Last night's Gwyneth Paltrow-hosted edition of Saturday Night Live used an interesting formula: The first half of the show featured mostly the established cast-members (Kristen Wiig even got to do that Kristen Wiig thing that she does, a rarity as of late), which has been, at best, hit or miss all season. Then, after a notably feisty "Weekend Update," new featured players Jay Pharoah, Taran Killam and Paul Brittain, respectively, gave us three individual sketches that all killed. Were their efforts enough to make this a memorable show? On to the scorecard!
Sketch of the Night
"Digital Short: Andy and Pee-Wee's Night Out" (Samberg, Reubens): If Paul Reubens ever wants to host SNL again (he hosted before on Nov 23, 1985), I'm officially on board. Especially if it involves Andy Samberg and Pee-Wee Herman (want to feel old? He turns 60 next year) downing tequila shots then hitting Anderson Cooper over the head with a chair. Yes, this is bizarre as it sounds.
Score: 9.0
The Good
"Fresh Prince Lost Episodes" (Pharoah, Thompson): Yeah, yeah, I know, Pharoah finally gets some considerable airtime again and, of course, he's doing an impression. Yes, it's still a concern, but if the guy is going to do impressions, I could listen to his Will Smith all night, especially as the Fresh Prince version of Smith. This sketch really isn't that far from the truth; Smith used to be such a terrible actor that he would visibly mouth the dialogue of the other actors so as not to miss his lines. Here, Pharoah's Smith channels Scooby-Doo upon hearing that Carlton had been inappropriately touched by a teacher.
Score: 8.0
"Weekend Update" (Meyers, Armisen, Wiig, Thompson, Hader, Bayer, Pedrad): Perhaps Seth Meyers felt some sort of regret last week for not addressing the shootings in Arizona; perhaps he wasn't allowed to address what happened so soon after the event. Regardless, Meyers came out swinging and was absolutely on fire. It's nice to see "Update" take a relevant stand on an issue and not just be an outlet for quick one-liners. Meyers' rant hit upon the longstanding argument about what the founders would have wanted today when it comes to gun control. As a visibly agitated Meyers notes, being "freaked out by cars" and wondering, "'Why are all the slaves out?' You can groan all you want, but they would think that," would most likely be at the top of their lists of concerns. Where has this Seth Meyers been this season? Also, Garth and Kat, from a technical standpoint, is still one of the most fascinating segments to watch.
Score: 8.0
"ESPN Deportes" (Brittain, Paltrow, Armisen): It's the Spanish-language version of SportsCenter that features anchors who insist on using American accents and slang when pronouncing names and catchphrases like, "POP goes the weasel!" on an NBA dunk. This is just one of those weird sketches that gets funnier the longer it goes on. Great to see Brittain with some quality airtime.
Score: 7.5
"Shakespeare Previews" (Killam, Paltrow, Moynihan, Hader): A revisionist's history look at what would happen if Shakespeare had implemented a never ending stream of coming attractions at the Globe Theatre. It didn't go over well with the Globe crowd (and, unfortunately, it's not on Hulu) UPDATE: a terrible, terrible version is on YouTube, watch at your own risk.
Score: 7.0
"The Cape Promo" (Ensemble): Yes, The Cape is pretty bad. It's never a good sign when a comedy show goes after a new series on its own network. The cape gives this guy magical powers, so, in addition, watch out for future superheroes The Smock and The Spanx, "My secret identity is someone slightly fatter... than this."
Score: 7.0
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