Personally, I was happy to see that they didn't go with the standard clip
show format that previous SNL anniversary specials have favored. In a
nutshell, here's what I thought of the non-retread/non-musical performances:
- Fallon/Timberlake cold open: I appreciate the fact that they did a
song & dance to work in other cast members (like Drach & her "Debbie
Downer"), I feel like the open was more reminiscent of their 'history of
rap' segments from LNWJF than anything either did on SNL. I would have
much rather had them do "Barry Gibb Talk Show", since it's a sketch that
only gets done every 3 years, and it would have allowed past & current cast
members to do some political impersonations.
- Steve Martin & friends monologue: spot on, except Miley Cyrus had no
business being on stage with 5+ timers.
- Super Bass-O-Matic 2150: Almost perfect, and I like how Ackroyd
handled the blender's failure at the end of the sketch. (Could the props
department not afford a VitaMix? It's the SBOM2150, not the BOM76, for
chrissake.)
- Celebrity Jeopardy: YES. ALL OF THE YES. (And I'm kicking myself for
missing the jokes in the category names.)
- The Californians: Betty White saves the sketch. Godddamn that woman
is game for just about anything. Complete waste of time otherwise.
(Although a decent idea to have David Spades' snarky flight attendant kill
the sketch, Graham Chapman style.)
- Weekend Update: I would have liked more of this and less of the
Californians.
- Marty Short/Maya Rudolph: Loved this except for the aforementioned
Garth/Kat appearance. G&K were redeemed by Murray as Nick Ocean (with Paul
Schaffer!) and, as much as I hate to say it, "What's Up With That?"
(Sudekis in the tracksuit FTW.) Again, the lack of Fallon & Timberlake as
Barry & Robin Gibb was a big oversight here, if you're not going to do BGTS.
- Digital Short ("That's When You Break"): a nice way to use both
Sandler & Samberg that highlights the challenges of live TV. Also, an
entire verse of "Here's another one of Fallon & Sanz" - yep.
- Wayne's World: it was good to see Wayne & Garth again, but I wish
they'd done more than just a top 10 list. (Again, swap this for the
Californians in both placement & timing.) Would have preferred to see W&G
interact with some other SNL talk show hosts - the "Girlfriends Talk Show"
girls, Jarret & Gobi, Dieter (oh, wait - never mind), Barry & Robin Gibb
(damn it!), Steve Harvey, Fernando...well, you get the picture. I did like
the shout-out to the crew at the very end of the sketch.
I also really liked that the band got to have a moment of their own as he
introduced the memorial reel, which also featured cast, crew & band alike.
And seeing Jan, Phil & Chris all in a row during memorial reel was like
three hard shots to the gut. That was the one that got me.
Musical performances? Sir Paul needs some Ricola (and probably should have
been scratched in favor of another performer/sketch), Miley actually did a
nice job with 50 Ways, Kanye & his 'genius' can eat a bag of dicks, and
Paul Simon was great, but I was disappointed that Lorne didn't have Paul
perform "Still Crazy After All These Years" in the turkey costume for old
times' sake.
On Monday, February 16, 2015 at 7:00:58 AM UTC-5, Michael wrote:
>
> Even a (sometime) Wiig fan like me cannot abide Garth & Kat -- recurring
> characters that are so reliably awful and tedious that they make "The
> Californians" seem like G.B. Shaw..Would I have preferred more Kanye
> indulgence instead of Garth & Kat? Absolutely not. But a Garth & Kat/Garth
> & Wayne tag-team match to the death -- one that Garth & Wayne win? Sure.
>
> On Monday, February 16, 2015 at 3:10:00 AM UTC-8, Dave Sikula wrote:
>>
>> My takeaway was that Rock's eulogy was the price Lorne agreed to to
>> guarantee Murphy's appearance. Personally, I'd have preferred more Martin
>> Short or Lovitz. At least She Who Will Not Be Named didn't get own segment
>> - though having her show up with Armisen was poison enough.
>>
>> Dave Sikula
>
>
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