Tag: Teri Garr

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December 21, 1985 – Teri Garr / The Cult, The Dream Academy (S11 E6)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
Cabrini Green takes a Christmas gift to a rapper wrapper (DAW)

— Damon’s rapping started out okay, but this bit has quickly gone downhill, especially once Danitra joined in on the rapping.
— Why is Danitra dressed as her Cabrini Green character? Nothing about Danitra’s role in this sketch is specific to that character; she might as well be dressed as a generic unnamed character.
— Okay, I did get a laugh from Damon’s jokingly-awkward “…yeah…” ad-lib after he messed up a verse.
— Overall, a weak way to start tonight’s show, even if the rapping in this wasn’t QUITE as cringeworthy as I had remembered it being.
STARS: **


MONOLOGUE
host & Father Guido Sarducci do “I Got You Babe” as Popes Lois & Maurice

— A continuation of Father Guido Sarducci/Maurice’s People’s Catholic Church commentary from Weekend Update.
— This monologue hasn’t been working for me, especially now that they’ve broken out into a rendition of “I Got You Babe”. Meh.
STARS: **


CRITIC
— Rerun


A DOZEN EGGS
island residents (RAQ) & (host) discuss the latter’s price in eggs

— Nice opening overhead camera angle.
— The opening egg/bacon conversation between Randy and Jon has some laughs.
— Boy, this sketch sure has looooong stock-footage transition shots between scenes.
— Overall, despite some okay lines, I didn’t care much for this sketch. Perhaps this would’ve come off better in the 10-to-1 slot, but certainly not as the lead-off sketch of the night. This doesn’t bode well for the rest of tonight’s episode (and we’ve already been off to a bad start with the cold opening, monologue, and this sketch).
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Dream Academy performs “Life In A Northern Town”


TIME MACHINE TRIVIA GAME
(AMH)’s time-travel excursions affect his parents’ Trivial Pursuit game

— What’s with Jon’s gray hair dye?
— Anthony Michael Hall makes his first live appearance in weeks.
— Pretty good premise, with some funny altered trivia question answers after Anthony’s constant history-changing.
— After Anthony picked up the phone, the camera seemed like it didn’t know who to follow, first following a walking-away Randy before immediately awkwardly panning over to Anthony talking on the phone.
— Overall, a pretty good sketch, even if the execution felt a little sloppy, not to mention a typically weak performance from Anthony. (Thankfully, tonight’s the last episode we’ll be seeing Anthony for quite a while, as he misses the next two months of episodes)
STARS: ***½


HILDY
the Deavers’ maid (TES) rewards herself for saving Christmas

— This sketch has the same living room set that was just seen in the Time Machine sketch that preceded this. I’m aware, however, that the sketches didn’t originally air in this order; the order has been shuffled around in the rerun version I’m watching. In the original live airing, the Time Machine sketch was the final sketch of the night.
— Yet another drag role for Terry. This particular one seems to be a parody of the 50s/60s sitcom Hazel.
— I liked Joan’s line to Hildy just now: “Without you, I’d have to get my life together and be a real mother.”
— Is that a real blooper with Terry having an extended amount of trouble finding Robert’s gift under the tree?
— I got a laugh from Jon slapping Robert on the head after Robert says “Yeah, we knew you’d like it” to Hildy.
— This audience is liking this sketch a lot more than I am.
— The ending was actually okay, but most of the rest of the sketch didn’t work for me (I feel like I’m saying that a lot in this review).
— It kinda feels like this was set up to become a recurring sketch, but thankfully, it ended up never returning.
STARS: **


WEEKEND UPDATE
poorly-obscured mob informant (DON) doesn’t have interesting information

— Tonight’s Update opens with the theme music from Bonanza.
— Always weird seeing Don Novello in a non-Father Guido Sarducci role.
— Some laughs from the censor bar that the camera is superimposing over Don’s eyes, and how it’s doing a bad job of following him whenever he moves his head.
— Man, this Novello commentary going on WAY too long, and the censor bar gag has completely lost its novelty.
— Okay, Novello’s Ted Koppel comment made me laugh.
— Overall, kind of an unnoteworthy Update for Dennis Miller standards, though he still got in a few of his usual random one-liners that made me laugh.
STARS: **½


A ROY ORBISON CHRISTMAS
NBC broadcasts the six unaired minutes of A Roy Orbison (RAQ) Christmas

— Nice use of the SNL Band.
— Randy’s doing a good impression of Roy Orbison’s singing voice.
— The sound mixing is pretty bad during the “Santa’s Little Surfer Girl” number, as you can hear the backup singing from the SNL Band much more than you can hear the actual main vocalists.
— The overall “Santa’s Little Surfer Girl” number was okay, but nothing funny even happened in it.
— Danitra’s Leslie Uggams reading a letter from a mental patient is really funny, especially as the letter eventually begins a descent into nonsensical madness. Also, a funny touch with Danitra turning the crazed letter in a slow, circular motion as she’s reading off of it.
— Good casting of Anthony as Edd “Kookie” Byrnes, as Anthony does have a pretty strong resemblance to him.
— Overall, this could’ve been a lot funnier. Most parts of this felt too much like a real holiday special. Danitra provided most of my only real laughs.
STARS: **


PENN AND TELLER
Penn & Teller [real] take turns being The Incredible Electric Boy

— Funny explanation from Penn about how Teller became the Incredible Electric Boy, and how lonely his life has been since then.
— Nice fire-eating stunt from Penn.
— Interesting turn with Penn calling out Teller for overplaying the bit and “ruining” the trick.
— Overall, this was fine, but I didn’t find this quite as enjoyable as Penn and Teller’s usual SNL stuff.
STARS: ***


THE BIG TREE
a disaster movie about a huge, unsafe Christmas decoration

 

— The long cast intro at the beginning of the sketch feels unnecessary and is ALREADY getting this sketch off to a bad start.
— Being familiar with Nora’s five-year SNL tenure, it feels kinda strange in hindsight seeing her playing a flaky high-pitched drunk in this sketch. Very different from the type of roles Nora usually played on SNL.
— Jon has wore gray hair dye in just about every sketch he was in tonight. Reminds me of how Dan Aykroyd would sometimes do that in some episodes from the original era.
— This feels like the very first non-Update appearance Dennis Miller has ever made.
— Boy, I am NOT enjoying this sketch so far.
— This sketch illustrates the problems of having such a young cast this season. I find it hard to buy Robert Downey in the high-profile role of a construction company owner when he looks like he’s still in high school.
— The repeated throwing-drinks-in-faces bit is just plain dumb and has come off under-rehearsed.
— Jesus Christ at Anthony’s VERY obvious cue-card reading after whipping off his sunglasses during his argument with Robert. There’s even an awkward brief pause while we have to wait for Anthony to actually find his line on the cue card.  This is almost unintentionally hilarious in how bad it was. In the “Live from New York” book, Anthony recalls a friend of his once humorously compiling a tape of Anthony’s most blatant cue card-staring moments from his SNL tenure. I’m guessing a clip of this sketch was DEFINITELY included.
— Now we get a sudden random gunshot ending, which is our “cliffhanger”. Bah. I only chuckled at that part because of someone’s (Joan, I think) loud scream after the gunshot goes off.
STARS: *½


MUSICAL GUEST INTRO

— Before segueing into an introduction to the musical guest’s performance, we’re comically told that due to audience disinterest, there will be no “part two” of the Big Tree sketch. All I have to say is: thank god.


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
The Cult performs “She Sells Sanctuary”


GOODNIGHTS

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Oof. A very rough episode. Pretty much as bad as I remembered it being from my past viewings. Very little in this episode was worthwhile, and even the better stuff wasn’t particularly great. It says something when even Penn and Teller and Dennis Miller’s Weekend Update weren’t as strong as they’ve usually been.
— After having just gone through three strong consecutive episodes, this episode was a hard crash back into the reality of the troubled season 11. This is the most negative review I’ve given in a long time; probably since season 6.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Tom Hanks):
— a huge step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
We enter 1986, with host Harry Dean Stanton

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November 12, 1983 – Teri Garr / Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo (S9 E5)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars

COLD OPENING
pom-pom girls teach some unorthodox cheers to the new girl (host)

   

— The bad cheers being demonstrated are pretty funny.
— Teri’s overly-wordy, long-winded cheer was delivered really well.
— An overall decent piece, but felt a little odd in the cold opening slot.
STARS: ***


OPENING MONTAGE
— No Jim Belushi credited tonight. This must be the episode I heard he took off early in his tenure, I’m assuming because of being tied down to a play he was doing at the time, “True West”. I wonder if that’s also the reason he didn’t officially join the cast until the third episode of the season.


MONOLOGUE
host thinks she remembers the audience but isn’t quite sure

 

— Not the best idea for a monologue, but something about it works pretty well with Teri, and at least they’re actually GIVING her a monologue this time, unlike in her previous episode.
— Pretty funny reaction from her when she asks the audience to tell her their name.
STARS: **½


MISTER ROBINSON’S NEIGHBORHOOD
a nutrition lesson from stolen groceries

   

— Looks like tonight’s another episode where Eddie will be appearing on tape all night.
— The stolen grocery bag reveal is pretty funny.
— Great part with the comparison with the chicken and the hidden t-bone steak.
— A pretty solid Mister Robinson installment overall.
STARS: ***½


THIRSTY GUY
Thirsty Guy contraceptive sponge- designed for the quicker picker-upper

  

— I’m already finding this contraceptive sponge premise funny.
— The cream test that Robin demonstrated was hilarious.
— Really good piece overall.
STARS: ****


HISTORY: THE REAL STORY
obnoxious Abraham Lincoln (JOP) provokes assassination

 

— I’ve been noticing lately that Tim always seems to play the host of shows like this.
— Joe is perfect in this role. His obnoxious behavior as Lincoln is absolutely hilarious, especially his bad “Gettysburg address” joke.
— Poor Julia stuck in yet another role with no lines.
STARS: ****


DION’S
Blaire gets upset when he sees Dion Dion kissing customer (ROD)

   

— Good to see the team-up of Dion Dion and Blair again.
— LOL at Eddie’s reaction to flubbing a line.
— I really like the interesting turn this has taken with Robin trying to start a relationship with Dion.
STARS: ***½


CORONET MAN
educational film narrator Dwight MacNamara (GAK) speaks at an assembly

— Hilarious reveal of Gary’s educational film narrator speaking in the same manner as the bad quavering audio from old educational films shown from a projector. Gary’s imitation is dead-on, and I also like how he’s even vocalizing the opening music of a typical educational film in the same manner.
— And the sketch is quickly over. This was a really funny blackout gag.
STARS: ****


DOPEBALL
a song about drugs in professional athletics

     

— I think this is the first time Joe has done an SNL Sports bit outside of the news segment since season 6.
— This “Dopeball” song is fantastic.
— Okay, this song is turning out to be pretty long, though still funny. I feel like this should be a little shorter, though.
— I like how they included a clip from one of Joe’s earlier SNL Sports commentaries, where he pours cocaine onto the news desk.
— Really funny part with a wind-up bowling ball walking across a line of cocaine.
STARS: ***½


CAFFEINE ACHIEVERS
caffeine achiever host gets increasingly agitated while making commercial

  

— Interestingly, Teri mentions Jane Curtin among celebrities who like coffee.
— The constant re-takes are kinda funny.
— The still-photo montage of blown takes isn’t doing anything for me.
— I didn’t care much for this sketch as a whole. It started off fairly promising, but ran out of steam halfway though for me. This also ruined the streak of solid segments the show had going after the monologue.
STARS: **


JOEL HODGSON
Joel Hodgson [real] does an explosive card trick & imitates Batman

     

— He’s already making me laugh here with his sullen delivery.
— Haha, the card “trick” bit was very funny.
— What was with the brief audience applause when he asked director Dave Wilson how much time he has left?
— Very funny fake-out with the dove.
— Good ending with the sideways Batman climbing bit.
— Overall, a hilarious debut segment for Joel Hodgson, with just about every gag in this getting a big laugh from me. I’m definitely looking forward to his later appearances this season.
STARS: ****


SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
Linda Ellerbee (JLD) talks about being fired from NBC News Overnight
GAK reviews Star 80 & shows off a sexy camisole from the film
Ann Landers (MAG) reads a letter from El Salvador & gives military advice
TIK shows Chicago Sun-Times readers what to expect from Rupert Murdoch

       

— I like the brief “viewer roll” Julia’s Linda Ellerbee is showing to thank her loyal viewers, especially the subtle joke with two of those viewers apparently being her own parents (judging from their last name).
— Julia’s commentary had a decent punchline at the end.
— Gary’s commentary seems to slowly be turning into him once again detailing how skimpily-dressed some of the women in the movie he’s reviewing were.
— LOL, Gary upped the ante from his last commentary of this nature, by pulling off his wardrobe to reveal the lingerie that was worn in the movie he’s reviewing.
— Mary’s overall Ann Landers commentary was really short. I liked her voice as Landers, but the commentary itself wasn’t anything special to me.
— A lot of Brad’s jokes are bombing BADLY tonight.
— Lots of guest commentaries tonight, while there’s very few jokes from Brad. Probably a good thing, though I can’t help but see this as the writing being on the wall for Brad regarding his soon-to-come mid-season firing as anchorperson.
— Funny part of Tim’s Salute to Journalism commentary with the Heineken kidnappers.
— Decent ending to Tim’s commentary with the cat litter box bit.
STARS: **


KENNEDY: THE MAN BEHIND THE WOMAN!
Marilyn Monroe (host) gives JFK (JOP) advice about the Berlin crisis

   

— Two sketches tonight about former presidents, though I think the reason for this JFK one is because at this time, it’s around the 20th anniversary of JFK’s assassination.
— Joe and Gary are hilarious playing off of each other in their fast-talking Kennedy accents.
— Good casting of Teri as Marilyn Monroe.
— Decent premise with Teri’s Marilyn secretly giving JFK intelligent advice on the Berlin situation.
— Teri’s Marilyn impression is turning out to be kinda disappointing. She’s not really nailing the whispery, sultry voice; it sounds too much like her normal voice.
— The interplay between Joe and Gary is now getting even funnier, with the frequent “the ah, the ah, the ah” bits.
STARS: **½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Tonight”


SARCASTIC MOTHER SUPERIOR
a nun’s (MAG) sarcasm gets her in trouble with Father Alexander (TIK)

 

— There’s Mary once again playing her favorite type of role: a nun.
— Mary’s constant sarcasm is pretty funny.
— The ending was very weak and predictable.
STARS: **½


SHE’S A WITCH
(GAK) claims wife (JLD) will turn him into a rabbit when they get home

  

— I’m liking Gary’s sudden “Help me, she’s a witch” reveal about his wife.
— Funny twist that Gary’s “rabbit transformations” were all just a bogus prank from his wife, and I liked Gary’s delivery of “I am so gullible”.
— An overall interesting random sketch for this late in the show.
STARS: ***½


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Way Down”


WHAT’S THE STUPIDEST THING YOU’VE EVER DONE?
answers to “What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done?”

   

— I like one guy’s answer being he set fire to his grandmother’s house.
— A few funny answers here, but not as much as these Man on the Street segments usually have. I’m getting more laughs from the quirkiness of a lot of the interviewees than from their actual answers.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


GOODNIGHTS

 

— Teri confirms that Jim Belushi indeed had to miss tonight’s episode due to “True West”, and then the camera pans over to show that he’s onstage, looking like he literally just arrived in the building.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Much like the previous week’s episode, this was an overall pretty solid show with a strong, impressive first half and a drop-off after Saturday Night News. This was also a big improvement over the previous episode Teri hosted.
— I feel like with these last two episodes, this season has really begun taking off.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Betty Thomas):
— about the same


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Jerry Lewis

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January 26, 1980 – Teri Garr / The B-52’s (S5 E9)

Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars


COLD OPENING
seeking Paul McCartney interview, Father Guido Sarducci gets arrested

   

— Don Pardo’s opening mention of “the crisis in Tokyo” gets immediate big laughs from the audience. I take it this is a spoof/variation of the Iran hostage crisis going on at the time?
— Oh, this turns out to be coverage of Paul McCartney’s infamous Japan arrest.
— Whoa, a Weekend Update segment right at the beginning of the episode. There’s something you don’t see every day.  Boy, this feels strange.
— Some really funny lines during Bill and Jane’s day-by-day analysis of the McCartney arrest.
— This use of Father Guido Sarducci is a good change of pace for him, and the concept of him carrying a luggage full of marijuana just to intentionally get himself arrested is pretty funny.
— I like Sarducci’s way of sneaking in hidden cries of help to us viewers.
STARS: ***½


OPENING MONTAGE
— Peter Aykroyd, Jim Downey, and a mustached Brian Doyle-Murray receive their very first featured player credit tonight.

  

— Wow, there are A LOT of featured players credited tonight in general – about 7 or 8 of them. Geez. It’s funny how much larger the featured player cast is than the repertory cast.


MONOLOGUE
(no synopsis available)

— Sorry, folks, I blinked and missed this whole monologue!
— But seriously, as I briefly mentioned in my review of Candice Bergen’s December 1975 monologue, this Teri Garr monologue has to be the shortest in SNL history (Bergen’s aforementioned monologue is probably a close second). It literally only consists of her saying that she’s happy to be there, and that there’s so much show to get to tonight that they’re just going to go right ahead with it. The End.
— I wonder what the story behind this lack of a monologue is. How do you not write a funny monologue for Teri freakin’ Garr? I feel bad that they just left her out there to awkwardly and clumsily segue into the rest of the show. To her credit, she looked game and upbeat, at least.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)


CRAIG’S TRAVELER’S CHECKS
— Rerun


CAUCUS
presidential hopefuls do chores for housewife (host); John Anderson cameo

         

— Feels kinda weird seeing George Bush being played by anyone not named Dana Carvey. Jim Downey seems to be attempting some kind of voice, but it’s not sounding very Bush-esque to me. Then again, this is 1980; people back then probably weren’t as familiar with Bush’s voice as they would become years later.
— Yes! The return of Bill’s hilarious Ted Kennedy.
— Gilda’s walk-on receives some audience applause, despite the fact that she’s just playing a random supporting character. Shows how popular Gilda was around this time. She also received a huge amount of cheers earlier tonight during the opening montage.
— Funny inclusion of Laraine’s Rosalyn Carter. This is reminding me that SNL would strangely go through this whole season without ANYONE portraying the president (Jimmy Carter). Couldn’t Shearer have given it a shot?
— Great Chappaquiddick reference with Bill’s Kennedy offering to drive Teri’s car.
— There’s Garrett’s sloppy, stumbly delivery once again……
— This is turning out to be a great showcase for the featured players.
— Tom Davis is giving a really good performance in this.
— Is that an audience member shown as John B. Anderson at the end of the sketch?
STARS: ***½


DEBS BEHIND BARS
jailed preppies (host), (JAC), (GIR) try to survive

     

— It’s kinda funny hearing the awkward audience sounds in the background during the intro photos of the women.
— I feel like this is parodying a movie I’m not familiar with.
— There’s Garrett in drag as a sassy woman once again……
— Are we supposed to believe there’s glass between Bill and Teri, because there clearly isn’t one.
— Is Laraine playing a real person? The name Gloria Vanderbilt sounds familiar.
— Funny blooper when Laraine’s earring falls off and then after staring at the camera with a mock(?) panicked facial expression (fourth screencap above), she quickly whips off her other earring right before the camera cuts away.
— The voice Peter Aykroyd’s using in this sketch sounds a lot like his brother Dan.
— Didn’t care for the ending preview scene with the girls meeting their male counterparts, and it went on too long for my likes.
— Overall, despite a few parts, I did not enjoy this much. It feels like too much of it went over my head.
STARS: **


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Rock Lobster”


WEEKEND UPDATE
Big Vic Ricker (HAS) discusses the Super Bowl & possible Olympic boycott
college student (PEA) tells LAN why he supports the draft
keep gold prices high & get an Al Franken Decade medallion, says ALF

       

— Feels weird seeing Update again tonight, after the early appearance it made in the cold opening.
— I liked the “Perrier Spill” bit.
— These last few Updates, they keep using that funny Alan Zweibel picture (second screencap above) in different contexts. It seems to have become a running gag.  It’ll be funny to see how long they keep it going.
— Ah, a new Update character. Feels like it’s been a while since Harry last had a really big role.
— Harry’s doing great as this character and I like his delivery.
— Good little part with Harry throwing to a videotape only to realize they don’t have one.
— A Laraine remote segment, which is also doubling as a rare Peter Aykroyd showcase.
— That’s it? The Laraine/Peter commentary is over already? I guess it was a funny quick gag, but I was hoping this would give Peter more to do, after he won me over in that “Java Junkie” short in the last episode.
— Bill’s commentary about fat people was really funny.
— We’re getting yet another guest commentator. Wow, this is one long Update. Unusual for this era.
— After appearing on Update in a string of consecutive episodes earlier this season, Al Franken returns.
— Oh, it’s a follow-up on the Al Franken Decade bit.
— The commemorative Al Franken coin was pretty funny.
— Haha, I love the part with Al passing off a penny as an “Abraham Lincoln Medallion”.
STARS: ***


ANCHOVY COUNCIL OF AMERICA
new ads for the Anchovy Council by (host) & (HAS) target black consumers

     

— As always, it feels weird seeing Don Novello in a normal non-Father Guido Sarducci role.
— Tom Davis’ voice in this is pretty funny.
— There’s an odd part where, while Harry is giving a long explanation of anchovy research, the camera holds for a VERY long time on a random close-up of Bill grimacing and smirking out of character while hesitantly chewing on some anchovies. (fourth screencap above) During a discussion of this sketch on an old SNL messageboard years ago, someone there had a theory that Bill must’ve had a strong hate for anchovies and, knowing this, the people at SNL played a bit of a joke on him by showing a very-lengthy close-up of him making sour faces while eating the anchovies.
— When the camera finally cuts away from that lengthy close-up of Bill, Jane can be seen staring at him kinda funnily.
— This one guy in the audience has a loud standout laugh that I keep hearing throughout the sketch.
— I loved Harry’s little “I’m glad we all understand averaging” comment.
— Another amusing quick comment from Harry, with him ad-libbing a humorously obvious “It hasn’t started yet” while he was waiting for the videotape to start playing.
— The scene with Garrett and Yvonne Hudson is really good. Why do I feel like this anchovy-loving couple of theirs is the same as their bad clam-loving couple?
— Heh, funny ending to the Garrett/Yvonne scene, with Garrett immediately asking “Glass of water, please?” as soon as the director yelled “cut”.
— Overall, this sketch had several good aspects but I feel some shortening needed to be done, as this sketch felt too long and some parts dragged.
STARS: **½


BAD PLAYHOUSE
a production of The Great Mr. Potatohead Famine

     

— Whaaaa? A “Bad (insert type of play here)” sketch WITHOUT Aykroyd???
— Hmm, Laraine as “Lady Pinth-Garnell”.
— Laraine’s intro wasn’t too good. Dan usually got more laughs than that during his intros in these.
— A fairly funny weird play so far.
— I like Bill’s walk-on.
— What in the world happened at the beginning of Bill’s song? I’m guessing he missed his cue to start singing? Throughout his song, it looks like he and Gilda are both trying to keep from laughing. (second-to-last screencap above)
— Overall, the play had a funny first half, but it ran out of steam for me halfway through and I lost interest. Also, Laraine as the female Leonard Pinth-Garnell did not work for me AT ALL.
STARS: **½


BABY MOGUL
baby mogul Paula Kirsch (LAN) & Marilyn Nasalman (GIR) negotiate a deal

   

— Gilda’s wearing the same wig from the sexual harassment meeting sketch in the last episode.
— Wait, this is the return of Laraine’s child psychologist character? Wow, I didn’t know they ever made that character recurring.
— Laraine’s childlike crying was scarily realistic. Very dead-on.
— Overall, there’s not much I can find to say about this sketch. A lot of the performances were solid, especially Laraine’s, but I got pretty bored during the sketch after a while. That seems to have become a theme with these last few sketches. Man, what’s happening to the show tonight? There’s too many sketches that are overlong and/or have trouble keeping their momentum the whole way through.
STARS: **½


MR. BILL GETS HELP
by Walter Williams- Mr. Hands employs hypnosis

       

— Well, we haven’t seen this character in a while, so no initial groan from me tonight.
— Funny visual of the psychiatrist having his face hidden.
— I kinda liked the part with a flattened Spot being used as a Christmas tree ornament.
— I enjoyed the hellish, trippy nightmare sequence featuring Mr. Hands and Sluggo.
— This is the first time they’ve shown the “The Mr. Bill Show” title this season.
— Overall, wow, I’m surprised by how much I didn’t hate this. I guess Mr. Bill still has a little of that old spark left in him when they space his appearances out more. What kind of alternate universe am I in where I enjoyed a Mr. Bill film more than I enjoyed most of the night’s sketches?
STARS: ***


MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Dance This Mess Around”

— Strangely, before the performance ends, the camera cuts to a bumper picture of Teri Garr and stays on it for a long time as we can faintly hear the performance continuing and then concluding. The show must’ve been running late. I wonder if that also explains the sloppy camerawork throughout this song.


GOODNIGHTS

  

— Oh, it turns out that “audience member” who was shown at the end of the Caucus sketch was actually the real John B. Anderson.

IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— SNL begins the 1980s with a underwhelming, below average episode. As I said earlier, a lot of the sketches suffered from having an overlong, dragging feel and had a hard time keeping the momentum they started with. There at least weren’t any sketches that were flat-out terrible, but there also weren’t any sketches that I feel stood out as particularly strong, either. With this episode, I get the feeling I’ve officially reached the beginning of the infamous downhill slide of season 5.
— Teri Garr came off likable (as usual), but I wasn’t crazy about the way SNL utilized her tonight. It feels like they kinda wasted her with too many generic female roles. To say nothing of that poor excuse for a monologue she was handed. As funny as Teri is, she doesn’t seem to have much luck with hosting good SNL episodes, as I’ve always found her season 11 episode to be absolutely wretched. I can’t remember how her season 9 episode goes, but I’m assuming it’s a good episode just based on the fact that SNL was generally in better shape in season 9 than they were in seasons 5 and 11.


HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING ONE (Ted Knight):
— a step down


My full set of screencaps for this episode is here


TOMORROW:
Chevy Chase