Move Over Betty White, ScarJo, Anne Hathaway, and any other Hollywood starlet, young or old, who had her sights set on hosting SNL. Get in line behind the chocolate chip chomper, the macadamia mastictor, the snickerdoodle scavenger himself, Cookie Monster.
Is there anyone on the Internet these days doing better work than Sesame Street (and that includes my mom’s emails)? After firing off one viral sensation after another, from the Katy Perry-Elmo music video (yes, we thought it was good, clean fun) to a terrific True Blood spoof to a brilliant take on the Old Spice commercials, this one could be their magnum opus. Who would have imagined that the most reliable source for viral video genius in 2010 would be Sesame Street?
SNL, Lorne, you have about a month left in the year to make this happen.
And, realistically, wouldn’t it be amazing if this actually worked? But beyond just the novelty, and joy of seeing Cookie Monster take the stage at Studio 8H, it would be especially poignant for the Muppets, original SNL contributors, to return to the show after 35 years. In many ways it would be a return to the scene of the crime, as their brief run during the first season of SNL was one of Jim Henson’s few failures, with the abstract Muppet segments proving unpopular with audiences. So now, three and a half decades later, and twenty years after Henson’s death, Cookie Monster can make it right. He can bring it full circle. Like a perfect cookie (see what we did there?).
It’ll never happen, but at perhaps Cookie Monster can at least make a cameo. That’d be worlds better than relying on Seth Rogen to play him.
via THE ENTIRETY OF THE INTERNET
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?
Filed under Kieran's Korner, Krebstar, Saturday Night Live
Two weeks back we talked in-depth about Jon Hamm’s third hosting appearance on Saturday Night Live and how in the third go-round we often see a distinct sense of adventure, how the host is now comfortable with the cast, the cast is at ease with the host, they’re all on the same page and are willing to try something that might be hit or miss, but is often still entertaining in the attempt. We also mentioned that this past weekend would be Scarlett Johansson’s third hosting turn, so it’d be interesting to see if she took the same kind of leap as Hamm, or if she settled into a more predictable role, functional, competent but not exceptionally ambitious or outrageous, more along the lines of Drew Barrymore’s SNL resume. Well, it certainly wasn’t the former, but not so much the latter either. We’re kind of confused actually. Cause, really, more than anything, it seemed like a showcase for Johansson’s hair, her sense of style, her brassy broad persona and her variations on NY-NJ accents.
Filed under Analysis, Makes You Think, Saturday Night Live, Yasmine Bleeth
Big news! Last week we passed the 300 post mark! That’s only going to happen once ever, so it’s a pretty big historical event. So, once again, thank you, thank you, thank you, to all those people who search for Miranda Cosgrove, Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift and somehow ended up on this blog. THANK YOU. You guys are the reason we do this.
With us passing the 300 mark, we thought it’d be a good time to do an internal audit to see how we’re doing with our previously stated our goal of 365 posts in 365 days. Unfortunately, the results aren’t very encouraging. With 46 days remaining in 2010 we’re only nearing the 200 post mark for the calendar year, which means to reach our objective we’d need maintain an average output of 3.5 posts per day. However, if you eliminate weekends then that figure climbs to almost 5 posts per day, a number that grows even more daunting when you factor in the upcoming holidays, as well as our week-long vacation in early December. HOWEVER, we’re not throwing in the towel just yet. We might not hit our quota, but we’re going to keep reaching for that brass ring and do our darndest to end 2010 on a high note. A crescendo even.
And just so you don’t think we’re cheating with this post:
Vodpod videos no longer available.Filed under Count Bleh, Saturday Night Live
Don’t forget, Scarlett Johansson returns to Studio 8H for her third hosting turn this weekend. Inevitably, there will be some variation on this sketch (but if Ryan Reynolds pops up again, we won’t complain):
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Did you know that, according to IMDB, ScarJo’s first credited role was as Laura in the 1994 Elijah Wood “family film” North? In his review of that movie, Roger Ebert said “I hated this movie. Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it,” and then later on Siskel & Ebert remarked, “I hate this movie as much as any movie we’ve ever reviewed on the 19 years we’ve been doing this show.” So, you know, check your local listings!
Filed under Just because., Mancrush, Saturday Night Live, The Big Screen, The Worst, Yasmine Bleeth
Sometimes life just hands you a gift, whether it’s turning on the TV in the morning to find Regis inadvertently giving Meryl Streep a heart attack, or turning on the TV at night to witness Anderson Cooper absolutely destroy an opportunistic, insipid politician. So this morning, while brushing out teeth, we flipped on the tube to see what was happening with WFAN’s Boomer & Carton, simulcast on the MSG Network, and, well, our birthday present came early:
TOUCHDOWN!
Enlighten us, Boomer: which play was that?
And speaking of spit-takes, here’s this. And speaking of uncontrollable laughter, there’s that.
Filed under Good Humor, Local Flavor, Marconi & Cheese, Matt Christopher Books, Reeeeeege
We rarely miss a story here at Jumped The Snark. But we dropped the ball yesterday, neglecting to acknowledge yesterday’s milestone 41st anniversary of Sesame Street. Our bad.
So in (belated) honor of the day (which, if we’re not mistaken, is the felt anniversary) here’s one of our favorite Sesame Street clips:
And here’s a pumpkin we carved in homage to Ernie (unfortunately, we neglected to purchase black fabric to create appropriate tuft of black hair):
And we think this is a great excuse to, once again, post The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years, which, looking back, is probably what cemented our love for The Muppets. It provided the necessary Muppet history in the same way that Saturday Night Live: 15th Anniversary Special was a spectacular primer for our nascent 7 year-old brain. We were probably the only kid who listed his two favorite videos as the Muppets 30th anniversary special and 1986 Mets: A Year to Remember.
Congrats, Sesame Street! See you in a year for your 42nd (+ 1 day) birthday! (the glitter anniversary, if we recall correctly)
Well, despite our reminder to you last week, we eagerly arrived home on Monday night only to be severely disappointed when we realized that we had neglected to set our DVR to record the Women of SNL special. We had been looking forward to it ever since Jon Hamm delivered his goodbyes the day before, but the thought never occurred to us that our SNL season pass would not apply to the female-centric primetime special. OUR BAD.
To add to our dismay, neither NBC.com nor Hulu is hosting the full special. However, it appears that the only original material included a few one-on-one interviews and this excellent take on the Real Housewives (we’re going to go ahead and say they’re primarily targeting RH of NJ over the other installments, with Amy Poehler, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Laraine Newman channeling the nascent RH of Beverly Hills via satellite).
Vodpod videos no longer available.Filed under Analysis, Good Humor, Lists, Saturday Night Live, Yasmine Bleeth, Yvonne Hudson
Last week we hypothesized that the Halloween episode of SNL hosted by Jon Hamm would either be the best of the season or the laziest. Hamm, making his third hosting appearance, has already proven to be a go-to, top-notch host, one that brings out the best in the cast and crew. But, on the other hand, what often happens when the show is blessed with a skilled host is that they relax, relying too much on the host’s charm and natural comedic talents (see: Galifiankis, Zach). However, what we were treated to this week was something in between, and something, in hindsight, typical of a third hosting go ’round. During a debut performance the material can often be safe, figuring out if the host has what it takes, a bit of a feeling out process. If that host succeeds, then when he or she comes back for a second stint the crew is energized, knowing that they have someone who will deliver. You could see that confidence, motivation and excitement in Hamm’s second hosting job last winter. But when a host comes back for the three-peat, the crew is now so comfortable and at ease that they’re willing to taking more chances, throwing more caution to the wind. So what you receive is not mainstream yuks and recurring sketches, or weary, unmotivated punchlines and recurring sketches, but a sense of adventure laced with apathy for the viewer. This is what happens when you have a host who no longer needs to prove himself, who has tenure, which is why so many of Alec Baldwin’s shows are peppered with offbeat sketches, some that delight (like last season’s bizarre “Timecrowave“) and some that crash and burn (like “Arizona Evenings” from the same episode). Judging from this past weekend’s show, it seems that Hamm is now in that class.
More: Mustaches, kisses, Rihanna, Star Wars & Sam Kinison! Plus, WHOM did they rip off this week?
Filed under Analysis, Lady Holiday, Makes You Think, Mancrush, Saturday Night Live
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