SNL Scorecard: A Waste of a Perfectly Good Jane Lynch
The Bad
"Digital Short: Relaxation Therapy" (Samberg, Lynch): Lynch plays a therapist who inserts herself into all of Samberg's relaxation fantasies. Without Lynch's pitch perfect delivery, this would have ranked a lot lower.
Score: 5.5
"Tax Masters" (Sudeikis, Lynch, Moynihan, Armisen): Bonus points for at least trying something different and for being so weird. The guy on the Tax Masters commercials always speaks in profile. That's because he has a tiny face growing on the other side of his head. Again, bonus points for the attempt.
Score: 5
"The Secret Word" (Wiig, Hader, Armisen, Brittain, Lynch): The most interesting thing about this sketch was wondering if Paul Brittain would actually get to say a line. He did. Barely. Also, the "use the actual answer as the clue" joke has been done before. If Wiig's actress character was her only recurring character on this evening, I would have been fine with that. But oh no, it wasn't.
Score: 4
"Ask Gloria Allred" (Pedrad): Was there any point to this? Gloria Allred was the biggest story of the week, deserving of the cold open? When the beginning of the sketch has to explain exactly who the person in the sketch is and why, just scrap the whole thing. I'm still perplexed by this.
Score: 3.5
The Ugly
"The Suze Orman Show" (Bayer, Elliott, Samberg, Thompson): I can't believe they're still rolling this one out. We get it, Orman is gay. Why is this the source of an unfunny recurring sketch? Please put an end to these. The only thing that makes me cringe more that Wiig as Orman is...
Score: 2.5
"Gilly: Glee" (Wiig, Lynch, Ensemble): This sketch had a date with destiny at the top of the list. And to give credit where it's due, Abby Elliot was a standout. Yet here it is at the bottom. Why? Gilly. Plain and simple. This sketch was going so great as it started, featuring perfect parodies of the Glee characters. Whose idea was it to ruin it with Gilly? Who? I must know! Also, Will Forte is sadly missed in any "Gilly" sketch. After going two weeks with hardly any of Wiig's recurring sketches, tonight we got three of them. Three! Defend it anyway you want, but that's lazy.
Score: 1.5
Average Score For This Show: 5.31
Weekly Host Scorecard:
· Amy Poehler 6.04
· Bryan Cranston 5.79
· Jane Lynch 5.31
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Comments
Good scorecard. Bad episode. It was so disappointing.
I actually think the Christine O'Donnell sketch was good. But what a total waste of Jane Lynch and a Glee parody. She was absolutely, totally game for anything and she played a bunch of moms? Why the hell would they make her the straight woman in the "Returns" sketch? (Which Jay Pharaoah definitely rocked, btw.)
That said, the Digital Short could have gotten so much weirder if it wasn't depending on that whole "Shaun of the Dead" rehashing thing. It wasn't weird enough to rehash and it didn't build enough. Boo. 🙁
I think the jury is still out on Pharaoh. So far, all he's proven is that he's good at YouTube-level impressions of famous black actors that are are too tall and handsome to be played by Keenan (or Fred). I'm withholding judgment until he rolls out a good original character. Speaking of Kenan, his Mercedes was the easy highlight of the "Glee" sketch. I also lol-ed at the exaggerated stupidity of Finn ("What is bee-lieve...?"). The writers completely failed to find anything funny about Rachel, so I wasn't impressed by Abby Elliot.
Right Hulu, there are no life beyond USA... Assholes....
Awful episode.