Monthly Archives: January 2011

Gratuitious Search Term Bait of the Day: Ladies Night

Over on the wonderful Splitsider it’s “Women in Comedy Week,” so perhaps that’s why today we had the search term “best female cast members in snl history.”  If that’s the case, we welcome those readers.  And if that’s not why you’re here, we’re still thrilled to have you.

What would bring you to this site would most likely be a pair of in-depth SNL posts we’ve presented in previous years.  The first, Lorne Michaels Dismisses Michaela Watkins and Casey Wilson & It Makes Sense: SNL Past, Present and Future, we put together in the fall of 2009 to address concerns of SNL restricting its female constituency.  The second, The Real Women of SNL: They are Fambily; Plus: a Totally Unnecessary Look Back at the History of Female Not Yet Ready for Primetime Players, we posted last November following the SNL compilation special celebrating its female cast members, capitalizing on the momentum begun when Betty White hosted earlier in the year.  We think that both posts are two of our best, most informative pieces, so we’re happy to have the chance to link to them again.  And, for further reading, we recommend The Groundbreaking Women of Sketch Comedy, one of contributions to the aforementioned Women of Comedy Week on Slipsider.

And, of course, we’re going to leave you with an SNL sketch focused on the female contingent.  But instead of looking back on the past greats, let’s look forward to the future of women on SNL:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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Filed under Gratuitous Search Term Bait, Saturday Night Live, Yvonne Hudson

Sudeikis Week: JSuds Goes to the NW

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein have created a terrific little sketch comedy show with Portlandia.  The IFC show (executive produced by Lorne Michaels, because the only way an SNL cast member is allowed to do anything away from the show is if Michaels is involved) is a breath of fresh northwest air.  And they made a very savvy choice recruiting Armisen’s SNL castmate Jason Sudeikis for the pilot, casting Sudeikis as successful organic farmer/charismatic cult leader Aliki.  And, as usual, Sudeikis lit up the screen.

Unfortunately, video of his scenes aren’t available, but this should give you an idea:

But go watch the sketches that they have posted, and make sure to watch the new episode tomorrow night!

 

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Filed under Good Humor, Saturday Night Live

‘Saved by the Bell’ Marathon: Day (Afternoon) 2

After a short rest and some more snow shoveling we get back to work:

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Filed under Saved by the Bell, Saved by the Bell Project

They Say It Never Snows In Southern California: A ‘SBTB’ Marathon Update

A 4am progress report.  Slowed, but not stopped, by some serious snow.

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SBTB: One Down, Four To Go

A quick update before we being Saved by the Bell Season 2:

And now pizza!

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Sudeikis Week Continues: Silence Your Falcons

Between Seasons 1 and 2 of Saved by the Bell, here’s a quick one just to keep Jason Sukeikis week going.

Easily the best four seconds from this whole episode:

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Filed under Brilliance, Saturday Night Live

‘Saved by the Bell’ Season 1

Season 1, Disc 1, Episode 1: “Dancing to the Max.

1:03pm: And we’re off!!!

Here we go. No turning back now…

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Filed under Masochism, Saved by the Bell, Saved by the Bell Project

The Day Has Come: The ‘Saved by the Bell’ Marathon Starts Now

The snow is falling outside and we don’t have any plans til Friday night (maybe), so we’ve decided it’s finally time for the Saved by the Bell marathon, something we’ve been planning to do for years.  The day has arrived.

For obvious reasons we’re excluding Good Morning, Miss Bliss, The College Years, and The New Class.  But that still leaves us with 86 episodes, which works out to about 32 hours of Bayside.  We’ve gotten our coffee, picked up some soda, have a couple of bags of Hot Buffalo Wing Pretzel Pieces at the ready, and a half-gallon of Trader Joe’s Coffee Bean Blast ice cream in the freezer.  We’re not sure what will come of this, but check back here for some live blogging and keep an eye on our Twitter for random insights and observations.  And then, hopefully, when all is done we’ll have some kind of thesis, the definitive Saved by the Bell dissertation.

Zack Morris, I’m coming for all your giant cell phones.

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Filed under Saved by the Bell, Saved by the Bell Project

You Don’t Know What You Got ‘Til It’s Gone: Quick Thoughts On Last Week’s NBC Thursday Comedies

 

That’s how we felt about The Office.  As much as we’ve harangued the show this year for underusing or misusing Jim, rendering him no more than the Greek chorus, it turns out that we really need him.  Absent for the entire episode, save the cold open, we kept waiting for the camera to cut to him, to confirm the absurdity of the situation.  But he wasn’t there (Jon Krasinksi off shooting a movie, we assume), and without Jim to ground Michael’s insanity it was a runaway train.  Now, they could still cut back on some of the Jim reaction shots, but as long as Michael is around, we’ll need that balance.

Speaking of Michael, we’ll wonder if we’ll feel the same way when he’s gone.  Because, right now, we’re eager for him to get moving out of Dunder Mifflin.  The act has finally grown tiresome, and it often suffocates the other characters and the show.  We’re sure we’ll miss him, but that doesn’t mean we’ll want him back.  However, Kudos to Mindy Kaling and Craig Robinson for continuing your MVP seasons.

Parks and Recreation, welcome home!  Thank goodness you gave us that season two recap to get us back up to speed (we could have used that for The Office and 30 Rock as well, frankly), and it seems like you haven’t missed a beat.  We think it got a little too broad at times (Andy with April’s new boyfriend, for example), and the overuse of things like the “Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness” worry us, but it’s definitely picking up where it left off, as the second best show of the night.

Which brings us to Community.  Oh how we missed you!  And you were only gone for six weeks.  Don’t stay away that long ever again!  You guys came back from the Christmas break without any rust, setting up what we can only assume will be an even better second half of season two.  Looking forward to it.  KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

Oh, and Outsourced was awesome (jk!  jk!).

 

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Filed under Analysis, Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam, Good Humor, Greendale Human, Must See TV, We'll Get It In Post

Gratuitous Search Term Bait of the Day: A Heroes Welcome

We’re going to cheat a little tonight.  Our search term for this post is “tom westman heroes,” but, as much as we absolutely adore Lt. Tom Westman, we’ve already welcome him twice to this daily feature.  And, more importantly, there’s bigger Survivor matters at hand right now.  So we’re going to use that search term as an excuse to bring you this, the first official Boston Rob/Russell promo for Redemption Island:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

“I’m going to need a bigger torch” = AMAZING.  Bring it, Probst!

Can.  Not.  Wait.

(Also, quick thought: Are Russell and Boston Rob really Jacob and the Man in Black?  Think about it)

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Filed under Freak Out Control, Gratuitous Search Term Bait, Impatience, LOST, Makes You Think, Tribal Council