Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
PRESS CONFERENCE
uneasy Newt Gingrich (CHF) meets the press with lesbian half-sister (MAM)
— Considering what season we’re in, I can already tell the lesbian premise probably won’t be handled well.
— This sketch feels really dead so far. Gingrich’s downplaying of his relation to his lesbian half-sister isn’t providing many laughs at all.
— That’s it? The cold opening’s over already? Well, this was a whole lot of nothing.
STARS: *½
MONOLOGUE
audience members ask non-expert host questions about their relationships
— I recall once hearing that during the week of this episode, Paul Reiser was interviewed on Letterman, and when asked about hosting SNL that weekend, Paul responded “Yeah, well, I always wanted to know what it’s like to be on a sinking ship”, acknowledging the notorious year SNL’s been having.
— Oof, this lame cab-hailing routine of Paul’s is getting this monologue off to a really rough start, and reminds me of how much I’ve always hated Paul’s stand-up comedy.
— Ugh, the St. Patrick’s Day/drunk kids bit he’s doing now isn’t any better.
— After a year-long absence, we suddenly get a comeback of season 19’s extremely overused questions-from-the-audience monologue trope. I don’t know whether to groan at the return of this or count my blessings that Paul’s awful stand-up comedy has gotten cut short for this.
— Unfortunately, the questions-from-the-audience bit isn’t helping the humor here at all.
— At the very end when the SNL Band is playing the show to commercial after Paul concludes the monologue, Molly accidentally enters the shot when getting ready to head backstage, before realizing her mistake and nervously ducking back out of the shot. I’ll chalk that gaffe up to a case of new cast member greenness.
STARS: *
THE DAILY PLANET
with Superman out of action, lesser superheroes address incoming meteor
— I’m a minute into this sketch so far, and I haven’t got a single laugh.
— Yeah, I’m now a little further into this sketch, and I don’t have any idea what to say about this dull, laughless tripe, nor do I have any idea what the comedic through line is even supposed to be.
— Not even a rare season 20 Norm sketch appearance is doing anything for this.
— Laura’s long-winded rant about Farley’s Tic-Tac-sized brain feels like something that would normally have been given to the recently-quit Janeane Garofalo. Laura’s delivery of the rant was okay at first and I really wanted to laugh at it, but she seemed to lose her confidence towards the end and concluded it kinda awkwardly.
— Oh, god, not another fucking newspaper headline ending. I got my fill of those in the Deion Sanders episode, thank you very much.
STARS: *
ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR
(host) & (KEN) pretend to like women’s basketball
— I’ve been hearing the term “rebuilding year” being used a lot these last few episodes. Trying to tell us something, SNL?
— Much like my complaint about the similar Dick Vitale “women’s basketball isn’t a real sport!” bit in the Espy Awards sketch from the Deion Sanders episode, this sketch is not only painfully unfunny, but insulting and sexist too. A very unlikable tone to this sketch, and it really shows the toxic attitudes of the behind-the-scenes Boys Club at SNL this season.
— Poor Kevin Nealon, having to be dragged into this trash. I said it before, and I’ll say it again: why, oh, why couldn’t you have left with Phil last season, Kevin?
STARS: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “No More I Love Yous”
WEEKEND UPDATE
Jeff Foxworthy (DAS) gives tips on how to tell if you’re a tornado
Frank Dippy (ADS) & Hank Doodle (CHF) fail to give their viewpoints
— Oh, Norm, you are my only hope in this episode.
— David-as-Jeff-Foxworthy’s “You might be a tornado” routine kinda made me chuckle during the first few jokes, but it’s fizzled out FAST. At least David’s not half-assing this one QUITE as much as I recall him half-assing the second Jeff Foxworthy commentary he does later this season.
— Every time I’ve seen this episode, I always hate the Point/Counterpoint commentary from Farley and Sandler, which, to me, epitomizes the free rein those two performers are given way too much of at this late stage of their tenures.
— Norm’s joke about Michael Jordan’s baseball nickname being Senor Crappy has always been one of my favorite Norm Update jokes of all time.
STARS: ***½
SPARKLEBRITE
Sparklebrite toothpaste commercial prominently features interracial kiss
— What is with this season and miserable sketches dealing with ad execs pitching a commercial in a boardroom meeting? Nutriffic and now this tripe.
— I called the Road To The Final Four sketch earlier tonight insulting and sexist, but when it comes to being offensive, THIS sketch about the “uncomfortable” nature of an interracial kiss takes the cake.
— Another sketch tonight that hurts like hell to see Kevin heavily involved in. Put this, Road To The Final Four, Uncle Joe, and Gay Stripper Theater on the list of most embarrassing sketches that Kevin Nealon ever had a prominent role in. There may be a sketch or two I’m forgetting from this season.
— I’ve heard some people describe the “You’ll never go back… to other toothpastes” tagline as clever, but I’ve always found that joke groanworthy.
— Jay mentions in his SNL book that he was so zoned-out during this sketch that, at one point, he was worried that he may have forgotten to deliver a line earlier in the sketch, only for the sketch to end and him to realize that he didn’t even have any lines in this. Neither does Laura, for that matter. Why even have them there, then?
— Aaaaaand there goes the stock footage ending with Reiser and Elliott being murdered via exploding car, simply because they had the “gall” to pitch a commercial with an interracial kiss. A fitting insulting capper to this unbelievably insulting and unfunny sketch. A new low for SNL.
STARS: *
DAILY AFFIRMATION WITH STUART SMALLEY
Stuart tries to help his drunk cameraman (CHF)
— Probably the longest gap between Stuart Smalley installments since the character debuted. The last time this character appeared was way back in the second episode of this season.
— The premise of this installment kinda has shades of Margot Kidder’s season 4 monologue, right down to repeating the gag of the camera slumping down to the feet of someone who’s speaking to the camera. I wonder if Al Franken was the writer behind that Kidder monologue.
— Ho-hum, Farley playing yet another loud, hammy, boorish role. What else is new for season 20?
— One of the more forgotten Stuart Smalley installments, and for good reason. This is a lesser Stuart Smalley installment, and in my opinion, easily the weakest one. It’s a damn sad day when not even the usually-reliable Stuart Smalley sketches can be depended upon in tonight’s disastrous episode.
STARS: **
DEEP THOUGHTS BY JACK HANDEY
ALIENS 4: MAD ABOUT YOU ALIENS
(host) enjoys life with his xenomorph wife
— The premise itself probably isn’t all that bad, but the execution of it is PURE DEATH. Awful. The writers didn’t even try with this.
— Even something about the “Mad About You Aliens” title seems lame and half-assed.
— The bit with Jay fell completely flat.
STARS: *
DATING IN THE NINETIES
host mistakenly labeled as sexually inexperienced
— Molly has only been in the cast for two episodes so far, and it feels like she’s already had a more visible presence than both Laura and the recently-quit Janeane Garofalo have had most of the season so far. Molly has also been displaying a nice enthusiasm and likability in her performances that’s a breath of fresh air in this season’s mess of a cast.
— (*sigh*) Lord help me. Yet ANOTHER sketch tonight that is absolutely dead. My god, tonight’s episode is the sketch comedy equivalent of a fucking funeral dirge.
— God bless Norm (making his second rare season 20 sketch appearance of the night), who’s given me my ONLY laugh of this sketch so far.
STARS: *½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Train In Vain”
ONE BROTHER
at the One Brother Restaurant, (host) explains oddly-named menu items
— Oh, FUCK OFF, tonight’s episode. Just fuck off. At this point, you’re TRYING to insult my intelligence.
— On an SNL messageboard, I recall seeing someone once describe this sketch as being like an unfunny version of the Abbott & Costello “Who’s On First” routine.
— Just to further prove my earlier point about what a messy mishmash of a cast this season has, we have Michael McKean, Chris Farley, Mark McKinney, and Kevin Nealon all seated together in this sketch. It’s so hard to believe all four of those performers were ever in the cast together.
— Why in the world did they have to shoehorn in Farley’s “Aww, I’m an idiot!” routine? It felt very out of place in this sketch, and just further shows how one-note Farley has gotten this season.
STARS: *
O’CALLAHAN & SON
O’Callahan (MMK) & Son (JAM) Pub owners berate wimpy beverage choices
— Well, at least this is a sketch that has a backstory that’s interesting, though pathetic: in a move of utter desperation after not getting anything on the air in a good while, Jay pitched a sketch that he stole, word-for-word, from a comedy routine that he saw stand-up comedian Rick Shapiro do, involving Irish bartenders berating the drinking choice of customers. Sometime shortly after tonight’s episode originally aired, SNL would get busted by Shapiro on their plagiarism, but when asked about it by Lorne, Jay denied knowing anything about Shapiro’s stand-up routine. SNL would get sued by Shapiro, and as a result, this sketch would be removed from all reruns and be replaced with a cut-after-dress Bruce McCulloch short film titled Eraserhead.
— Man, if Jay was going to steal a stand-up comedy routine, couldn’t it have been a FUNNY one? This sketch is pure blah. Plagiarism is shameful either way, but Jay should be particularly ashamed that he had to resort to plagiarizing such weak material for a sketch. Then again, I’ve never seen Rick Shapiro perform this in his stand-up. Maybe this material is funnier as a stand-up routine than as a sketch.
— Wow, is this Tim’s FIRST appearance all night, just playing a small walk-on straight man role in the final sketch of the episode? Okay, he was in the Sparklebright thing earlier (*shudder*), but his appearance in that was pre-taped.
— Farley, on the other hand, has appeared in practically EVERY SINGLE sketch tonight. And surprise surprise, he’s playing a loud character in this sketch. Oh, how new.
STARS: *½
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Just three words: Lord. Have. Mercy.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (George Clooney)
a big step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Our annual John Goodman episode, this time with special guest star Dan Aykroyd
This reminds me: we need a new Voy board.
Man, is this a painful one. I have been trying to figure out Sparklebrite toothpaste since I first saw it live. When I was a kid I thought the joke was that the kiss was way too long. It wasn’t until later that I realized they were upset because it was an interracial kiss. I still don’t understand if the joke is suppose to be on the executives for feeling squeamish or Paul and Chris for pitching it. One of the worst sketches ever in one of the worst episodes ever. I feel like this one gets overlooked since Deion Sanders was so bad. This one may be a worse watch.
I thought it was because the kiss was too long and passionate as well.
I wholeheartedly agree that this episode is godawful and perhaps the worst SNL ever hosted by someone whose day job it was to be funny. But I don’t agree with the singling out of the Sparklebrite sketch. I mean, it’s a terrible sketch, but to me the joke is supposed to be that McKean and Nealon are racist buffoons and of course there is nothing offensive about Meadows and Shannon making out. So to me if Sparklebrite is racist than All in the Family is racist. But AITF was a brilliantly written show and this episode was written — or plagiarized — by troglodytes.
Five episodes left of this era … five episodes left …
I’m glad I’m not the only person to find Paul Reiser’s stand up dreadful. It seems like he wrote it standing behind the doors waiting to be announced. You can tell from his delivery that he knows it’s not landing.
This episode has one of my favorite “Deep Thoughts”
Molly doesn’t fit with this cast (in a good way). She’s almost too much of a breath of fresh air and our true first feel of Fall ’95. Can you imagine a MKG sketch during this season.?
Molly doesn’t play MKG this season per se, but her character in the game show sketch from Saget looks awfully familiar.
Also, this is the week the infamous New York Magazine article came out. Wonder if that had a big effect on morale that week.
http://nymag.com/arts/tv/features/47548/
Yes I think it’s fair to say this article likely had a huge impact on morale this week and perhaps even contributed to LM jettisoning most of the cast at the end of the season… Btw I first saw Frank Zippy and Hank Doodle for the first time only recently and it had me laughing hard… I can understand why Sandler especially is so polarizing but I appreciate the unique talents he brought to SNL the more time passes. And looking back it’s not that surprising that he went on to have such a successful film career.
The Daily Planet sketch doesn’t work at least partially due to non-criminal use of the Night Stalker name. Marvel had the Nightstalkers comic book, while I believe Kolchak: The Night Stalker was more prominent around this time in reruns due to its influence on The X-Files. I’d say this is a minor gripe – ESPECIALLY given the quality of this episode – but way to have real life undercut your running gag, SNL.
That’s a main problem I have with 1994-95: the sheer amount of effort placed on the wrong things. “Here’s a mash-up of two Reiser cultural items! Let’s build a Xenomorph costume, mimic the Mad About You opening credits…we need to better flesh out the premise? NAH.” Helen Hunt’s character Jamie discussed having a baby in Mad About You’s 1994 season finale, so I think that’s what the Mad About You Aliens sketch plays off of, not that it matters as a sizable part of the sketch is title sequence padding.
The design work in the Mad About Aliens sketch is astounding, especially for such a throwaway bit. The same goes for some of the costume work in the superhero sketch – Reiser’s outfit would likely be a cosplay hit if this episode aired today. Such gorgeous detail work behind the scenes…and absolutely no writing to be found!
Best. Review. Ever.
I feel like this episode doesn’t get enough play for potential worst episode ever–it’s especially bad when compared to like Nancy Kerrigan or Foreman or Deion or even like SJP who isn’t a comedienne, you have ostensibly a comic actor who has been on TV a lot as the host.
I also feel inexplicably annoyed at the fact that the show is called Mad About You Aliens. The obvious joke is Mad About Aliens, but it’s like they’re too half-assed at this point to even make that obvious joke. Like it doesn’t matter at all, but jeez.
It kinda implies that Paul is an alien, too, which certainly would have been an interesting direction to take.
But that sends us down a Robot Repair-esque rabbit hole.
A big step down from the George Clooney episode? Eh. It is what it is.
Somebody commented (not here, but maybe yesterday’s episode?) that Reiser brought in his own writers. Why? Was he unaware that SNL has writers? And if he thinks it’s a “sinking ship” (as mentioned on Letterman), then he should feel pretty stupid that his writers made even worse material than what was out there already.
I was able to watch a few of these pieces on the NBC site, and I assumed he used b-grade material in the monologue knowing that it was just to set up questions. But I’ve never seen his actual stand-up, so maybe I’m wrong. Maybe he’s really Seinfeld-lite-lite?
For Dippy & Doodle, the joke would have been funnier if they’d displayed the timer every time (instead of just the last two). Also, Farley has the SAME reaction at getting buzzed every time. Mix it up! I much prefer the similar, cur-after-dress piece that’s out there with Farley solo as a cigarette-smoking commentator. Sandler’s fast-talk-Waterboy voice just does not work. Why was Lorne letting him get away with all of this so often?
Deep Thoughts: in addition to the one you have posted above, there’s a second one from this episode (cut after dress?) about cowboys… neither one seems like Handey’s best work.
Mad About You Aliens should have been a 5-second bit, like Bob McAdoo’s All-Nite Dance Party. As it is, it reminds me so much of when Krusty the Klown hosted SNL (within The Simpsons) and the sketches were “Mad About Shoe” and “NYPD Shoe.”
I vaguely remember Dating in the Nineties from watching this episode live, and I remember thinking it felt like a lame, inverted attempt at Seinfeld’s “not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
One Brother: when this started, I was sure it was going to be a low-key “you like-ah-da-juice” type sketch. But there are so many missed punchlines. And why didn’t they have Paul’s character get more and more agitated? That would have at least escalated things. I took Farley’s “I’m an idiot” as him seeming like an overconfident oaf, which didn’t bother me. I would have probably given it more like 2-2.5 stars.
Jay Mohr: I don’t understand how he got hired. Aside from Walken, he has been a complete waste. And it’s not a case of a hidden comedy genius like Sarah Silverman or Gilbert Gottfried… since leaving, he’s done an unfunny radio show, been the unfunny host of Last Comic Standing, written a book that’s apparently full of self-serving half truths, and generally tried to ride out his SNL tenure as a big “woe is me” moment. But he’s been as useless on the show as Ann Risley or Anthony Michael Hall. I don’t understand. This season could have been a million times better if he, Kevin, Janeane, Myers and Laura had stayed away.
The NBC site also has something called “dog impersonators,” which must have been cut after dress. Haven’t watched it yet. Don’t want to, but here it is:
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/dog-impersonators/n10685
Finally, Stooge: you at least gave ratings to everything here. You gave up during Deion Sanders, though, so I have to think that was the inferior episode. I mean, this was just unfunny. Reiser didn’t do anything that made him look like a complete moron (as Sanders did with the musical performance).
I can see why Mohr was cast, given that the show was leaning more toward a younger audience at this time. Mohr was easy on the eye, had a frat boy vibe, and could do some impressions, and they probably thought he fit with the way the male cast was shaping up in 93-94. The main problem is he fit in a little too well – there was nothing he did that Sandler couldn’t already do, and do better. I think if Mohr had stayed into 95-96, he might have had more of a moment to shine, as Jim Breuer essentially just took his place (although I generally like Breuer’s work on the show a bit more). But that would have been impossible after this episode anyway.
Mohr’s biggest critical success was probably his short-lived sitcom “Action,” although I enjoyed him on “Ghost Whisperer” (that’s actually the main thing I know him from post-SNL).
It’s interesting you compare Reiser to Seinfeld, because his whole routine in that superhero sketch (to a dead, dead audience…) reminded me of something Jerry would have done – melting down over picking the wrong superhero name while the world is ending. The difference is that Jerry, in these years anyway, was very good at playing up the absurdity of these types of moments, whereas Reiser is much more everyday in his comedy. That’s why he was pretty good on something like “My Two Dads,” which Seinfeld never would have managed. He, or the writers, played against his strengths too often in this episode.
I mean, I know Mohr didn’t hit on SNL since he was basically hired into a redundant role, but the guy’s a mobster impressionist and can riff with the best of them. I saw a standup special of his a few years ago and it was rock solid. He basically was just replaced by Breuer, who was a less impressive impressionist but had a better sense how to format his sketches for mass appeal.
Just to clarify two things in my post: the cowboys Deep Thoughts is on the NBC site.
Also, I have no issue with Janeane, Kevin, Myers and even Laura — they’ve all done good work elsewhere. Just not much during season 20 of SNL. And that’s due to a number of factors.
Does anyone know if “Dog Imperaonaters” was cut after dress? Because that clip is from the Goodman show
David’s makeup as Jeff Foxworthy reminds me of “Lyle, The Effeminate Heterosexual” for some reason.
Here’s Reiser’s Letterman appearance. The SNL stuff starts at 7:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9AbjHAniik
I thought Dating In The 90s as funny, mainly due to Chris Elliott’s performance.
I think I saw somewhere that Al Franken wrote Sparklebrite. He and Davis wrote X Police and Mercy Killers so it fits if true.
Your best of moments for this episode had me laughing.
Not to mention the post show reaction, that had me LMFAOing.
Episodes like this are why I think S20 is definitely the worst out of the four bad SNL seasons. SJP, Foreman, Sanders, this one, and the Bob Saget show are all just mindblowing in how aggressively awful they are. S6 and S11 at least have the excuse of having entirely new cast and writers, the latter of which were mostly green—this season has no excuse to be as unfunny and messy as it is. There’s a few good sketches in this season, but the lows are just insanely low and in much higher frequency. Literally the only things in this episode that work are (I guess?) some of Norm’s jokes and Deep Thoughts.
A lot of people loathe how the era that starts in S21 is super repetitive, shouty, and prioritizes recurring characters and simple sketches over creative writing—but it makes total sense that they’d transition that way, unintentional or not. Like the superhero sketch at the beginning of this episode, this whole season is awash with meandering, pointless, and dense sketches that leave the audience more confused than happy. There’s too much writing and not enough dynamic performance; though, the next few seasons have the reverse of that problem at times.
Disagree… 11’s far worse. This year has it’s stinkers but they are at least fun to watch. 3 of 11’s worse shows have bored me to sleep before.
I’d rather take a fun bad show like Foreman/Sanders over 11 any day. 6 is much funner than 11 was too.
If season 21 was intended to transition that way, I’d probably be less critical of that era (and even more what we’d get when people like Kattan were brought onboard), but the repetitive and desperate attention-seeking quality of many of the sketches and performances would carry on for many years (and in some ways has never stopped), so for me it pales in comparison to how 86-87 or, to a lesser degree, 81-82 managed to rebound on a poor year.
I would agree the lows are absolutely shocking in this season. The highs are very very high, so that’s why I’m never sure how to rank the season. This season was a complete trainwreck that sort of ended up breaking the last elements of the more, for lack of a better word, “pure” SNL. For me this season is the last chance at seeing all the good along with all the bad.
I second this some of the sketches that are awful.
As much as I defend this year, this episode’s trash. Having a host who didn’t give a care and pulled a “woe is me,” card didn’t help but the skits are awful on top of it. I watched this one once 5 years ago and it was bad I haven’t cared to do so again.
Thankfully things end up on the up besides say the Sagat show.. where Farley has a ‘stache for some odd reason.. that’s the main thing I remember from that one.
I believe Farley had the mustache because he was set to start filming “Almost Heroes”‘ then titled “Edwards and Hunt” with Matthew Perry directed by Guest. I think that film had several delays and start and stops over the next few years and of course wouldn’t be released until three later, after Farley’s death
Generally in an episode there’s SOMETHING that works. Even SJP’s episode has a good cold open and a decent Update. And REM are certainly very solid. This episode is close to an absolute strikeout – it’s one of Norm’s less amusing Updates for the season (although not terrible), and the correspondents are the dreaded Farley/Spade/Sandler trifecta, with the best I can say being that Farley was more subdued than he could have been. Even Annie Lennox, treasure that she is, is not in good form. The closest to positive I can get is Dating in the ’90s, which is worth the lazy premise for the sake of Shannon, Elliott and Kightlinger getting a moment (and Kightlinger’s line deliveries in this sketch are much more assured than usual – it’s a shame the audience had zero reaction).
I had totally forgotten this made 4 NBC hosts, not 3, in this back half. I think I’d just tried my best to block out anything surrounding this episode.
Is Eraserhead any good? I’ve never had the chance to see it (I mean the short, not the film).
At least we have Goodman’s episode coming up, where Dan Aykroyd basically hosts and has some terrific showpieces that let him come in and clear the decks like 20 years had never passed.
Like the Stalking video, it’s a ‘music video’ of sorts for a piece from his Shame-Based Man album. It’s hard to find the video. I can’t imagine it wasn’t better than everything that aired. The audio is pretty awesome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufzq3ROuW5M
“I pause for a pizza. I won’t eat it. I just order to prove I’m still in control”
I don’t remember this episode at all, so I was just able to watch the skits available on NBC.com. And if those sketches indicate what the rest of the episode was like…yikes. This is incredibly dismal.
I haven’t done the math or anything 🙂 but, Stooge, I’m pretty sure this is the lowest ranked episode you have reviewed so far (pretty much everything here is 1 star or 1-and-a-half).
Sparklebrite…? I *guess* we’re supposed to assume Nealon and McKean are stupid racists and that’s the joke…but they don’t play like they are. They’re essentially playing the straight man role….so…it just doesn’t work. It’s like SNL figured the audience would sympathize that the idea of a commercial with a interracial kiss would indeed be inappropriate and a terrible idea. The sketch probably would have worked better if the joke was that the kiss in the commercial was too erotic, overtly sexual, etc. Anyway, I’d say one of the worst sketches the show has ever done. Definitely.
“One Brothers” restaurant had some potential, with the absurd menu items/play on the numbers, etc. but it was executed poorly and needed some additional types of jokes to maintain interest.
Stuart Smalley was also disappointing, and Sandler/Farley’s schtick on Update was bad. Spade’s Foxworthy was also dismal. The audience was not into it at all, and you can see the look in Spade’s face “ooh boy, I got a whole lot more of these stupid tornado jokes to go through…”
Man, what a terrible episode. I’d agree that it is one of the worst shows hosted by an actual “comedian” Paul Reiser probably would have fared a little better with a more disciplined, cohesive cast. Maybe not, either way, he did not do a good job here at all. Perhaps the infamous article got in everybody’s head, Paul’s comments on that Letterman interview probably didn’t help things either.
SNL will go to the NBC well a lot next year, too. I know we get 4 out of 6 of the Friends hosting in S21 or S22? — Jennifer Aniston doesn’t host til later and Is really good at it (no wonder she got offered a spot years earlier, which I learned from here).
here’s Aniston talking about the show like we discussed a few weeks back:
So what does happen next year? Did NBC do an “intervention”? It seems like SNL stopped becoming a writers’ show after this season, and still, to this day, has never really gone completely back. As awful as much of season 20 is, my recollection is that season 21 is when I really fell out of love with the show, and I had been a huge fan for many years. Was it the cast? The writing? A change in sensibility? Jim Downey points out this shift in the SNL book on a couple occasions, and as a young viewer, I perceived it, despite having no insight into what was going on behind the scenes.
Sorry, I guess I’m getting ahead of ourselves here. It’s just that I keep seeing references to Molly Shannon as the light at the end of the tunnel, and for me it’s just “here’s the real end of the tunnel”.
If no one else has already, I’d like to post the 20 lowest-scoring episodes from the first 20 years. Conveniently, this list is all of the shows that rated below the 5.0 belt. Thanks be to Stooge and Vax Novler for the reviews and calculations!
Here’s SNL’s race to the bottom, from least worst to absolute worst:
Tied for 20th place, at 4.9, are s.16’s Steven Seagal and s.20’s very own Steve Martin. Better luck next time, Steve;
We have a 5-way tie for 18th place at 4.8: s.4’s Frank Zappa, s.6’s Jamie Lee Curtis, s.7’s Robert Culp, s.11’s Jerry Hall and s.19’s Christian Slater;
Closing in at 4.7 are s.6’s Sally Kellerman and s.11’s Teri Garr to share 13th place;`
In 11th place is a Doumanian Double, at 4.6, as Malcolm McDowell and Charlene Tilton shoot themselves in the foot;
Skating into 9th place are Nancy Kerrigan and Bob Saget from seasons 19 and 20 respectively, with a whopping 4.5;
Flying high at 4.3 is Robert Hays from – yet again s.6 – by himself in 7th place;
(clank!)
Season 4 just dropped to s.6 standards, with Milton Berle sharing 6th place with Deborah “Cooter” Harry, at a score of 4.2;
And finally, s.20’s George Foreman punches a 4.1 for 4th place. Stick to the grills, George.
Wait, that’s only 17 – did we miss the other 3? Everyone take a bathroom break and have a beer.
Oh, here they are – stragglers, all from s.20:
In 3rd place, Deion Sanders fumbles a 3.6 in overtime; Sarah Jessica Parker trails with an empowering 3.4 for 2nd place; and Paul Reiser finally makes it over the top with a 2.9. I hope being on the sinking ship was worth it, because I don’t know what Paul has done since then.
I don’t know how anything from s.21 onward compares because I never found their style appealing. It’s a corner of the world that my sense of humor just wasn’t made for.
Again, thanks, this has been fun.
Well, Paul’s soon to be on a newly-revived “Mad About You”… maybe he’ll host again. XD
Mad About You’s revival debuted in November 2019 on Spectrum’s streaming service. I think the window to promote it passed unless Spectrum extends the revival past “limited series”, and even then, Helen Hunt’s the safer bet.
Annie Lennox has the honor of being the musical guest in both the best and worst reviewed episodes in Stooge’s project.
Heh, that’s both kinda funny and weirdly fascinating in a way…
Hosted by comics with similar styles.
The Deep Thoughts about the cowboy dragging someone behind his horse was at the tail end of the repeat version (after One Brother, before the goodnights).
Also, for some reason they made Sparklebrite the lead-off sketch after the monologue in the rerun.
I just saw the “One Brother” sketch online and it was dreadful! No laughs whatsoever. How can you have four great cast members not elevate the material?
I’ve seen Rich Shapiro’s original stand up routine of O’Callahan and Son. Yeah, it STILL wasn’t funny. Man, Jay, if you’re gonna steal something, at least steal something funny!
You can’t pretend that Women’s basketball is popular. There’s a reason why the men’s tournament is on CBS While you have to have cable to watch women’s basketball.
Plus the “joke” with sparklebrite is they’d rather murder than come out and say they were uncomfortable with the kiss.
Also, the superheto sketch was funny cause Reiser shared a name with a killer. Night Stalker does sound like a superhero name. Reiser sucks and he phones it in all night long.
Spade’s Foxworthy bit wasn’t too bad. I like the bit where he gets into specific cases of famous tornadoes. Say what you want about Farley and Sandler but they have kinetic energy that will be severely lacking with ferrel and company.
I mean, Women’s Basketball is popular in Knoxville, it helps having the most well-known figure be from your area. (Pat Summitt, who led the University of Tennessee’s Lady Vols to 8 NCAA Women’s Championships, including a Perfect Season in the 1997-98 season.) So, it HAS a following, it’s just that it’s still a Niche.
Yeah when I hear the name “Will Ferrell” the first thing that springs to mind is “lacks kinetic energy.”
A few weeks after this episode, Al dressed and performed in character as Stuart to promote Stuart Saves His Family:
There’s another video of him on the same junket doing it with another interviewer:
Franken was on the latest Fly on the Wall podcast and confirmed he wrote Sparklebrite with Downey.
I’m glad you mentioned that. I came here to bring it up as well.
Not only did Franken mention writing Sparklebright, he seemed to be quite proud of it. I wonder if he knows how hated it is by some SNL fans.
I couldn’t help but notice that you have O’Callahan & Sons a rating of *1/2. Was this before you started your “can’t reward plagiarism” rule?
Yep.
That said, it’s hard to imagine this episode’s rating being even lower.
This is it. The nadir. The ‘you can only go up from here’ of SNL episodes. Sanders comes close, but at least it has a ‘not terrible’ cold opening and a REALLY strong Update, plus there’s at least some traces of energy, albeit unwarranted. This is just one long, miserable, stone faced slog to the end credits.
The plagiarized sketch pretty much cements Jay Mohr being in my two or three least favorite cast members of all time.
One Brother is something I would theoretically enjoy as I like stupid humor involving people who can’t communicate, but its problem is…
a. A lot of the performers are wrong for the part, especially Farley. There are also too many performers. This at most should have two people ordering.
b. Nothing is really that funny about the idiotic menu items. I feel like overanalyzing “One Brother” might have funnier than anything we got.
c. There reaches the point where the items just sort of lie and are insanely named as opposed to being very literal. Like saying the cheeseburger has no cheese or the five-cheese thing is just the same cheese four times. Even insane logic has to be logical. This would be like if in Who’s on First, Bud just kept changing the name of the first baseman to make Lou upset.
The Sparklebrite sketch I think is probably a good 10-15 years late, it would make a lot more sense (to a general audience) if it took place in the 70s or early 80s. The joke is that OF COURSE ad executives are racist (or at best presume the worst from their customers) and the presenters are being naive for assuming otherwise. By the mid-90s general audiences wouldn’t be jaded enough to just assume a professional exec isn’t a racist monster (it could also be a case of being too “inside”, the writers may have encountered this kind of scenario themselves and didn’t realize others without that experience wouldn’t take it as a given).
I think the general idea of the skit had potential, but needs added context for it to land; like have it take place in the south or at a Republican party branch or something.
I actually didn’t think this episode was all that bad.
Mad About You Aliens sucked but the rest of the sketches were in the 2 to 3 star range in my opinion. No classics of course but nothing that struck me as completely horrible. I liked the Stuart Smalley sketch, it was fun to see him get angry at Farley. The women’s basketball sketch reminded me of the throw like a girl olympics in season 10, so absurdly sexist that it’s farcical….I think the Nealon and Reiser characters were supposed to be the butt of the joke, the tell is the unrealistically bad basketball stats they are citing. It probably was lost on some viewers though. I agree with Daf on Sparklebrite and will add that the ridiculously long kiss muddled the message of the sketch. The newspaper ending of the superhero sketch was indeed lazy but I liked McKean and Spade’s casual descriptions of Superman’s malaise. One Brother was an attempt at clever wordplay, didn’t entirely land and not that funny but not aggressively bad. I liked Molly in the monologue (her delivery of “jump me” was funny) and she commanded the dating sketch well and I liked how much that one trolled Reiser. Reiser was definitely kind of smug and came off like discount Seinfeld but he wasn’t terrible and was in a lot of sketches. Frank Dippy reminds me of Fallon’s impression of Sandler. I dunno the episode didn’t strike me as the dire turd that some are claiming it is.
Found a video copy of the Bruce McCulloch Eraserhead / Vacation short on archive.org:
https://archive.org/details/vacation_202107
For even more Bruce, the same uploader added his “50 Years in Show Business” special that aired on Much Music in 1995
https://archive.org/details/bruce-mc-culloch-special
I thought that the Frank Dippy and Hank Doodle point/counterpoint was great. Norm’s introduction is an important part of it: “we love to hear what ordinary Americans have to say about world events.” If you, like me, are partial to the idea that ordinary Americans are not of a high enough quality, morally and intellectually speaking, for their opinions on how the world should be run to matter, yet they loudly insist on doing it anyway, this is the perfect satire of that.