supposed to put it over the top for everyone and make it the climax of the skit but it just didn’t work since I stopped caring. Oh and Horatio is useless. ½*

 

Debbie Downer

Cast- Swank, Dratch, Forte, Armisen, Meyers

Thoughts- I don’t know if it’s Hilary or Rachel that proposed this but you would think Lorne or the head writer would have enough common sense to say, “Debbie Downer isn’t funny and thus we will not be doing it.” Are the people at SNL so stupid that they don’t realise Debbie Downer was only funny once and that was because of Lindsay Lohan running off stage about to piss herself laughing? Every other Debbie Downer since then has been an uninspired mess with Dratch doing everything she can to mug for the camera and try to get some sort of laugh. It sucks because the legacy of the first one is kind of tarnished now. One can’t help but think of the horrible sequels that followed when thinking of the original Debbie Downer. It’s like NewsRadio. We all loved seasons 1-4 of NewsRadio but that 5th season is a bit of a blemish. I know SNL will do Debbie Downer again this season and it won’t be funny and I’ll go on the same old rant, so hopefully they will prove me wrong. DUD

 

50 Cent featuring Olivia ‘Candy Store’

Thoughts- Who is Olivia? Why does 50 Cent want her candy? Why can’t he be somewhat subtle about it? Why, if he wasn’t going to be subtle about it, at least use a better double entendre? Why does SNL invite 50 Cent back year after year? How does 50 Cent sell so many records when I’ve really noticed any discernible talent he has that distinguishes himself from everyone else? Whatever happened to Bubba Sparxxxxx? ½*

 

Weekend Update

Cast- Fey, Poehler, Armisen, Finesse Mitchell

Thoughts- You know this was an extra special Update when Tina does not just one stale as hell Bush joke that would get you laughed out of a Daily Show pitch meeting- but two. You also know Tina was really into earning her $100,000 this week by her tireless mugging and invading Amy’s camera shots. This was the usual pretty bad Fey-Poehler Update. It seems like sometimes they get a couple of funny jokes going but then it soon becomes clunker after clunker and they can never recover. Fred’s bit on the Gates was hilarious and I loved the montage of him where it teased that he died. Great stuff. Finesse’s Morgan Freeman was okay. I didn’t like a lot of the writing but I thought he had a good voice for it. Freeman narrating his own introduction was pretty funny. Overall, the joke portion of Weekend Update was really weak but Fred’s Gates commentary saved it. **

 

Seasons of Love

Cast- Swank, Parnell, Meyers, Dratch, Riggle

Thoughts- This just didn’t have a funny premise and thus it was kind of hard to have a funny execution, which this also lacked. Hilary’s facials were not funny. Rachel was okay and made me laugh a couple of times. I really liked the weird backstory they tried to tack on with Parnell and Seth- it was so stupid and out of place that I couldn’t help but laugh at their petty squabbling. This one never had a chance but I give them some credit for trying. **

 

Aaron Neville City Court

Cast- Swank, Sanz, Parnell, Meyers, Mitchell

Thoughts- Horatio once again shows that he’s completely useless as a castmember and while he really should’ve left a long time ago, the fact that he didn’t leave when Jimmy left is pretty inexcusable. I did mark out for the Dukes of Hazzard reference and there was some other reference I liked but don’t remember what it was. The interview with Seth and Finesse outside the courtroom (a la People’s Court) was really the only thing funny about this. *

 

J-Lo and Mark Anthony

Cast- Swank, Armisen, Rudolph, Forte

Thoughts- I’d say the Maya 12:30 rule but I really don’t know at what exact time this skit aired so I won’t. Maya’s Jennifer Lopez was horrible- it seemed like she was playing her as Asian with her voice and mannerisms. That’s not the Jennifer Lopez I know and mock! The stuff with Loretta Lynn and Jack White was pretty funny- that was my favourite part of the Grammys since Jack White rules. Still, the stuff with Loretta and Jack was not funny enough to overcome Maya's awfulness. *1/2

 

50 Cent ‘Disco Inferno’

Thoughts- Okay I’ll admit it. I really only liked this song because it was called Disco Inferno and I used to love that song on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack- I mean it was like 10 minutes long! I also used to mark out for Disco Inferno a lot in WCW. Remember when he jobbed to Jumping Joey Maggs? That was awesome. Anyway I thought this was okay and probably my favourite 50 performance, ever on SNL. **

 

Project Runway

Cast- Swank, Sanz, Rudolph, Parnell, Dratch, Armisen

Thoughts- I’ve never seen an episode of Project Runway but has Heidi Klum dropped that far in the looks department that Hilary Swank can legit pull off playing her? Cause Hilary Swank isn’t that attractive and in a couple of those swimsuit issues- Heidi was OMG. I remember the year they debuted painted on swimsuits. That was nice. Anyway I laughed at the concept (having to design stuff for Col. Sanders) but the execution wasn’t very funny and there wasn’t much to laugh at. I really don’t remember much since I watched this on Friday and it’s Tuesday. Suffice it to say it sucked. *1/2

 

Bottom Line- Avg. skit was *.8 making this a thumbs down show. This was truly a miserable effort by everyone involved in this episode and in the whole month of February. The writing has been awful, they’ve done skits that seem to appeal to the lowest common dominator, many of the skits are uninspired and don’t really have a joke to them. And of course there’s Weekend Update, which used to be automatic ***1/2 and be a great momentum builder is now hitting ** and is killing a lot of momentum. If the show continues like this then SNL badly needs an overhaul. I’m usually the last to admit it, but after the disasters that were the last two shows, excising all the dead weight from writing to cast could do wonders for the show. In the end the thing that baffles me is how half these skits get all the way from pitch meeting to air. I mean, I think one-thing sums this whole debacle up:

 

Did we really need another Debbie Downer?

 

Thumbs Down