Monthly Archives: November 2010

We’ve made a concerted effort on this blog to do things just a little differently, to present our material in a way that is somehow unique from the dozens of similar sites out there, whether that be reviewing The Office from the perspective of the series as a whole, or comparing Conan O’Brien to President Obama, or finding any excuse to link to an episode of Pete & Pete (like right there, for example).  But sometimes, no matter how hard you to try to keep an eye on the bigger picture you get lost in the details, and you can’t see the forest for the trees.   That’s why it’s always great to have a loyal reader (and good friend) who can fill in the blanks.  And for us, that person is Kieran Walsh.

And, once again, Kieran replied to one of our SNL posts with his own excellent thoughts, expanding on a couple of our points and suggesting some ideas we might have missed.  We’re grateful to have Kieran around reading our posts, clarifying our arguments and providing his own keen insights.  So, without further ado, we’re proud to bring you what we hope is the first of many visits to Kieran’s Korner:

It’s kind of painful to say this, but I think Fred Armisen is now moving into eclipse while Bill Hader is on the ascent.  Manuel Ortiz is a good example.  It’s barely even a sketch – more of a gimmick, and not a particularly funny one, either.  For that matter, it’s waaaay too reminiscent of “What Up With That” to be comfortable (talk show constantly interrupted by dance routine, etc.)  Meanwhile, Bill seems to have found a new level of accessibility by crafting more user-friendly breakout characters (Stefan!)  Perhaps these are the side-effects of dating a scientologist.  Not entirely his fault.  The pop culture pendulum swings wildly.

Don’t really understand Scarlett Johansson.  I mean, in general.   She must be incredibly easy to work with because I don’t really know why SNL and Woody Allen keep going back to her.  I dunno.  She’s just excruciatingly limited.  On the one hand I get the sense that she’s up for anything – but that’s incredibly different from being genuinely good at anything.  Clearly, she’d like to get laughs, but, jeez…

Yes.  Bayer had an incredibly strong show, particularly with the Stars of Tomorrow sketch.  She’s got definite potential.  Pharoah, too, but he really needs his own thing.

I think it’s definitely time for Andy to leave.

Very astute observations on both the Armisen and Johansson fronts.  Regarding Fred, perhaps that’s why he seemed so unenthusiastic during the “Mike’s Busteria” sketch.  And perhaps his character’s recalcitrant disposition on “Update” was a reflection of Armisen’s current displeasure with the show.  Perhaps he feels like he’s stranded at sea with a shrill, prickly Jewish wife.

And as for Johansson, Kieran hits it on the head, and gracefully encapsulates the point we attempted to make in our earlier post.  She’s beautiful.  And it’s not as if she’s January Jones out there (boy, Jones is never going to live that down, is she?).  But as Kieran’s so eloquently notes, Johansson is “excruciatingly limited,” so she must just be a person SNL enjoys having around.  Or maybe she drives up the ratings.  Let us not forget that it’s always about the bottom line.

But, then again, sometimes it’s about the byline.  So look out for more Kieran authored posts in the near future, and maybe a Snark-Walsh debate.  Because if we blog on the web and no one is around to respond does it really post?