SNL Scorecard: Did the Rookies Save Gwyneth Paltrow's Show?
The Bad
"CNN Spitzer Auditions" (Hader, Armisen, Paltrow, Pedrad): A very odd last sketch of the night because of how straitlaced it was. After all, the concluding sketch often houses some of the craziest ideas -- and I was especially interested after the back-to-back-to-back "Fresh Prince," "Shakespeare," "ESPN" trifecta. Then, out of nowhere, comes this thing that would have been more suitable as a lame cold open. I don't get it.
Score: 5.5
"Fox News Cold Open" (Sudeikis, Hader, Wiig): Hey, speaking of lame cold opens... Also it was nice to see Abby Elliott appear for five seconds -- and that would pretty much be the last we would see of her all night. Look, I think Sudeikis's Glenn Beck is top notch, as well as Hader's James Carville. It just didn't work in this sketch that just came off as a disjointed mess -- a trait that is becoming commonplace in the cold opens this season for whatever reason.
Score: 5.0
"Gwyneth Paltrow Monologue" (Sudeikis, Cee Lo Green): This was just an odd monologue that was attempting to do a couple of things and, instead, just fell flat. What started as a play on Gwyneth Paltrow's lack of country music knowledge (with Sudeikis as Kenny Rogers) quickly tuned into, "Hey, viewers, it's Paltrow and Cee Lo Green on stage together -- they have both sung popular versions of "F*ck You." Oh, aren't you excited... what are they going to do now?" Sing "Islands in the Stream," that's what. I hate it when SNL is patronizing. Especially when they're patronizing with no payoff.
Score: 4.5
"Bar Mitzvah" (Armisen, Bayer, Ensemble): Why even have a sketch premise? Sure, last week, with "Soul Train" they pulled it off, but this was so obviously just an excuse so that cast-members could do some musical impressions. Why not just announce to the audience, "Now we are going to do some musical impressions"? At least if they did that there would be some honesty in the proceedings as opposed to, "Yeah, seriously, this is a Bar Mitzvah and we just happen to have some amazing musical guests -- ladies and gentleman... Jay-Z!"
Score: 3.5
"Record Meeting" (Paltrow, Cee Lo Green, Sudeikis, Samberg): Again, we get it: Cee Lo Green's hit has a bad word in the title. I mean, I see what they were trying to do here: Instead of just trotting Cee Lo out on stage to sing his song with the word "forget" in the title with no explanation, they tried to add some edge by owning the word "forget." It didn't work. I mean, it's 2011, we get it -- he says a word that can't air on broadcast television. It's time to move on. Though congrats for no one pulling a Jenny Slate and actually dropping the word on live television. Something about this sketch that segued directly into the musical performance had a "Bob Hope variety show" feel to it. I don't mean that in a good way.
Score: 3.0
The Ugly
"Secret Word" (Wiig, Paltrow, Thompson, Killam): I usually enjoy SNL's game show parodies, but, this one, that has now aired multiple times, goes absolutely nowhere. Kristen Wiig says the secret word as we clue. Right, we get it. It's not so much the sketch itself that puts it into the "Ugly" category, but it's more the fact that it got such a prime, post-monologue, slot when there were so many great and original sketches buried at the end of the show.
Score: 2.5
Average Score For This Show: 5.88
Weekly Host Scorecard:
· Jeff Bridges 6.21
· Amy Poehler 6.04
· Anne Hathaway 6.00
· Emma Stone 5.88
· Gwyneth Paltrow 5.88
· Jon Hamm 5.86
· Paul Rudd 5.83
· Robert De Niro 5.83
· Jim Carrey 5.80
· Bryan Cranston 5.79
· Jane Lynch 5.31
· Scarlett Johansson 4.69
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Comments
frankly, u don't seem to enjoy SNL at all.....so don't watch it.
Wait, what?
That was not me, FYI!
Also, I pretty much agree with you this week. Loved the Pee Wee DS but I'm a bit creeped out by him being nearly 60 and acting so childishly.
Honestly, I thought that he was maybe in his early 50s. I was pretty shocked that he's pushing 60.
It was refreshing to see SNL give their newest additions the opportunity to showcase themselves more than usual. It's something a lot of viewers have been waiting for all season and I certainly was not disappointed.
Honestly, the ESPN sketch was not funny at all. They get points for actually speaking Spanish as opposed to making up gibberish, but it was just blah.
Compared to most episodes this season last nights was great. Gwyneth was so so. The veteran cast was pretty good. And the rookies were great. I even enjoyed Bayer as the barmitzvah boy, although it wasn't the best sketch. I think 'Shakespeare Previews' was my favorite of all the rookie sketches.
I also agree with you about Update. Seth Myers definitely brought his A game this week. Hader as Cher was terrifying and hilarious. Garth and Kat are always the highlight of any episode they appear in. Having said that, Gwyneth almost ruined this one for me. The only reason why the sketch ever worked so well is because Kristen plays off of Fred with such perfect timing. Gwyneth's timing was off.
Oh, and the PeeWee/Samberg Digital Short was priceless. That's what, 4 solid Shorts in a row?
Haven't watched yet. But I already know I'll be fast forwarding through the always unwatchable Garth and Kat.
I somewhat agree on the cold opening. In fact, it might have been better had they, and I don't say this often about SNL, milked it a lot more. It could easily have gone on for several more minutes, as the poor Fox-News hosts would find themselves tortured by CNN and MSNBC hosts, until they snapped. As it is, it feels like it is just the first half of the complete sketch. That said, I did like it, and would perhaps have placed it as the lowest of the good sketches.
I could honestly watch Kenan do his Jimmy McMillan schtick for hours. Definitely would rather have seen McMillan talk for twice as long than see yet another (what was it, the 5th or 6th?) way-too-long Garth & Kat bit.
During the Bar Mitzvah, as soon as Armisen said "Taylor Swift", I spent the rest of the sketch wondering why Bayer was playing the kid instead of Swift. Is her pretty-good Swift act going to be restricted to the one-note talk show sketch?
In other news, I didn't realize until the show that Cee Lo was so good, or that his band of models was so good.
Oh, almost forgot: Can somebody PLEASE get Summer Glau back on TV right away after The Cape gets cancelled?
After watching the episode all I can say is "Who the f*ck is Cee Lo?" Seriously, he walked around the SNL studio like he owned the joint and ended up in 3 bits. Usually SNL only does this to the iconic musicians that are on the show, but I'm sorry, Cee Lo is not iconic.
Its great that they are doing so much for the United Negro Fund.