Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
George Bush (DAC) gives status report on good & bad of his term so far
— Dana-as-Bush’s constant “Not enough in-for-ma-tion” are really funny.
— A good laugh from his example of the “work” he’s done during his days in office so far being repainting, floor-sanding, etc.
— We get our very first Dana-as-Bush utterance of “Not gonna do it”, though he delivers those words in a straight manner tonight. Over time, he famously exaggerates it to “Nah gah dah”.
— Another overall solid Bush cold opening, with another early display of soon-to-be-famous Bush-isms.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
time stands still while (host) & (GIR) go “Dancing In The Dark” {rerun}
— Oh, boy, this is gonna be a bit tough to get through…
— You can tell by Steve’s voice that he’s fighting back tears as he speaks, which is really getting to me.
— Steve mentions how the people you get to work with at the show is what always brings you back to SNL, which is a classy set-up to an encore presentation that’s now being played as a tribute to the beloved Gilda Radner, who passed away earlier this same day.
— Great to see this incredible Dancing In The Dark sketch again, and it’s coming off poignant in the context it’s being shown in tonight.
— Since I already reviewed Dancing In The Dark when covering the episode it originally aired in (the legendary Steve Martin/Blues Brothers episode from season 3), I’m not going to say anything else here for the remainder of the encore presentation. I just want to sit back and enjoy the sketch while reminiscing emotionally about how it was practically yesterday when I was reviewing the original era and got to enjoy regularly covering various great Gilda Radner performances.
— A very nice extended applause break after the encore presentation has finished playing.
— Steve: “You know, when I look at that tape, I can’t help but think how great she was and how young I looked. Gilda, we miss you.”
STARS: not sure if I should rate this, but I’ll give it a ***** for its classiness
PUMPING UP WITH HANS & FRANZ
world’s most perfectly pumped-up man (host)
— Hmm, a change of pace with the smoky intro at the beginning of this.
— A priceless visual of Steve in that insane muscle costume.
— Funny hearing Steve doing the Hans and Franz accent. Hearing him do that reminds me of a little of his Festrunk Brothers voice from back in the day.
— Good ending bit with Steve’s struggle to clap his hands in unison with Hans and Franz.
— At the end of the previous season, I stated that I was already getting tired of Hans and Franz after only one season, and that I don’t find their act all that funny anymore. Thankfully, THIS season made me come around on them. They had a fairly strong year, and it also helps that they weren’t overused like they were the previous season.
STARS: ***½
TAMMY WYNETTE SINGS THE CLASSICS
with “Stand By Your Man” lyrics
— Hilarious how Jan’s singing the same lyric, “Stand by your man”, to the melody of various classical songs. The part with her doing Beethoven’s 5th Symphony is particularly funny.
— Excellent performance from Jan here.
STARS: ****½
TOONCES, THE CAT WHO COULD DRIVE A CAR
he can drive, just not very well
— Ladies and gentlemen, we have a major recurring character debut!
— Very funny visual of the obvious cat puppet steering the wheel.
— There’s the very first instance of what would go on to define these sketches: “Toonces, look out!” (*cut to stock footage of a car driving off a cliff*)
— Wow, the sketch is over already? I’m surprised how short and simplistic this first Toonces installment was.
— Oh, never mind, there’s an extra scene now, with a “preview” of next week’s Driving Test episode.
— An overall solid first installment.
STARS: ****
TO MY LOVE
host recites an ode that details what he needs from his woman
— Plenty of great one-liners so far, especially the random “To walk beside me when I want to look like I’m not gay.”
— Another particularly good one-liner with “To make me horny when I’m not horny, and to watch me fall asleep.”
— This is in a similar vein to his classic A Holiday Wish sketch. This even has a similar darkly-lit fancy setting.
— Great ending with his missing wedding ring.
STARS: ****½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Runnin’ Down a Dream”
WEEKEND UPDATE
AWB tells the class of ’89 to stick it to Noriega with crack boycott
— As always, I love that they’re continuing the tradition of every season finale having an A. Whitney Brown commentary where he addresses that year’s graduating class. We never got to see him do one for the class of 1988, though, since that season got cut short by a writers’ strike.
— A. Whitney, to the class of ’89: “You can be sure ‘the education president’ feels bad that so many of you are functionally illiterate. Not as bad as he’d feel if you had an abortion, but still…”
— Good ending to A. Whitney’s commentary with him calling for a nationwide crack boycott in every high school and junior high to get Manuel Noriega out of office.
— Dennis: “Do you know how personally ungrounded I feel living in a world where Ricky Schroeder has changed his name to Rick?”
— Oh, so THIS is when news started getting out about Rob Lowe’s now-infamous sex tape with a minor, which Dennis says Lowe probably only did “to divert our attention away from that Oscar thing”, which is now the third dig SNL has got in at Lowe’s horrific Snow White opening number at that year’s Oscars.
— After the last two Updates in which Dennis’ jokes weren’t as strong as usual, he had a nice return to form tonight with plenty of great jokes.
STARS: ****
THE NEW CONEHEADS
LOM previews new issue-oriented Coneheads skits; Timothy Busfield cameo
— Though they haven’t made it clear yet why they’re doing this, seeing this sketch brings back great memories of how much I enjoyed reviewing the original Coneheads sketches back when I covered that era. That was one of my favorite recurring sketches from those years.
— The casting of Phil and Nora as the new Beldar and Prymaat makes sense, because in several ways, Phil and Nora are this cast’s version of Dan and Jane.
— Nice touch with Victoria having a trendy clock hanging on her head.
— All Coneheads in unison, when asked where they’re from: “France. Yeah that’s the ticket. We’re from France.”
— Good mock-serious segment with Lorne announcing the New Coneheads are coming to SNL next season, tackling serious issues of our time.
— Funny detail of a cone-shaped mirror that Phil’s Beldar looks into.
— The Thirtysomething parody scene was okay, though incredibly dated nowadays. (Speaking of which, we’ll be coming to another possibly-now-dated Thirtysomething parody in the following season’s premiere that I’ll be covering tomorrow) The camera angle and positioning of the actors was strange (last screencap above), but I’m guessing that’s just spoofing the staging in the real Thirtysomething.
— Amusing ending to the letter of approval from Dan Aykroyd, plugging the upcoming Ghostbusters 2.
STARS: ****
GET TO KNOW ME
JOL says “Get to know me!” like DOP & host did; Paulina Poriskova cameo
— Good to see a more fleshed-out, sketch version of Jon’s famous Weekend Update routine.
— A rare on-camera Don Pardo appearance!
— Phil’s Lee Iaccoca impression is very funny.
— I love Steve’s manic delivery in this, as well as his line about how he used to be a two-bit comic with an arrow stuck through his head, “and now I’m starring in Parenthood directed by Opie!”
— Pardo leaning into the shot while gleefully exclaiming “I’m on TV!” is priceless.
STARS: ****
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Free Fallin'”
SPROCKETS
Dieter’s lover Heike (NOD) reviews the performance of a clown
— Hmm, the monkey on a pedestal is front-and-center next to Dieter right at the start of the sketch. The monkey is usually farther away from Dieter, and is usually not revealed until about halfway through the sketch.
— This is the first time where Dieter’s guest is an equally-weird German instead of an American being weirded out by Dieter.
— “Your story has become tiresome.” Never have I been more happy to hear those words, as Nora’s long-winded story was honestly starting to kinda get on my nerves before Dieter cut it off with the aforementioned catchphrase.
— Dieter’s “Touch my monkey” pleas are now starting to have the over-the-top delivery people now remember, rather than the deadpan low-key delivery he used for it in the first installment.
— I found tonight’s overall installment surprisingly underwhelming. Nora’s character didn’t work for me, and this sketch didn’t have much else going for it. Felt empty for a Sprockets sketch. I’ll just chalk this up to a case of Early Installment Weirdness and assume this is the result of these Sprockets sketches still trying to find their voice.
STARS: **
SIDES
host demonstrates his good & bad sides, photographically speaking
— Hmm, from my past viewings of the rerun version of this episode, I swear I recall Steve performing this sketch on the home base stage. However, in the live version I’m currently watching, he’s performing it on the New Coneheads set. They must’ve later replaced this sketch with the dress rehearsal version in reruns.
— Out of this and the Ode To My Love piece from earlier tonight, I wonder which one was originally slated for the monologue slot before Gilda passed.
— I love how he names each side of his face after famous Mels.
— Nice touch with him exiting the scene with his good side facing the camera.
STARS: ****
SMOKERS CABLE NETWORK
Smokers Cable Network news anchors present items related to tobacco
— The sunrise stock footage played during the Smokers Cable Network opening title (screencap below) looks like the same sunrise footage they’d later use in the opening titles of the Stuart Smalley sketches.
— I like Nora’s rating system.
— Al’s brief segment was hilarious.
— Steve’s entire commentary just being him horribly coughing his way through his unintelligible speech was pretty funny.
— I wasn’t expecting much from this overall sketch at first, thinking it would be a pretty flimsy bit, but it ended up being executed well.
STARS: ***
HAVE A BITCHIN’ SUMMER
Tonto, Tarzan, Frankenstein say goodbye for the summer
— Good intro from Steve announcing that, to commemorate the last show of the season, Tonto, Tarzan, and Frankenstein will sing a goodbye song.
— Haha, “Have A Bitchin’ Summer”.
— Good touch with Tonto blowing a whistle mid-song.
— I recall someone on an SNL messageboard once pointing out that during the close-up of each of the three performers as they’re singing, they all look as if they had been crying shortly before this sketch started (because of Gilda’s passing, maybe?). However, watching the sketch now, I’m not noticing that at all. There’s no visible moistness under any of the guys’ eyes or anything like that.
— Funny and oddly charming as always. Nice way to end the season.
STARS: ****
GOODNIGHTS
— Steve: “I wanna thank all my guests, the most beautiful woman in the world: Jon Lovitz…”
— We get a nice mention from Don Pardo’s voice-over that the show’s next live broadcast will be SNL’s 15th anniversary special in late September (a week before season 15 begins), the beginning of a tradition of SNL holding a big anniversary special during some of their milestone years.
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— A very strong finish to the season, completing a perfect streak of no episodes that I found supbar this season. We got plenty of great sketches tonight, some really memorable moments, and a heartfelt Gilda Radner tribute in the monologue.
— Season 14 as a whole was PHENOMENAL. The quality of most the episodes was very high, the consistency was very impressive, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were no episodes at all that I wasn’t satisfied with. Every single episode worked for me, which is pretty much unheard of for an SNL season. Even my favorite seasons that I’ve reviewed earlier in this SNL project of mine (seasons 3, 4, and 10) each had at least one or two episodes I was disappointed by, and the same goes for my favorite seasons from later on that I haven’t covered yet. In addition to the high quality of season 14’s episodes, this fantastic cast was also firing on all cylinders and performing some of their greatest work, and the show also benefited from the mid-season addition of Mike Myers, who quickly began to make his mark with his stable of distinct and funny characters. All-in-all, I would argue that this is SNL’s greatest season of all-time.
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Wayne Gretzky)
a slight step up
HOW THIS OVERALL SEASON STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1987-88)
a mild step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Season 15 begins, with host Bruce Willis
I usually answer season three when asked my favorite SNL year, but reading your reviews and remembering these episodes has me second-guessing myself. Great job as always!
Thanks.
My bias still leans toward 89-90 (it has my favorite SNL ever), but 88-89 is easily in the top three seasons ever with 77-78. I also think that 92-93 is way up there.
Didn’t hear the sad news before catching this live air. Seeing Steve Martin choke up was daunting. The words “Gilda died” did not hit my face from it so wanted not to believe it; took me the next morning from the local paper to clear it up. Her compilation “The Best of Gilda Radner” was released on VHS weeks later. The times I perchance revisit it brings back the sad tone of that Summer ’89 from her passing.
(Also, how terrible Ghostbusters II was…)
Will you be reviewing 15th anniversary special?
Paul J, I didn’t get to read your comment until now. By this point, you’ve probably noticed that I moved on with season 15 without reviewing the 15th Anniversary Special. As a rule, I only review regular episodes during this project of mine. A few months ago, I did contemplate reviewing the three anniversary specials (15th, 25th, and 40th) when I arrive at those respective points in SNL’s timeline, as I figured it would be significant to watch and review them in the chronological context of this project. However, I ultimately decided against reviewing them because they’re mostly just clip montages, intros, and musical performances, and thus, I felt I would have very little to say in my review.
Right before watching and reviewing the season 15 premiere, I did watch the 15th Anniversary Special (and plan on doing the same when I arrive at the 25th and 40th Anniversary Specials), and I have to say, it was an exciting and unique experience watching it right after my day-to-day coverage of every regular SNL episode that aired up until that point. It was a special feeling reliving clips and cast members that I had reviewed regularly earlier in this project. After the anniversary special ended, it felt great to proudly say to myself “I reviewed every single one of those sketches, commercials, and films they showed clips of!”
To be honest, I now actually kinda wish I did review that 15th Anniversary Special, but it’s too late by this point. I have to stick to my rule of reviewing episodes in chronological order, which is one of my goals in this project.
Makes sense.
What a fantastic season. As you said, not a sub-standard episode in the entire bunch. That’s quite an accomplishment.
I watched the 15th Anniversary special a lot when I was a kid because that was the only way I could see many of those sketches.
Is this the greatest season ever of the show? Certainly, perhaps the most consistent. The biggest flaw of this season is its pure whiteness (not that the show has ever been accused of diversity), although it’s a pretty strong era for female cast members–to me, Hooks/Dunn/Jackson offer a kind of throwback to how Radner/Newman/Curtin presented three very different women. The show’s cast is super strong–if you were to play “form a dream cast,” it’s so tempting to overload on this era’s cast–Hartman as the glue, Lovitz and Nealon as the dependables, Hooks/Dunn as versatile women, Carvey as your silly frontman, Myers as an up-and-comer, Miller as a strong Update presence, and even Jackson was fine as a niche performer.
There lacks what I’d call a “wild card” (your Belushi, Farley, or in a different sense, Samberg) or “stone cold superstar” (Murphy, Ferrell), but that’s okay: the show didn’t have to worry about someone bolting to do films or becoming a de facto star. I’d say Hartman and Carvey got the most screen time, but almost anyone else could have a strong night. Indeed, the biggest film star of the bunch, Myers, is just a fresh faced feature player.
This was also a season that I think that proved writing, not hosts, is the key factor. While I’m sure the hosts were professional, talented, and happy to be on a good show, there’s plenty of them that I don’t think of as sketch comedy pros–Demi Moore, Wayne Gretzky, Dolly Parton, plus standard sitcom performers like Tony Danza and potential wild cards like John Malkovich and Mel Gibson. In the show’s weaker seasons, the hosts were lackluster, but the material generally did them no favors. Here, everyone pretty much rises to the strengths of the show.
Really, until some of the later 90s seasons, the hosts for this era of the show are generally just “okay” at worst.
Ladies and gents, the five star sketches from the 88-89 season:
First Citiwide Change Bank Parts 1 and 2 (Tom Hanks)
ABC Campaign 88 (Tom Hanks)
Nude Beach (Matthew Broderick)
Portrait of the Artist (John Larroquette)
Gay Communist Gun Club (John Larroquette)
Cold Opening (Matthew Modine)
Dukakis After Dark (Matthew Modine)
Monologue (Danny DeVito)
Game Breakers (Kevin Kline)
The Big Chill (Kevin Kline)
Love is a Dream (Melanie Griffith)
You Mock Me (John Malkovich)
Robot Repair (Mary Tyler Moore)
Monologue (Steve Martin)
14 sketches, matching the 77-78 season. Some notes: I lumped the First Citiwide Change Bank ads together and included the Steve Martin monologue, which Stooge kind of hedged on. So, minus one and plus one. A wash.
But yeah, it’s a major season. I’m probably more generous with the five star sketches, since I would include Jew, Not A Jew, Anal Retentive Chef, Tales of Ribaldry, Mountain Stories(!), Attitudes(!!), and Waikiki Hockey(!!!). Also maybe the Fifth Beatle. Needless to say, in terms of straight up sketches, this season is dominant.
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 (Tom Hanks)
Weekend Update (Tom Hanks)
Cooking With Monkey (Matthew Broderick)
This Old House (John Larroquette)
Vote Bush, Part 3 (John Larroquette)
Church Chat/Morton Downey Jr. (Matthew Modine)
The World of Dr. Know-It-All (Demi Moore)
Master Thespian (John Lithgow)
Barbara Bush and Nancy Reagan (John Malkovich)
Attitudes (John Malkovich)
Johnny Canal (John Malkovich)
Geritech (Leslie Nielsen)
Group Therapy (Glenn Close)
Levels (Glenn Close)
Mountain Stories (Dolly Parton)
Waikiki Hockey (Wayne Gretzky)
Tammy Wynette Sings the Classics (Steve Martin)
To My Love (Steve Martin)
Here are the average ratings for Season 14:
*may not represent review’s perception*
1401: 8.5 (Tom Hanks)
1402: 6.8 (Matthew Broderick)
1403: 7.8 (John Larroquette)
1404: 7.6 (Matthew Modine)
1405: 6.8 (Demi Moore)
1406: 7.2 (John Lithgow)
1407: 7.0 (Danny DeVito)
1408: 7.3 (Kevin Kline)
1409: 6.8 (Melanie Griffith)
1410: 7.6 (John Malkovich)
1411: 6.6 (Tony Danza)
1412: 7.2 (Ted Danson)
1413: 7.1 (Leslie Nielsen)
1414: 7.4 (Glenn Close)
1415: 7.5 (Mary Tyler Moore)
1416: 7.1 (Mel Gibson)
1417: 6.9 (Dolly Parton)
1418: 6.5 (Geena Davis)
1419: 7.2 (Wayne Gretzky)
1420: 7.7 (Steve Martin)
Best Episode: 1401 (Tom Hanks)- 8.5
Worst Episode: 1418 (Geena Davis)- 6.5
Season Average: 7.2
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:
1401: 8.5 (Tom Hanks)
1403: 7.8 (John Larroquette)
1420: 7.7 (Steve Martin)
1404: 7.6 (Matthew Modine)
1410: 7.6 (John Malkovich)
1415: 7.5 (Mary Tyler Moore)
1414: 7.4 (Glenn Close)
1408: 7.3 (Kevin Kline)
1406: 7.2 (John Lithgow)
1412: 7.2 (Ted Danson)
1419: 7.2 (Wayne Gretzky)
1413: 7.1 (Leslie Nielsen)
1416: 7.1 (Mel Gibson)
1407: 7.0 (Danny DeVito)
1417: 6.9 (Dolly Parton)
1402: 6.8 (Matthew Broderick)
1405: 6.8 (Demi Moore)
1409: 6.8 (Melanie Griffith)
1411: 6.6 (Tony Danza)
1418: 6.5 (Geena Davis)
For fun, here are this season’s episodes ranked from best to worst based on the “Immediate Post-Show Thoughts” that I wrote in my reviews:
Tom Hanks
John Larroquette
Glenn Close
John Malkovich
Steve Martin
Kevin Kline
Mary Tyler Moore
Matthew Modine
Ted Danson
Leslie Nielsen
Danny DeVito
Wayne Gretzky
Mel Gibson
John Lithgow
Dolly Parton
Tony Danza
Demi Moore
Melanie Griffith
Geena Davis
Matthew Broderick
I think Steve Martin would have been funnier if he had said in the Get to Know Me sketch, “…and I’m now starring in Parenthood directed by Opie Cunningham!” That’s a throwback to when Eddie Murphy’s Raheem Abdul Mohammed called guest host Ron Howard that in his Focus on Film sketch. Great tribute to Gilda Radner, by the way, on the day of her passing.
The version of Steve’s “Two Sides” routine was indeed replaced with the dress rehearsal version in reruns. It’s on NBC’s website if you’re curious to see it again.
Since the older SNL sketches on nbc.com are harder to find now, here is the link: https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/steve-martins-good-and-bad-sides/2859811
Peacock’s version of this episode also includes the dress rehearsal version. Unfortunately, Peacock will apparently be removing this episode in about 21 hours, along with some other Season 14s (Demi Moore, John Malkovich, Leslie Nielsen, Wayne Gretzky) and all of the Season 45s.
If you want to watch older Snl episodes just go to archive.org
Thanks, Michael. I appreciate you and the others who have been willing to share that information here. I wouldn’t have known otherwise. That site is a goldmine for all kinds of other stuff, too.
Unfortunately, as I just realized today, “Two Sides” is missing from the Archive copy. (At least, it’s missing from the Archive copy I know about. I’ve seen some episodes in there more than once, but if this has a second copy there, I can’t find it right now.)
“Unfortunately, Peacock will apparently be removing this episode in about 21 hours, along with some other Season 14s . . . and all of the Season 45s.”
As I also noted in the S14 E5 (Demi Moore) thread, apparently Peacock changed their mind. All of those episodes are still there, and the messages on the site warning that they would be disappearing soon are all gone.
I’m just gonna say it….
“Stand By Your Man” is such a Jean Doumanian sketch. And I know, if it was, like, Ann Risley doing this same bit, people would’ve given it FAR less praise.
Steve, if they’d done that “Stand by yer man” sketch in Season 6, she would’ve sung the Moonlight Sonata tune and then just repeated that for a couple minutes and the sketch ends.
Steve’s bit about his good and bad sides was supposed to be in the monologue, but then… what we got was very classy and one of the few times I’ve seen Steve Martin dramatic at all.
Running Down a Dream
— Always have loved the opening guitar riff of this tune. Perfectly executed here.
— Yeah, I love the increased guitar distortion in this live version compared to the studio during the chorus. Could just be the sound guy emphasizing it.
— Nice job on the echo’ed “eyes” and “sunshine” by the sound guy.
— Tom Petty is in top form vocally so far
— I like the dapper outfits on Petty and the Heartbreakers. They look very sharp
— Great rendition of the guitar solo during the outro.
— Wow the band is really cranking on all cylinders and kicking some ass during this extended instrumental break.
— Hell yeah, awesome performance Tom!
STARS: ****1/2
Free Fallin’
— Grumble grumble, wish there was an acoustic instead of electric guitar playing lead here.
— The offstage organ and piano are nice touches, presumably to punch up the live rendition of this tune.
— The lead electric sounds a bit out of tune, or maybe it’s just me.
— Nice echo effect during the chorus.
— I like the drummer’s choice the click the side of the drums during the last verse, makes it a bit more intimate
— Petty’s vocals remain strong on this one.
— Not many background vocals on this one compared to the studio version.
— Good cold ending.
— Overall, this just didn’t match the quality of the studio version, IMO. Good effort by the band but it’s missing some of the flourishes that I really like in the studio version.
STARS: **1/2
As for why they did New Coneheads at this point, it’s likely a reaction to the flop New Monkees that was getting ripped by everyone. Letterman made mockery of that a running gag for months around this time.
My favorite moment of pure musical joy from this episode which played out on a very sad day in SNL history was Tom Wolk commandeering the Hammond B3 organ to play the Earl King New Orleans blues standard “Big Chief”. They gave this maybe a minute or so of air time with multiple camera shots. Leon playing bass there.
However, I am still dying to know why women call Lovitz “THE ANCHOR”.