Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
SUPER BOWL XLVII
Super Bowl power outage leads to dawdling CBS coverage & a low-rent ad
— I love Kenan’s delivery of his question, “No? It’s been less than one minute?!?”
— Some pretty good laughs from the dire attempts at killing time.
— Very funny dark bit with Jay’s Shannon Sharpe hypothesizing that the players are thinking, “Who on the team should we eat first?”
— The extremely random, odd dancing commercial with Bill is hilarious, and steals this cold opening.
— Jay’s confession about Ray Lewis is great.
STARS: ***½
MONOLOGUE
host & Whoopi Goldberg [real] mix Valentine’s Day & Black History Month
— (*sigh*) Welp, here we go.
— I remember an article pointing out that Justin Bieber’s new hairstyle the week of this episode was similar-looking to the hairstyle Vanilla Ice had when he was a musical guest on SNL in the early 90s (side-by-side comparisons below).
Yeesh, now I’m imagining what it would’ve been like if Vanilla Ice hosted SNL in the early 90s. Oof. Not sure if that would’ve been better or even worse than Bieber hosting in 2013. Imagining utmost professionals like Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks being forced to do sketches with Vanilla Ice makes me cringe. I know early 90s SNL got a surprisingly decent episode out of an M.C. Hammer hosting stint, but to me, Hammer’s not as much of an embarrassment as Ice is. However, I could at least see a “So bad, it’s good” quality coming from a Vanilla Ice-hosted episode, which is more than I can say for a Bieber-hosted episode.
— Funny brief appearance from then-writer Mike O’Brien.
— The Black History Month/Valentine’s Day premise is admittedly not bad, but I’m not caring for Bieber’s delivery of it. Kenan, in a mere supporting role, is carrying this whole thing on his back. This monologue would be NOTHING without him.
— There’s our obligatory singing from Bieber in this monologue, though it’s thankfully brief instead of the main focus of this monologue.
— I said this in a previous review, but, boy, I never could stand Bieber’s attempts to always talk in a phony “urban” voice (which is another similarity he has to Vanilla Ice). It especially annoys the hell out of me during the portion of this monologue where he says, in regards to Valentine’s Day, “This year, we’re gonna do it right, celebrate it right.”
— Random Whoopi Goldberg.
— Spoke too soon about Bieber’s singing being thankfully brief earlier in this monologue, as he sings again just now, but it turns out to be thankfully brief again.
STARS: **
THE CALIFORNIANS
a runaway (host) & an art exhibit occupy Stuart’s home
— Oh, you’re killin’ me, SNL. As if Bieber hosting this episode wasn’t torture enough, this episode has to break out one of the most wretched recurring sketches in the show’s history? And place it as the lead-off sketch of the night??? Is SNL trying to do everything to drive me away from this episode???
— (*sigh*) Cue all of the usual unbearable beats of this recurring sketch that never fail to leave me stone-faced.
— I kinda chuckled at how the final camera-showing-a-mock-dramatic-close-up-of-each-character sequence ends with the camera showing a whole bunch of mock-dramatic close-ups of Bill from different camera angles (the last few above screencaps for this sketch), though I wanted to find it funnier than I did.
STARS: *½
BIEBER DOUBLES
host’s head of security (JAS) presents a dozen unconvincing body doubles
— Very funny reveal of the entire cast playing Bieber doubles.
— Bieber, regarding his doubles: “Some of them are black, they’re not fooling anybody.” Jason: “Yeah, well, neither are you, homie.”
— Taran’s imitation of Bieber’s singing voice is fun.
— Despite supposedly being a good sport to do this sketch, Bieber’s straight man performance is very off-putting to me. I’m not convinced at all that he’s a good sport. Yeah, sorry, Biebs, but, despite your efforts, you’re still giving off major douchey vibes here.
— I love Taran saying “I guess they dropped” after hearing Bieber’s deeper singing voice.
— Bieber: “Those moves are retar– (*cuts himself off and does a brief facepalm in frustration over his gaffe*)…ugh…those moves are stupid.” Geez, did he really almost say the word that it sounded like he was going to say? In the year 2013???
— Jason’s reaction to finding out Saddam Hussein was killed is priceless.
— Good gag with Kate’s Ellen DeGeneres being mistaken for one of the Bieber doubles. And I have to point out the irony of how Kate’s the only cast member (besides Jason) who doesn’t play a Bieber double in this sketch, given the fact that she would later famously go on to regularly play Bieber on the show.
STARS: ***½
BRAVO
nobodies on the margins of fame populate myriad Real Housewives spinoffs
— “Danessa”???
— There’s our obligatory hacky gay humor in the scene with Bobby.
— This may be an accurate spoof of Bravo reality shows in general, but I’m not finding myself laughing, especially not at the lame Real Houseplants of Beverly Hills bit.
— Yeah, this is getting worse and worse as it goes along. I especially hate the scene with Jason, Bill, and Bieber, and not even because of Bieber himself.
STARS: *
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & Dan Kanter [real] perform “As Long As You Love Me”
— Future cast member Kyle Mooney making an early appearance as Bieber’s guitarist??? (screencap above) I’m kidding, but that guitarist sure looks like Kyle at certain angles.
WEEKEND UPDATE
Richard III’s Two Best Friends From Growing Up (FRA) & (VAB) badmouth him via sotto voce
Corey (KET) is the fun, nonthreatening black guy in every commercial
— (*The Two Best Friends From Growing Up appear*) OH, KILL ME. It’s official, tonight’s episode is intentionally bringing out my least favorite recurring pieces of these early 2010s years. In regards to that, I just have to thank God Kristen Wiig is gone by this point.
— Seth, saying the same damn thing he says during every one of these wretched Two Best Friends commentaries: “I can’t hear you guys.” Oh, shut up, Seth.
— A Steven Seagal joke in a Justin Bieber-hosted episode? Ha, a very fitting coincidence, given Seagal and Bieber’s reputation as hosts.
— Kenan is great and very spot-on as the black guy from every Super Bowl commercial. I especially like the reveal that he’ll die if he doesn’t high-five every 12 seconds. Too bad Seth is just as amused by Kenan’s commentary as I am. I never cared for Seth’s habit of laughing openly and loudly during some guest commentaries.
— A lot of Seth’s jokes tonight aren’t doing a whole lot for me, though some of the ones that are working are actually very strong.
STARS: **½
50’S ROMANCE
high schooler (CES) & preteen (host) recount date a la “Summer Nights”
— I like Aidy’s delivery of the “Wow, he doesn’t know how…doors work???” line.
— Tim’s facial expressions throughout this sketch whenever the guys are hamming it up in unison are very funny.
— Some fairly funny reveals from Cecily on what questionable, childish things Bieber did during their date.
— Another well-delivered line from Aidy: “I feel like I have to say something…”, and then opting to restrain herself and instead just say “It’s gonna be what it’s gonna be.”
STARS: ***
THE MILEY CYRUS SHOW
Miley Cyrus’ (VAB) fan club president (host) is fawning
— The first appearance this recurring sketch has made in over a year, and this ends up being its final appearance. It’s also been revamped and updated in tonight’s installment, to match Miley Cyrus’ new, more adult style.
— Odd how this recurring sketch is buried so late in tonight’s episode. All of the previous installments of this sketch aired in the first half of their respective episodes, most of those installments being in the lead-off spot.
— I got a pretty good laugh from Jason-as-Billy-Ray-Cyrus’ facial reaction to Vanessa-as-Miley’s “adult” butthole joke (the fourth above screencap for this sketch).
— Pretty cringeworthy seeing Bieber try to play a dorky character.
— Bieber’s character, when talking about Justin Bieber himself: “He looks like a f– a lesbian!” Okay, much like Bieber’s aforementioned “r” word slip-up in the Bieber Doubles sketch, did he cut himself off from dropping an f-bomb here?
— Cue the lame attempt at meta humor with Bieber doing the obligatory “celebrity humorously defends themselves while playing a character” gag, which this recurring sketch did better when the real Miley Cyrus herself previously appeared in this sketch.
— After Bieber’s character’s meta comment about Justin Bieber himself being sorry for smoking weed, I did get a laugh from Vanessa’s Miley responding to that with a sarcastic-but-cheery “Yeah, right, me too!”
— Taran even has the ability to get a good laugh just from saying “I do” in a dignified British accent.
— Ugh at Bieber’s exaggerated, hammy pointing gestures towards Vanessa’s Miley (the last above screencap for this sketch) while she’s singing the closing theme song. Beyond annoying.
— Overall, despite a few highlights and a fairly interesting updated format, this was far from the best way for this recurring sketch to go out.
STARS: **
PROTECTIVE BROTHER
(host)’s girlfriend’s (NAP) brother Eddie (TAK) mocks his verbal slip-up
— Some decent laughs from Taran’s initial grilling of Bieber over his “glice” slip-up, before the “I’m messing with you!” reveal.
— Ha, are they seriously basing an entire sketch on the stupid “glice” slip-up? I find that fact both kinda amusing and very worrying.
— Taran’s doing his damnedest to make the best out of this thin-as-hell, very questionable material. His attempts are sorta working for me, but my feelings are mixed.
— Great angry outburst from Jason to Taran, and I love his furious delivery of the term “horse’s ass!”, which is quite reminiscent of how Will Ferrell said it at one point of the Sensitive Drill Sergeant sketch from back in the day.
— Ugh at the part with Taran complimenting Bieber’s physical features while forcefully positioning Bieber’s face towards the camera, as these compliments are clearly just designed to pander to screaming Bieber fans in the audience, who have refused to shut up all night, screaming at every little thing Bieber does in every single sketch.
— Speaking of Will Ferrell-esque line deliveries, I like how Taran yelling “I HAVE THE ARMS OF A BAT!” was very Ferrell-esque in both the line itself and Taran’s delivery of it.
STARS: **½
A SEXY VALENTINE’S DAY MESSAGE FROM JUSTIN BIEBER
manchild Taco (BOM) is present during host’s sexy Valentine’s Day message
— Funny reveal of Bobby as a much-needed comic relief character in what was initially a Bieber solo piece (yuck).
— Some okay random, oddball humor here, and it probably helps that this is pre-taped, but I’m still not finding this all that great.
STARS: **½
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
host & Dan Kanter [real] perform “Nothing Like Us”
VALENTINE’S DANCE
Principal Frye maintains order during abstinence-themed Valentine’s dance
— Another cringeworthy attempt from Bieber at playing a dork.
— The gag with Jay’s microphone not working when he’s trying to say his usual “Attention, teachers and stuuudents”, then him being handed a new microphone was seemingly a scripted gag, but it came off like a real blooper with the way it was executed.
— It turns out that Bieber actually isn’t all that bad in this sketch. However, I really could’ve done without him ending his first scene in this by doing that intentionally bad rapping.
— A cliched gag with one person in an abstinent couple being very on-edge from their abstinence, which SNL has already done several times prior to this. However, I do like Nasim’s execution of it here. Also, her performance, especially her delivery, is coming off quite Cheri Oteri-esque.
STARS: ***
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS
— Definitely a rough episode. While certainly not an outright disaster like one would expect a Justin Bieber-hosted episode to be, I gave a majority of this episode’s segments a rating below three stars, and nothing got a rating above three-and-a-half stars. Easily the weakest episode of this season so far, managing to bump the preceding Adam Levine-hosted episode from that spot. And it goes without saying what an unbearable and unfunny host Justin Bieber was. Aside from a few segments towards the end of the show, I couldn’t shake that unlikable vibe that I got from him right from his monologue. He was especially unlikable in what I otherwise found to be the best sketch of the night by default (Bieber Doubles). Knowing the backstage horror stories from the week of this episode that Bill Hader would later share about Bieber made it even more difficult for me to NOT get a douchey vibe from Bieber all night.
MY PERSONAL CHOICE OF “BEST OF” MOMENTS FOR THIS EPISODE, REPRESENTED WITH SCREENCAPS
RATED SEGMENTS RANKED FROM BEST TO WORST
Bieber Doubles
Super Bowl XLVII
Valentine’s Dance
50’s Romance
Weekend Update
A Sexy Valentine’s Day Message From Justin Bieber
Protective Brother
The Miley Cyrus Show
Monologue
The Californians
Bravo
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Adam Levine)
a slight step down
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW
Christoph Waltz
Is this the only appearance Whoopi Goldberg has ever made on SNL? What a shame.
This is a bad episode, but it’s a sign of the season’s overall quality that it can take a bad host and a lot of bad material and still turn in some okay stuff. Imagine Bieber hosting in some earlier seasons.
The “glice” sketch, in which Taran desperately tries to pump some life into a threadbare premise, kind of cemented for me that Taran was rapidly turning into the new show “star.” I know there’s a chunk of people who are not fond of Taran (I remember hearing the comment he was “very Nickelodeon”), but I always thought he was great and I thought he ended up off the show a touch too early (although I guess he didn’t overstay his welcome unlike some folks).
Whoopi made a cameo in Robin Williams’ 1986 episode, when he was introducing Paul Simon. Also, I remember once seeing a TV Guide listing from 1984 (wanna say it was the McKean episode) that said she would guest (and presumably do a bit from her one-woman show).
Taran does have that Nick vibe for me, especially his very “up” style of performance, which isn’t a bad thing, per se, because it means he was trying hard, but which hurts him due to a lack of balance in the writing (he really doesn’t get anywhere near enough material that would tap into a quieter side). He’s also hurt by his timing in becoming a cast member – he has to play second fiddle to 4-5 very prominent male cast members for 3 seasons, then as soon as he should have moved into a central role, they cast 5 other white men, at least one of whom (Beck Bennett) ended up being in the same wheelhouse as Taran regarding impressions, physical comedy, lively performances, etc. (this isn’t to say he was better – if you like Beck more than Taran or Taran more than Beck, more power to you either way – just that they were probably too similar). Taran went from being a rising star to just one of a group, a group that would become even more fragmented when you had Pete Davidson and Leslie Jones come in and become so prominent so fast. This is also when SNL starts getting into the period where some people need to praise the women of the cast by talking about how awful all the men are (except maybe Kenan – he tends to be spared in those hot takes), since absolutism is so common in everything now. It’s just all a mess and it’s difficult for any cast members outside of a select few to be able to have a properly-defined narrative that suits their talents. It’s also why, when people talk about who was “the glue” of this period, all I end up thinking is what good does the glue do if the pages are already pulled apart?
I’ve noticed that “trashing the men in order to praise the women” trend among critics (like the AVClub dingus). I don’t want to come off like some MRA dork, but it’s been an interesting trend in the show’s recent (last 20 years?) timeline that doesn’t quite jibe with reality. The Fey-Poehler hegemony, in particular, is egregious as they oversaw the most toxic modern era of Update and just a generally blah era of the show (particularly 02-05). The current group of women is vast enough to not be seen as such a unit. There is the Kate-Aidy-Cecily core of established stars who are overdue to leave, you’ve got a history of multi-season rookies (including my beloved Melissa) along with ACTUAL rookies and then a new core that are fun, but maybe not anything new under the sun (Chloe, Heidi and maybe Ego, though I like her comic voice a bit more). It’s a fine crop, but it’s basically as scattered and unreliable as the men. I think the big female revolution seasons are 95-96 (new power trio), 01-02 (expanded group firing on all cylinders) and 12-13 (the arrival of the post-Wiig core group). Beyond that, it’s just the show treading water.
I would have preferred Whoopi as host in this show instead of Bieber.
Imagine if she and Ted Danson had hosted together back during S19?
Wow good point… she and Danson around s18-19 would have been a major event. And I’m surprised that Whoopi never hosted. Or at least, she could have come in as a recurring performer like Andy Kaufman, Joel Hodgson, Kinison. She’s remained funny since the early 80s, so there is still time, I suppose, for her to host
@Carson, I agree…the Maya/Rachel/Tina/Amy era won a poll on Reddit for best group of women, or something like that, and I was mostly shaking my head, because even though I give Tina a lot of credit in fighting for more women on SNL and I think that group is all extremely talented, I struggle to remember being that fond of most of what they had to do in those years (02-05 in particular) – honestly, I think that we got a better example of the chemistry between Rachel and Tina in Rachel’s “Queer Eye” makeover, and in general between all four ladies post-SNL.
It’s never a good idea for any cast member to be deified by fans, especially mixed in with saying what you think sounds good (which is what a lot of the “women great, men bad” stuff of this past decade feels like). As you said, Aidy/Kate/Cecily have mostly benefited from their work on the show – Ego’s found a niche, and Chloe is close, but both Melissa and Heidi have suffered from ill-defined tenures, which is partly down to the above three staying in lead roles for 8-9 years.
The male cast isn’t as strong as it could be, and I think lack of diversity is a valid criticism, but there are some talented performers who help offer a break from the same few vanity pieces. It’s just a shame some of them, like Alex Moffat, never get much of a chance to show their worth.
Agreed on Alex. Besides Eric (which he kills) and Guy Who Just Bought a Boat (which he’s good at even if I don’t love the writing) I can’t really think of any big showcases he’s gotten in his 5 years there.
Heidi I think was given a fair shot in her first couple seasons but proved to be kind of a limited performer. All of her characters either have that dumb raspy voice (like the famous person’s cousin, a character I can’t STAND) or a ditzy voice. It’s gotten to the point where I groan every time she’s the guest on Update (especially when its Angel, another character I’m beyond tired of, even though she’s only even appeared 3 times. The premise was too thin for even one appearance though, to be fair.)
I think Heidi and Alex both may have peaked too early with Update characters, although Heidi has had several showcase sketches which Alex rarely if ever has. I think Heidi is better at dramatic sketchwork, which is not something SNL has done much of since about 1993. Alex also had Terry Fink, which some fans really enjoyed (the controversy over whether that was too much like a Tim Heidecker creation may be why we haven’t seen it since – it was cut from an episode last year).
I Don’t Know Who Terry Fink OR Tim Heiderker Is ! ! I Think Heidi Is Too Much OF a Whiner Like The Boxer’s Girl Friend OR She Is Too Smug Like With Daniel Craig and The Charades ! !
honestly not the worst episode ever, though i don’t need to see bieber ever host again.
i vividly remember “glice” getting trashed online the day after this episode ever but i can’t help but like that sketch’s abrasive stupidity (and taran and jason have a very fun chemistry).
otherwise, i like the cold open and the 12:50 sketch, update and the summer nights parody are decent, and i like the two pretapes a bit more than stooge (the tortured puns and the parody of the forced interactivity — #MDMV — of the fake bravo shows are worth a chuckle).
but really, if i remember this episode for anything, it’s for the beautiful disaster that was the cut-after-dress “song for daddy” sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAWJDLoOmow
“Those moves are retar– (*cuts himself off and does a brief facepalm in frustration over his gaffe*)…ugh…those moves are stupid.” Geez, did he really almost say the word that it sounded like he was going to say? In the year 2013???”
Most likely “retarded” was in dress rehearsal, and an advertiser objected and. made them change it
Vanilla Ice was hilarious in Thats My Boy with Sandler and Samberg. Yes fine, ill be the one person to admit I thought that movie was funny!
youtube.com/watch?v=OPdmg58S9ZM
youtube.com/watch?v=o43gxK_JH78
It’s still surprising to me at times that Bieber never ended up on one of those “was he banned?” lists and has instead been invited back as a musical guest (twice in 2020). I guess he has very powerful management, and/or Lorne decided he had changed and they could now invest in some kind of comeback narrative. It’s notable that Bieber has never appeared in any sketches in these two appearances (the last one had a Kyle Mooney pre-tape about wanting to dance for him, but he “appears” briefly via some brief rehearsal footage), unlike the heavy use he had from 2009-2013, so I guess he just keeps to himself and doesn’t bother cast or crew much now.
Vanilla Ice would have been a bigger trainwreck. As awful as Bieber was, even HE has more stage presence than Ice.
“Kenan, in a mere supporting role, is carrying this whole thing on his back.” Kenan may have singled handedly saved more sketches than anyone else in the history of the show. We’re not quite at the stage in his tenure when he officially becomes “the glue” but it’s some point in the next two seasons.
This is the Two Dictators final appearance during Fred’s tenure, but he comes back to do it twice more while Vanessa’s still on.
Interesting that each Californians so far has got a 1.5. Each is awful, but there’s something in each that each that keeps them from being completely laugh free I guess.
Glice or 50’s Romance would have been better 10 to ones. At least we’re not at modern SNL yet where the 10 to one spot increasingly seems to mean nothing.
I’m not sure Ice would have been a good host. I would have loved to have seen Will Smith host and perform at the beginning of S17, when “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” started its second season and “Summertime” had been on the charts. That would have been a good show.
A lot of this episode’s negative reputation comes down to Bill Hader’s tales of woe regarding Bieber (though the sketches themselves aren’t fantastic either) but that always makes me wonder which hosts were a pain in the ass to deal with, but no one ever talks about. Like just people who came in with an ego but the episode was good enough and their behavior wasn’t quite bad enough for it to be worth publicly talking about.
Ruby, Milton Berle Took Over And Wanted Them To Do IT His Way ! I Think That Was Never Shown Again In Repeats ! Louise Lasser Who Played Mary Hartman Would Hide Out In Her Dressing Room ! Steven Seagal Was Considered The Worst Host ! ! !
They tried to make “Glice” recurring the following season with Bruce Willis, but it just didn’t work.
As for this episode, I didn’t like it. Bieber gave a really bad vibe that I could not shake off. He is supposed to be a born again thanks to a pastor from one of the Hillsong churches (by the way, said pastor is now gone).
I do believe he is managed by Scooter Braun, who has been in a feud with Taylor Swift for quite a while now. Bieber defended him though.
I honestly enjoyed this episode (everything without Bieber of course).
Glice is a personal highlight of the season with a stand-out performance from Taran, 50’s Romance is helped by focusing more on Cecily’s group, like Stooge said, Kenan carries any goodwill in the monologue, the same goes for Bobby in Valentines Day Message, Update had good commentaries (I seem to like the Best Friends From Growing Up more than most people here), the Super Bowl opening gives the show energy, and if you take out the Bieber parts of The Californians, it MIGHT be the best installment of the sketch (but that’s not saying much).
In short, even though Bieber is insufferable, the episode really showcased how strong the cast was in this season.
is it me or does it seem like Nasim is hardly in the show anymore by this point? Kept thinking this was her final year until I remembered she still has another season.
@T. I have heard fans say, more than once, that Nasim appears less every season she is in the cast. I’m not sure that is technically true, but it does feel like something really shifted after her second or third year. She was another victim of bad timing, I suppose. I have seen some reviews of the period which suggested she would benefit from Jenny Slate being gone because they were too much alike, but considering she had some of her best material in that season with Jenny, apparently not.
The thing I remember most from this episode was people making fun of Bieber’s instagram message where he posted a picture of him posing next to Lorne Michaels in the SNL offices with the caption “Watch me on snl tonight! I love you LAUREN, u the man!”
It feels weird seeing what was at one point my local NBC affiliate in one of your reviews.
Based on my estimate, this episode will rank, mathematically, in the bottom 10 of all time… lower than all of season 7, and most of season 6. Yikes
Nah, there are only two one star pieces. That seems impossible.
Carson is correct. Although low ranked, this show doesn’t crack the top ten worst. I do my best to keep track of some statistics and here’s every show that ranks under a 5.0 average that Vax tabulated over the course of Stooge’s project (as of the end of season 38 – I post the updated numbers in the season finales).
4.9 – Steven Seagal (16.18)
4.9 – Steve Martin (20.01)
4.9 – Colin Farrell (30.07)
4.9 – Cameron Diaz (30.16)
4.9 – Eva Longoria (31.06)
4.9 – Taylor Lautner (35.09)
4.9 – Justin Bieber (38.13)
4.8 – Frank Zappa (4.03)
4.8 – Jamie Lee Curtis (6.04)
4.8 – Robert Culp (7.18)
4.8 – Jerry Hall (11.10)
4.8 – Christian Slater (19.05)
4.8 – Jennifer Aniston (29.09)
4.8 – Lance Armstrong (31.04)
4.8 – Gabourey Sidibe (35.20)
4.8 – Scarlett Johansson (36.06)
4.7 – Sally Kellerman (6.09)
4.7 – Teri Garr (11.06)
4.7 – Johnny Knoxville (30.18)
4.7 – Lindsay Lohan (30.20)
4.7 – Scarlett Johansson (32.18)
4.6 – Malcolm McDowell (6.02)
4.6 – Charlene Tilton (6.11)
4.6 – Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey (29.10)
4.6 – Ashton Kutcher (30.15)
4.5 – Nancy Kerrigan (19.15)
4.5 – Bob Saget (20.19)
4.5 – Halle Berry (29.03)
4.4 – Tom Green (26.06)
4.3 – Robert Hays (6.08)
4.3 – Kate Winslet (30.04)
4.2 – Milton Berle (4.17)
4.2 – Deborah Harry (6.10)
4.2 – Matthew McConaughey (28.11)
4.1 – George Foreman (20.09)
4.1 – John C. Reilly (32.03)
3.7 – Donald Trump (29.16)
3.6 – Deion Sanders (20.13)
3.6 – Hilary Swank (30.13)
3.4 – Sarah Jessica Parker (20.05)
2.9 – Paul Reiser (20.15)
I was speaking metrically, of course
Bill talks about that “song for Daddy” cut sketch that went so badly wrong, and how much that cracked up everybody (including being tackled by a laughing James Anderson). Nothing new, really, but it’s just nice to see Bill on TV again, and on Seth’s show no less.
The Super Bowl opening really feels like the moment where Kenan arrives as the ‘glue’ for the next few years. He holds it down with excellent delivery and great reactions, really giving everyone else a springboard for their own performances to pop, especially Jay. The fact that Jason and Bill (in one of the *hardest* laughs he’s ever given me) are in supporting roles further supports this. The part where Kenan tells Jason’s Dan Marino sarcastically “you should save that for your reel” feels like a torch passing moment in that it’s the kind of snark Jason would normally be giving instead of receiving it.
I think an argument can be made that – barring total cast blood baths like 11/12 and 20/21 – that this is the best ‘transitional’ season in the show’s history. 2005-06 is very good, but too many of the vets that year (Sanz, Parnell, Hammond, even Seth and Tina) feel too much like “ships passing in the night” and come off as extremely out of place the more the new cast members make their voices known. This season, Kate, Aidy, and Cecily hit the ground running while Taran, Vanessa, Jay, Bobby and Kenan all assimilate into key leaders, but Jason and Bill still 100 % have a place in the show and command a presence; in fact I think Jason’s probably more committed in at least the first half of this season than he was from 2010-12. Even Fred’s a little better this season than he was from 2008-12 (Regine notwithstanding). Tim’s year may be viewed as misbegotten, but even he really made an impact. Only Nasim really gets thrown by the wayside this year.