Segments are rated on a scale of 1-5 stars
COLD OPENING
Lifestyles of the Relatives of the Rich & Famous- Nelson Hepburn (MAS)
— Starting off the season with a pre-taped cold opening is very interesting and a sign of things to come regarding this season’s heavy usage of pre-tapes.
— I love that Martin Short is front-and-center right at the beginning of his first episode.
— Good premise for a “Lifestyles of Rich and Famous” parody, interviewing relatives of celebrities.
— Great Katherine Hepburn impression from Martin, playing her maternal third cousin.
— The interview with Martin is great, with lots of funny details in his stories.
— Love how throughout the interview, they keep cutting to the same shot of Harry Shearer as Robin Leach nodding.
— I like the beautiful shot they just showed of NYC at dusk. (screencap below)
— Christopher Guest as a relative of Charlie Callas is hilarious with his uncontrollable Callas-esque actions. He’s pulling this off perfectly.
— Overall, this cold opening got the season off to a strong start already, and I like how the only performers featured in this were some of the new cast members.
STARS: ****
OPENING MONTAGE
— New opening montage!
— The theme music, which is the same as the one from the last three seasons, is noticeably canned tonight. The reason for this is because the early episodes of this season are performed in two different studios, due to NBC News using Studio 8H for election coverage. Tonight’s canned theme sounds like the same one they used last time SNL was forced out of Studio 8H for election coverage, which was back in October 1982.
— This new montage is absolutely INCREDIBLE. The innovative style, the amazing graphics, the wildly creative use of each cast member, the freakin’ opening shot of a giant roach looking at flying hot dogs… this has always been by far my favorite SNL opening montage, and is probably the most elaborate, expensive-looking one SNL has ever had, at least until season 29.
— Joining the cast tonight are Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Rich Hall, Harry Shearer (who had an earlier stint in the cast back in season 5), Martin Short, and Pamela Stephenson. Wow, that’s a lot of newbies.
MONOLOGUE
BIC does stand-up about what it’s like to grow old
— Adding to the excitement of having a new opening montage is the fact that we also have a new home base stage, though this one is only temporary while the show is in a different studio.
— Billy Crystal gets the honors of doing tonight’s monologue since there’s no official host.
— Nice mention of this being the milestone 10th season of SNL.
— I’m liking his material on dreading having reached the 35-50 age range, and I can somewhat relate, since I’m only months away from reaching that age range myself. (I was born the same year this episode originally aired; in fact, this is the first live episode to air in my lifetime, as I was born during the summer)
— Okay, here’s where the monologue is starting to fall apart, with him talking about watching Poltergeist with a black audience. It’s just a whole bunch of tepid “black people yelling at the movie screen” jokes, and features the questionable use of Billy’s penchant for doing black voices. The “That’s why we don’t swim!” joke was especially groanworthy.
— Okay, he’s winning me back a little with his bit about “old” people telling youngsters about the (then) not-too-long-ago Beatlemania and Woodstock, though it’s kinda weird watching this in modern times because people who were around during the Beatles heyday and Woodstock really would be getting up there in age nowadays, and it’s now perfectly understandable for children today to have no knowledge of The Beatles or Woodstock.
— Boy, this monologue is going on for a LONG time.
— I liked his line “I have such respect for women… and Alan Alda.”
— Some laughs from his horrific facial expressions when acting out a baby being born.
— Overall, a hit-and-miss monologue, and suffered from its length. A definite step down from Billy’s solid monologue when he hosted last season. I did appreciate, though, how this had a “10 years” throughline to keep it related to SNL’s milestone 10th season.
STARS: **
OLYMPICS 1984: A SPECIAL REPORT
by Bruce Van Dusen- Olympic flame reverts to Greece
— The first guy holding the torch strangely resembles a young Mick Jagger.
— Good premise.
— Boy, is Rich Hall lanky in those gym shorts.
— The detailed journey of the torch is pretty funny.
— Good payoff with the long, long journey just leading to a guy simply blowing out the torch.
STARS: ***
RICH HALL’S ELECTION REPORT
Walter Mondale’s many fundraising dinners
— A nice way to introduce Rich Hall to us.
— I like the ridiculously high prices Rich is being charged for every little thing.
— Some good laughs from his attempts to hail a motorcade in a busy street.
— Surprised at the part with Mondale subtly giving the finger (which was uncensored, by the way).
— A somewhat-young Reginald VelJohnson is one of the people seen behind Rich during the aforementioned “Mondale flipping the bird” scene. (last screencap above)
— The live outtro with Rich ended kinda awkwardly.
STARS: ***½
WHEEL OF FORTUNE INTERVIEW
Pat Sajak fan Ed Grimley (MAS) wants to be a Wheel of Fortune contestant
— Hilarious blooper at the beginning, where Christoper Guest (in his first live appearance as a cast member, no less) bumps his head on a low boom mic. (first screencap above) I love his reaction: at first, he tries to play it off like nothing happened, by pretending to take notice of something in the letter he’s holding while making a “WTF?” gesture with his free hand, then he looks upwards towards the boom mic for a second before continuing on with the sketch.
— Good reveal that Christopher’s about to jump out the window to his death.
— Another funny reveal, where we find out Christopher’s job is interviewing potential Wheel of Fortune contestants.
— The SNL debut of Martin Short’s memorable character Ed Grimley.
— Julia’s bit role as a secretary introducing Ed Grimley to Christopher would later be shown as a clip in Julia’s monologue during her season 41 hosting stint, used as a representation of the type of “memorable” roles she was typically given during her SNL tenure.
— Even in this bit role, however, Julia still gets a laugh with her facial reaction to Grimley saying they had a nice chat.
— I love Grimley’s excited running back-and-forth while monologue-ing to himself when he’s left alone in the room.
— Grimley’s hilarious as he’s acting out a scenario of how his Wheel of Fortune adventure will go.
— Ha, even THIS sketch is succumbing to this season’s habit of doing lots of pre-tapes, with us now seeing filmed footage of Grimley leaving the office after his interview is over.
— The heavyset guy in the elevator with Grimley was just seen in the pre-taped Rich Hall Election Report.
— The part with a dummy of Christopher falling on Grimley out of nowhere had me howling.
STARS: ****
GRANDPA HOWARD
babysitter Howard Cosell’s (BIC) verbosity puts his grandkids to sleep
— The parents having to “translate” Cosell’s verbose greeting to the kids is fairly funny.
— I congratulate Billy on looking NOTHING like Howard Cosell.
— That being said, he IS doing a good vocal impression, at least.
— Ha, the part with the boy tearing off Cosell’s toupee and running away with it is making me laugh.
— I think that’s Billy himself doing the voice of O.J. Simpson being heard from the TV screen. If I’m correct, then that makes this ANOTHER example tonight of Billy doing a stereotypical black voice. Oh, god.
— Billy-as-Cosell’s long-winded stories just aren’t interesting or funny, even if that’s the point in the universe of this sketch. More and more, I’m losing what little interest in this sketch I initially had.
STARS: *½
SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING
by Claude Kerven- Lawrence (MAS) & Gerald (HAS) are synchronized swimmers
— Here we go! One of the most well-loved, memorable pre-taped films in SNL history, and is probably widely considered the quintessential example of how strong this season’s short films are.
— Harry and Martin’s opening synchronized dancing in time to the music is hilarious (the gleeful look on Harry’s face is especially cracking me up).
— Martin’s big-foreheaded look is great.
— I like how dry Harry’s explanation of how he got into synchronized swimming is. Dead-serious delivery of something inherently silly is something Harry Shearer always excels at, and it’s nice to see that back on display on SNL after his season 5 stint.
— Pamela Stephenson looks unrecognizable in this. Maybe I just have a hard time recognizing her without the crazy 80s hair.
— I can see why Pamela’s scene is often removed from some versions of this film, as it’s not really a crucial part, but her scene is still good in its own right.
— Great inclusion of Christopher as a Waiting for Guffman-esque choreographer.
— There’s the classic “Hey, you! I know you! I know you!” bit.
— Christopher is excellent and is stealing this film.
— Another great Christopher Guest line, this time regarding killing himself with a Veg-O-Matic.
— Martin’s wild, spastic arm dance when he and Harry are standing in front of the pool is a riot.
— Overall, a brilliant and hilarious mockumentary that’s well-deserving of its status as a classic. This was absolutely perfect in every way.
STARS: *****
AUDIENCE CAPTION
— The return of the “audience caption” gag that was often done in the original era (it was briefly brought back in season 6, with less-than-stellar results).
— It’s quite appropriate that the first audience captionee this season is Rob Reiner, who has an important part in SNL’s history as the host of SNL’s third episode ever.
— It’s also appropriate that Reiner is shown right after a mockumentary short film featuring Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest, as Reiner had recently directed those two performers in a certain famous mockumentary of his own.
MUSICAL GUEST INTRO
Walter Mondale (GAK) & Geraldine Ferraro (MAG) introduce musical guest
— Good to see the underrated Gary and Mary not getting lost in the shuffle tonight, considering all the showcases we’ve been seeing for the star-studded group of newbies.
— Good makeup on Gary’s Mondale.
— A decent, quick little pre-musical guest bit.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “Hold Me Now”
THE BULGE
by Andy Breckman- (JIB) stuffs his pants to attract ladies
— I almost thought the blonde guy laughing at Jim was Brad Hall. (second screencap above) I guess I haven’t gotten used to not seeing Brad on the show anymore.
— Heh, I like where this is going, with Jim getting a scheme-y look on his face after seeing Gary stuffing the front of his pants.
— Hilarious how Jim is going overboard with stuffing the front of his pants with literally EVERYTHING he can find nearby.
— Love the sly look Jim gave the camera when finding a cabinet full of cleaning products.
— Haha, amazing visual of Jim slowly re-entering the club with his ridiculously huge, clunky bulge.
— Everyone’s reactions to Jim’s bulge are great.
— Good ending shot of Jim’s bulge resting outside an open window in the cab that he and two ladies have taken off in.
— A minor detail, but I really liked the use of the background songs that played all throughout this, which added a nice touch.
STARS: ****½
SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
Fernando advises celebrities to enter the Betty Ford Clinic for publicity
— Wow, nice new opening credits sequence for Saturday Night News.
— Great new set too. Sadly, however, both the new opening sequence and the new set would end up getting dropped very soon (I think in the very next episode), and the show would revert to the old Saturday Night News opening and set. I never understood why. Why introduce a great new opening and set, only to immediately go back to the tired old one from the last two seasons?
— Billy’s Fernando wig looks different than usual.
— I’m glad he didn’t overdo the “You look mahvelous” shtick during his intro.
— Oh, I spoke too soon. HERE’S the dreaded overlong “mahvelous” talk. *groan*
— The photo montage of “celebrities” covering their faces from the camera seems strangely familiar, like something SNL had already done either last season or the season before.
— There are some laughs from which celebrities Fernando is suggesting should check into Betty Ford clinic to revitalize their careers, but this segment isn’t anything too great.
— A mention of how downhill Alan Thicke’s career was going at the time, as this was during his doomed talk show-hosting stint. Little did they know that a year later, Growing Pains would revitalize his career.
— Tonight’s Saturday Night News is over already, with no guest commentaries.
— Not very good overall, and as I said in my review of the previous season’s finale, I’m already starting to get kinda tired of Fernando. I came into this season thinking I wasn’t going to be quite as salty towards Billy’s SNL tenure as some people are, but I dunno… between tonight’s overlong monologue, his dull (and also overlong) Howard Cosell sketch, his overabundance of stereotypical black voices, and now this weak Saturday Night News starring his overdone Fernando, Billy’s not exactly off to a great start so far this season.
STARS: **
FIRST DRAFT THEATER
an early version of Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep
— For some reason, I’m already getting laughs just from the way the opening voice-over announced the sketch’s title.
— Funny part with the grammatically-confusing “silver flask wearing a red silk skirt” line leading to a visual of a flask in a dress.
— Christopher: “She had the kind of figure that… made you wanna have sex with her.”
— Christopher: “She opened up like a… cheap sandwich that wasn’t wrapped properly.”
— Loved Christopher literally saying “Aieee, he’s got a gun!”
— Some technical glitches after Jim slaps Christopher with a gun.
— I liked the random, overly-wordy description of Jim’s eyes.
— I’m really enjoying this sketch’s format of re-doing scenes after the writer discovers writing gaffes. This is reminding me a bit of that great “The Writer” sketch from Bill Murray’s season 6 episode, though with its own original spin.
— Very funny part with the whole “Loomis” confusion, followed by the writer frantically looking through his script and realizing there IS no character in his story with that name.
— Great sketch overall, with a clever format, an endless number of funny lines, and strong lead performances.
STARS: ****
SATURDAY NIGHT NEWS
Bob Guccione (JIB) explains to JLD why he publishes sleaze
— Oh, so this is going to be one of those episodes that has multiple Saturday Night News segments throughout the night. Man, Ebersol toys around with the format of SNL’s news segment way too much in this era.
— Julia Louis-Dreyfus as an anchorperson? This feels weird to see.
— I laughed at Jim’s Penthouse philosophy of “If it smells, it sells”.
— The raunchy Norman Rockwell paintings are pretty funny, especially the “Funny Uncle Otto” one.
— Very short Saturday Night News overall. This was decent for what it was.
STARS: ***
BOOK BEAT
iron pipe through (CHG)’s head hampers interview with (RIH)
— Wow, what an opening visual of Christopher with a pipe through his head.
— I’m already getting the feeling this is an Andy Breckman-written sketch, as this has the vibe of his unique, premise-driven talk show sketches from last season.
— Christopher blanking in the middle of his question is pretty funny.
— Great escalation in how out-of-it Christopher is, especially his sudden crying breakdown before immediately going to back into a straight face.
— Overall, a fun Christopher Guest showcase. His perpetually-deadpan facial expression is great for this type of role.
STARS: ***½
KILLING TIME
MAS kills some time because the show is running a little late
— Martin, while on the home base stage, explains that the show is running late and they’re going to go back to commercial and then come back to another Thompson Twins performance.
— The scheduling tonight did seem a little “off” to begin with, with the first commercial break of the night not coming until almost a half-hour(!) into the show. Maybe the heavy usage of pre-taped segments threw the scheduling off.
— Martin’s ways of comedically vamping for time are fairly funny.
STARS: N/A (not a rateable segment)
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
musical guest performs “The Gap”
GOODNIGHTS
IMMEDIATE POST-SHOW THOUGHTS:
— Wow, what a season premiere! The show had such a new, exciting feel tonight, which was a lot of fun to see. And the quality of the episode was strong, with many great pieces. The heavy usage of pre-taped segments (which all ranged from pretty solid to classic) also gave the show an interesting vibe that I liked. The new season is off to a VERY good start so far.
— Of the new cast members, it’s no surprise that the already-famous ones were the ones who seemed to dominate the episode. Christopher Guest especially had a strong night, getting lots of laughs, showing tons of potential as a versatile everyman-type player, and managing to steal some of the pieces he played a supporting role in (e.g. Synchronized Swimming).
HOW THIS EPISODE STACKS UP AGAINST THE PRECEDING SEASON (1983-84):
— a step up
My full set of screencaps for this episode is here
TOMORROW:
Bob Uecker