Monthly Archives: October 2010
More ‘SNL’ Revisionist History: The Disappearing Denzel
We briefly mentioned in our earlier SNL recap the mangled ending to the “Tax Masters” sketch, where it sounded like an open walkie stepped on Fred Armisen’s closing line, so the sketch, and the show went out with a clumsy whimper. However, we neglected to note that this was the second odd conclusion of the night. Earlier, at the end of the “Returns and Exchanges” sketch we could see Jay Pharoah lurking mysteriously in the background after his Denzel Washington retired to the stockroom (thanks to Videogum for reminding us, and for their superior review). The sketch itself had a weird, head scratching ending where Bobby Moynihan’s employee simply says “Who’s next?” Considering the clunky finish, it’s possible that Pharoah was supposed to reappear for an additional line or two, but there was some confusion and instead the sketch ended with Moynihan’s awkward coda. Or, perhaps, Pharaoh simply wanted to watch the end of the sketch, and didn’t realize that he’d be visible in the shot. Unlike the other rookies, Pharoah’s background is in stand-up and impressions, not sketch and improv, so it’s feasible that his inexperience with sketch comedy led to this blunder. This is why, for the near future, we’ll probably see Pharoah mostly as a guest on “Weekend Update,” or in sketches where his characters speak directly to camera.
But, not surprisingly, the show is retroactively erasing the gaffe. If you watch the clip on Hulu, Pharoah is not to be found looming in the background, unsure of where to go. But if you look closely at the right side, you can see that they’ve edited Pharoah out of frame, leaving a small sliver of his black suit jacket and mismatched wainscoting as evidence. Take a look:
Enhance:
BUSTED SNL!
Not surprisingly, they also cleaned up the end of the “Tax Masters” for viral consumption.
Vodpod videos no longer available.Saturday Night Live? More like Saturday Night We’ll Get It In Post!
Burned.
And, on top of all that, here’s what you didn’t see broadcast:
Vodpod videos no longer available.You’ve to get up pretty early in the morning to pull one over on a blogger who watches SNL late on Sunday and then writes about it on Monday afternoon.
Filed under Conspiracy Theory, Saturday Night Live, We'll Get It In Post
Muppet Monday: ‘Sesame Street’ is Now Like ‘MadTV’, But Good
Sesame Street has long been in the pop culture parody business; in fact that’s basically it’s whole model, come up with concepts that will educate children but also entertain adults. But lately, they’re becoming kings of the genre, with Mad Men, 30 Rock and, most recently, True Blood parodies. And now they’ve moved even further from the mainstream with their version of Old Spice’s “Smell Like a Man” campaign:
Between Grover and Justine Bateman we’re feeling really uncool.
Next up, no doubt, is the Sad Elmo campaign. Or maybe Cigar Kermit.
via PopWatch
Filed under Muppet Mondays, Muppets, Virulent
‘SNL’: Plain Jane
Not that Jane Lynch was sub-par in her first (of hopefully many) outing as host of SNL, quite the contrary, but it’s that, once again, the material failed to live up to the vast talents of the host. It’s confusing, bewildering and frustrating that they keep wasting their resources. Perhaps, as we felt with the Zach Galifianakis show last season, the writing staff is actually less motivated by a talented host; they rely on the host to elevate the material, so what they deliver is second-rate. It’s just a theory, and probably misguided and misinformed, but you also can’t ignore the body of evidence, because, while this week’s show was better than last week, it wasn’t a great improvement. We saw plenty of Jane Lynch (and plenty of wigs), but nothing truly memorable.
Read on: Gilly on Glee? Is that all you got? Also: who did SNL rip-off this week?
Filed under Analysis, Conspiracy Theory, Saturday Night Live
Happy Chris Columbus Day!
For the kids.
Vodpod videos no longer available.Also:
What’s weird is that the same thing happened to me on the way back from Comic Con.
Filed under Lady Holiday, Nostalgia Corner
‘The Office’: Fleet Week
[note: not sure if that title will have anything to do with our reaction to last night’s Office. We just liked it.]
Week 3 of the Michael Scott death march brought us “Andy’s Play,” which slots below last week’s Michael Scott – Toby Flenderson tete-a-tete “Counseling” but above the season premiere “Nepotism.” It exhibited many of the symptoms that have plagued the show in recent seasons, but also demonstrated some encouraging signs, some beats that harken back to the show’s roots. Uneven, sure, but with a strong finish. And as some porn star was probably once told, it’s better to finish strong than start strong.
Read on: Michael is up, couples are down, and the wine is going all around.
Filed under Analysis, Broadway!, Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam, Good Humor, Must See TV
Justine Bateman Knows Way More About The Internet Than I Do
The legendary, lovely, luminous Justine Bateman appeared on this week’s Urly Show, the podcast hosted by our dear friend Eliot Glazer and his team over at Urlesque, and she basically blew our minds. We thought we spend a lot of our time looking at Internet junk, but Justine has got us beat. Sure, you could argue with all the money she’s making off of Family Ties residuals she has nothing but time to look at animals in casts Tumblrs and Cigar Guy memes and fake Christine O’Donnell broomstick Twitter feeds. But she actually makes us feel like we’re not doing a good enough job of looking at Internet junk. Like, she wants it more. To us, her relative wealth would have led us to believe that she’d think of herself above the web fray, and instead of checking out the latest Sad Keanu photoshop job or post about spaghetti tacos she’d be using the New Yorker app on her iPad while sitting by the pool, possibly being fanned by a young Filipino boy. Turns out that she’s not above the fray, but instead thoroughly in the midst of it, and we have a new-found admiration for her because of it.
The best part is that Eliot played a few clips from How Can I Tell If I’m Really In Love, a full length PSA from 1986 that features Bateman (as well as Ted Danson) educating teenage girls about the evils tricks adolescent boys use get into their pants. Eliot unearthed this time capsule when we were in high school, and we spent several nights watching the VHS in his parents’ basement, completely fascinated and confused (questions like: why did they insist everyone sit in such uncomfortable positions? And: Is this a joke?), so it’s unbelievable to see Bateman watching and commenting on it now (although, she has little to no recollection of shooting it. But we can’t really blame her for that). See for yourself!
Speaking of Family Ties and things that blew our minds, let’s take this opportunity to remind you of this and this.
Wait, Didn’t ‘SNL’ Do This Already? Like Twice?
EW reports that the lady ghosts of Saturday Night Live past will reunite on November 1 for “The Women of SNL,” a two-hour prime time tribute to such greats as Siobhan Fallon and Melanie Hutsell. But wait, didn’t they already do this in May? And then again two weeks ago? Well, I guess SNL has shown time and time again that it’s never heard the term “too much of a good thing,” nor the phrase “You brought back Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch and Maya Rudolph for the Betty White episode last season and then again in this season’s premiere. Don’t you think that’s enough?” But we also know the show has no reservations about repeating itself.
Let’s hope the show, which will be comprised of old sketches as well as new material, will include some of these classics, and nothing with Gilly or Penelope or anything else terrible.
Vodpod videos no longer available. Vodpod videos no longer available. Vodpod videos no longer available.Nora Dunn, Ana Gasteyer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Laraine Newman, Cheri Oteri, and Molly Shannon are also slated to return. However, no word yet on Ellen Cleghorne.
But all kidding aside, where’s Jan Hooks on that Murderer’s Row-esqe lineup? She was the best lady on there in the late 80s/early 90s and we’d love to see her go up against the youngins, sort of like when Rocky fought Mason “The Line” Dixon. And her appearances on 30 Rock weren’t enough to quench our Hooks-thirst, nor they did truly demonstrate her versatility.
Also crossing our fingers for Yvonne Hudson.
Filed under Flashback!, Saturday Night Live, Yvonne Hudson
‘The Office’: Who Are These People???
With a new The Office tonight, we wanted to repost, by itself, the Office then-and-now comparisons we included in last week’s recap. We felt it deserved its own moment in the sun.
The transformation of Dwight [in last week’s episode] reminded us of a troubling trend within the show itself. While this episode showed Dwight being made over into a glasses-less, monochromatic tie-free aristocrat, The Office has to some degree been making over Dwight and its other characters over the course of its run. Characters should grow and change and evolve, but it should always serve the story. However, if you look at the physical appearances of the actors, they look more glamorous and polished now than they did at the start of the series, and not necessarily because the characters have improved their style. It’s a concerning phenomenon, and we hope it doesn’t point to the actors themselves, the stars of the shows, objecting to the dour, depressing style that defined the early seasons of the show and its progenitor. Behold, a side-by-side comparison:
Like we said, characters change, that’s a given. Their looks, their hairstyle, their clothes, their personality all change. We want that. We don’t want static characters. That’s lesson #1. But, at the same time, it would be disappointing if the appearance of these characters is due in part to the actors’ vanity. Are we seeing Jim Halpert or John Krasinski? The UK original was known for its gritty look, an anti-network sheen, bordering on depressing. And the first two seasons of the American version adhered to this (albeit in a less severe form), allowing for somewhat schlubby characters and grubby visuals (as much as network TV allows). But over time that’s changed, and the show glistens now in a way it didn’t before. And in some respects the storylines and tone have changed as well, gussied up and simplified. Now the show doesn’t need to return to its original look, throw out the new wardrobe and ban make-up. But it needs to remember where it came from. And where it originally was going.
Jumped The Snark 