Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Pumping Up With Hans & Franz- USA Olympic skier (host) isn’t very pumped
— During their simulated pummeling, I like how Hans and Franz are rapidly repeating “pummela pummela pummela” over and over.
— Memorable part with Hans and Franz’s chests moving in unison.
— I got an unintentional laugh from how the box of “Weaties” is noticeably spelled without the “h”. (last screencap above) I’m assuming that’s for copyright reasons, kinda like how when some of the fake ads from the Ebersol era would use real brand names, they’d spell it slightly differently (e.g. Buddweiser, Foldger’s Crystals).
— Overall, not too bad in itself, but to be honest, I’m starting to get kinda tired of these characters. Until doing this SNL project of mine, I never realized how one-note Hans and Franz are. After a few installments, you start to realize that their shtick isn’t all THAT funny. Did we need to see these one-note characters so frequently this season?
STARS: **½
MONOLOGUE
host whistles a cowboy song
— Interesting turn this has taken, with the home base stage being darkened and stagehands putting up western-like set pieces as Judge describes a story.
— This whistling song kinda has a charm, but it’s going on far too long for my likes. Some of the brief stuff Judge is doing in between the whistling is fairly funny, though.
STARS: **
WILSON TRAP DOORS
they reliably remove unwanted people from your office
— Even though I’ve never seen tonight’s episode before, I’m very familiar with this fake ad. I must’ve seen this in one of the “SNL Goes Commercial” compilation specials.
— Love Jon’s nervous smile when Phil looks at him after noticing his failed trap door attempt.
— Dana’s scream when falling down the trap door was very funny.
— Excellent part with an innocent guy suddenly crashing leg-first through the floor while he was casually walking towards Jon’s desk. I also love how Jon angrily bangs his fists on his desk during that part.
— This commercial is freakin’ hilarious so far.
— Great ending with Kevin, and I absolutely LOVED his scream when falling down the trap door. That scream of his had me howling.
— This overall commercial has always been one of my absolute favorite SNL fake ads of all-time, and is usually one of the first things that come to mind whenever I think of how great the fake ads in this era were.
STARS: *****
CHURCH CHAT
televangelists Pat Robertson (ALF) & Jimmy Swaggart (PHH)
— Good to see Al Franken’s funny Pat Robertson impression back. That smile alone always cracks me up.
— Pat Robertson: “Hitler’s brain is being kept alive in Paraguay.”
— Very funny entrance from Phil as an over-the-top crying Jimmy Swaggart.
— Some really great lines from Church Lady towards Swaggart.
— Phil’s performance is hilarious.
— The back-and-forths between Robertson and Swaggart are cracking me up.
— The “If You’re Happy and You Know It” number was an okay ending to the sketch.
STARS: ****½
JORGE GARCIA, NICE GUY DICTATOR
absolute power hasn’t corrupted Jorge Garcia, Nice Guy Dictator (host)
— They seem to like doing this type of sketch in this late 80s/early 90s era. In the preceding season 12, John Lithgow had that Reverend Dwight Henderson, World’s Meanest Methodist Minister sketch, and several years later, Tim Robbins stars in a (terrible) sketch titled Sweet Jimmy, The World’s Nicest Pimp.
— I liked Judge’s modest “sorry” after angrily yelling “SILENCE!”
— I got a laugh from Judge sternly ordering his soldiers to give Phil a ride home.
— This sketch is too slow-paced for my likes.
— Very weak and abrupt ending.
— This overall sketch as a whole didn’t work for me, despite some laughs early on.
STARS: **
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Like the Weather”
WEEKEND UPDATE
electrical storm cuts one-man mobile uplink unit ALF’s Florida report
— Nice addition of a neck brace on one-man mobile uplink unit Al Franken.
— Excellent sight gag with Al suddenly getting struck by lightning.
— I already like this idea of A. Whitney doing an analysis of each of this year’s presidential candidates, where I can already tell there’s going to be some good lines.
— Very good bit about A. Whitney and his daughter each coming up with a lie against his wife.
STARS: ***½
DEREGULATED AIRLINE
(host) flies on a filthy, crime-ridden post-deregulation airline
— This kinda reminds me of the tobacco-spitting airline sketch from the previous season’s Garry Shandling episode.
— Some really good visuals in this sketch.
— Good part with Jan’s stewardess character suddenly tearing open her blouse when flirting with Judge.
— Decent ending with Jon as a preacher touting a bible.
STARS: ***
THE COP & THE PROSTITUTE
unlikely couple has career clash
— Judge’s cop being overly accepting towards Victoria’s profession is fairly funny so far.
— Not sure I care for where the rest of this sketch has been going.
— Overall, the audience seemed really tickled by the normalcy that Judge and Victoria’s odd relationship was being treated with, but I found myself fairly bored throughout this.
STARS: **
WHEN GREAT MINDS MEET
temporally disparate historical figures waste time
— The set-up of this reminds me of a really bad sketch the show would do several years later with Jeff Goldblum, titled History’s Great Over-Thinkers, where Goldblum tries to interview a panel of important historical figures like Leonardo DaVinci and Thomas Edison.
— I like how this is turning into the historical guests trying to get each other’s names straight.
— Some good laughs from the guests’ confusion whenever one guest casually mentions something that wasn’t around yet in the other guests’ respective time periods.
— I love Jon’s frustration.
— Good sketch overall. This was pretty much a far better version of the later History’s Great Over-Thinkers. Or more accurately, I should say History’s Great Over-Thinkers was a much worse version of this earlier sketch.
STARS: ***½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “What’s the Matter Here”
PIRATES
pirates (KEN) & (DAC) prefer birds other than parrots on their shoulders
— I love the visual of Dana and Kevin’s pirates having a penguin and swan on their shoulder instead of a parrot.
— Hilarious walk-on from Judge, with his shoulder having a bird perch with three small parakeets on it.
— I liked this overall sketch a lot. Something about the escalating silliness of it embodied what I love about this era of SNL.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Considering this ends up being the unintended final episode of the season due to a writers’ strike, this was not the best way for the season to end. There were still some really good things tonight, particularly a strong installment of Church Chat, but I felt the weaker segments weighed down the show quite a bit. Still, I found more good than bad in this overall episode; I just wish this season could’ve gone out with more of a bang.
— Season 13 as a whole continued the growth of this still-somewhat-new era, but the season was honestly not quite as strong as I had been expecting. I was kinda surprised to see that it was a little more on the average side than I had remembered. A majority of the episodes were just good or average, not great. Aside from Paul Simon and Tom Hanks, there weren’t any episodes that I feel stand out as classics or near-classics. However, on the other hand, there at least weren’t any particularly terrible episodes either. Angie Dickinson is probably my least favorite episode of the season by default, and even that episode was merely forgettable rather than outright weak. There’s plenty of things to like about this overall season, but much like the preceding season 12, it feels like SNL is still taking steps towards the full potential that this era eventually reaches.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Hanks)
a step down
HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1986-87)
a slight step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
After a long writers’ strike and summer break, SNL finally makes its return, in what I feel is possibly SNL’s greatest season EVER. Season 14 kicks off with host…… Tom Hanks?!?! Wow, didn’t we literally just see him host? I’m certainly not complaining, though. He’s indeed THAT good to bring back so soon.
For anyone who remembers, what episodes did they show during the strike? Just this season’s episodes over and over?
I have a list of all SNL airings including reruns, and here’s what ran:
5-Mar-88 Dabney Coleman / The Cars
12-Mar-88 pre-empted for Saturday Night’s Main Event XV
19-Mar-88 Robert Mitchum / Simply Red
26-Mar-88 Best of 86 I (released on VHS, reaired in September 1995)
2-Apr-88 Candice Bergen / Cher
9-Apr-88 Danny DeVito / Bryan Ferry
16-Apr-88 Decision 88 (Political themed sketches compilation)
23-Apr-88 Angie Dickinson / Buster Poindexter, David Gilmour
30-Apr-88 pre-empted for Saturday Night’s Main Event XVI
7-May-88 Paul Simon / Linda Ronstadt with The Mariachi Vargas
14-May-88 Best of 87 I (this was released on VHS and reaired in September 1995- techincally, this includes some 1986-87 material)
21-May-88 Best of 87 II
28-May-88 Sean Penn / LL Cool J, The Pull (2nd rerun)
4-Jun-88 Carl Weathers / Robbie Robertson
11-Jun-88 Tom Hanks / Randy Travis
18-Jun-88 Robin Williams / James Taylor
25-Jun-88 Judge Reinhold / 10,000 Maniacs
2-Jul-88 pre-empted for The Jay Leno Show (originally aired 1-Nov-86)
9-Jul-88 Mark Harmon / Suzanne Vega (2nd rerun)
16-Jul-88 Justine Bateman / Terence Trent D’arby
23-Jul-88 John Larroquette / Timbuk 3 (2nd rerun)
6-Aug-88 Charlton Heston / Wynton Marsalis (2nd rerun)
13-Aug-88 Danny DeVito / Bryan Ferry (2nd rerun)
20-Aug-88 Decision 88
27-Aug-88 Steve Martin / Sting (2nd rerun)
3-Sep-88 Robert Mitchum / Simply Red (2nd rerun)
10-Sep-88 Judge Reinhold / 10,000 Maniacs (2nd rerun)
And the Olympics aired on Sept. 17-Oct. 1.
Ben, is this list available online somewhere or something you compiled on your own?
This instalment of Church Chat is a full on classic. Up there with the Jim and Tammy Faye one from the previous season.
It’s so tragic that the strike canceled the planned Gilda Radner hosted episode.
It’s also sad that the strike deprived us a full season of this outstanding cast.
Anyone have a clue if there was ever any set in stone hosting picks for the shows that ended up not happening besides Gilda? I always heard a rumor Lorne really wanted to have Charles Grodin back, seen it online ages ago. Supposedly he was gonna come out in the monologue and explain the whole season 3 bit was a troll job and do a normal show with everyone but once the strike passed they declined to re-invite him. Bummer as that woulda been fun to watch if true, I think he coulda worked well with Phil.
As for this show I have awful memories of it. I recorded it late night once and it was in the dire stages of my VCR at the time and I had no fast forward button so I had to watch all of it.. boy was that whistling monologue pure hell to sit thru. Besides the Trap Door bit and Update it was one long hr and a half. Maybe I might like it better with adult eyes but I doubt it.
Supposedly Judge musta been one nightmare to deal with that week.. one of the writers blasted him hard in that SNL oral history book. never forget how funny it is to read that. Judging by how he acts on here I can see why.. musta thought he was hot stuff then. It’s hilarious considering he hosted here thinking Vice Versa woulda be this killer hit while the next show is Tom Hanks hosting who had the bigest body switching hit of that year and an Oscar nom.. oh karma hello again.
Here are the five star sketches from the 87-88 season:
Church Chat (Sean Penn)
Compulsion (Robert Mitchum)
Handi-Off (Danny DeVito)
Succinctly Speaking (Paul Simon)
Family Ties (Justine Bateman)
Wilson Trap Doors (Judge Reinhold)
Six sketches. A pretty strong total for a truncated season, though aside from Family Ties, my personal favourite sketches (Paul Simon/Sweeney Sisters, Democratic Debate, Church Chat/Jimmy Swaggart) are not here. Clearly, this is a big year for ad parodies.
As a companion piece to Carson’s list, here’s an Honorable Mentions list compiled of all the sketches I rated four-and-a-half stars this season:
Monologue (Steve Martin)
Death Be Not Deadly (Robert Mitchum)
Anne Boleyn (Candice Bergen)
Monologue (Robin Williams)
60th Birthday (Robin Williams)
Church Chat/Jimmy Swaggart (Judge Reinhold)
Okay, folks, time to put on our thinking caps. We’ve got a time span of March-May 1988. Gilda’s a lock (with guests U2 according to Wikipedia, so take that with a lot of salt), but who else could have hosted the remaining six episodes? What about musical guests?
INXS would perform a few season later, but I could see them being booked at this time. “Devil Inside” and “New Sensation” were big hits. Maybe one or two more “name” guests (George Michael? Belinda Carlisle?) and the rest could be non-mainstream/new.
I wonder if Matthew Broderick and Demi Moore were originally supposed to host in the spring (when they had lead roles in movies to plug) rather than late 1988. I’m also wondering how Michael Keaton would have done hosting around this time.
As for TV actors … I wouldn’t mind seeing Garry Shandling back. And how about Estelle Getty (with Nora as Bea Arthur, Jan as Rue McClanahan and Victoria as Betty White in the inevitable Golden Girls sketch)?
That’s five. Oh, what the hell … “And your host, MIKE TYSON!”
Here are the average ratings for Season 13:
*may not represent review’s perception*
1301: 7.0 (Steve Martin)
1302: 6.8 (Sean Penn)
1303: 6.3 (Dabney Coleman)
1304: 6.9 (Robert Mitchum)
1305: 6.5 (Candice Bergen)
1306: 6.4 (Danny DeVito)
1307: 6.4 (Angie Dickinson)
1308: 7.8 (Paul Simon)
1309: 6.6 (Robin Williams)
1310: 7.0 (Carl Weathers)
1311: 5.7 (Justine Bateman)
1312: 7.3 (Tom Hanks)
1313: 6.4 (Judge Reinhold)
Best Episode: 1308 (Paul Simon)- 7.8
Worst Episode: 1311 (Justine Bateman)- 5.7
Season Average: 6.7
I’m curious what Vax Novier’s list of average ratings would look like if it was ranked from best episode to worst, so I’ll do it below:
1308: 7.8 (Paul Simon)
1312: 7.3 (Tom Hanks)
1301: 7.0 (Steve Martin)
1310: 7.0 (Carl Weathers)
1304: 6.9 (Robert Mitchum)
1302: 6.8 (Sean Penn)
1309: 6.6 (Robin Williams)
1305: 6.5 (Candice Bergen)
1306: 6.4 (Danny DeVito)
1307: 6.4 (Angie Dickinson)
1313: 6.4 (Judge Reinhold)
1303: 6.3 (Dabney Coleman)
1311: 5.7 (Justine Bateman)
The only real surprise for me is that the Angie Dickinson and Judge Reinhold episodes have a higher rating average than I would’ve expected. However, I’m glad. It shows how damn good this season is that even two episodes that I declared forgettably average for late 80s standards still got a pretty good rating average. I can’t wait to see what the rating averages for the amazing season 14 will look like. I bet that even the lowest-ranked episode that season will still have a rating average well into the 6-point range.
For fun, here are season 13’s episodes ranked from best to worst based on the “Immediate Post-Show Thoughts” that I wrote in my reviews. (I’ll also go back and do this for all of the preceding seasons, starting from season 12 and working my way back to season 1.) Just to warn you, the first half of the below list is exactly identical to the above list in this post.
Paul Simon
Tom Hanks
Steve Martin
Carl Weathers
Robert Mitchum
Sean Penn
Candice Bergen
Robin Williams
Dabney Coleman
Danny DeVito
Justine Bateman
Judge Reinhold
Angie Dickinson
According to this 1988 Rolling Stone article (which preceded KITH’s debut on HBO/CBC that fall), Lorne asked the Kids (which were working out of Broadway Video’s offices) to make a short film for SNL that spring – this film never aired, due to the writer’s strike:
https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-news/is-america-ready-for-the-kids-in-the-hall-82245/
Matthew Broderick was scheduled to host in March 1988…to promote the release of Biloxi Blues.
There was a writer’s strike by then. Gilda Radner was suppossed to host the season finalie of SNL that season.
The When Great Minds Meet sketch precedes the release of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure by a year. Two of the characters, Joan of Arc and Genghis Khan, were in the film. This sketch features Aristotle and Jefferson Davis while the movie had Socrates and Abraham Lincoln. Seemed interesting.
I’ve never seen the full episode of this one, so not the musical guest performances–in reading another review, apparently Judge does these “funny” bits before introducing 10,000 Maniacs? While I’m guessing he didn’t just do them on the spot, I wonder if he also really pushed to be able to do something like those too. Based on the description, they have the air of “I think I’m hilarious.”