SNL Scorecard: Were Three Mark Zuckerbergs a Charm?
The Bad
"Michelle Bachmann Cold Open" (Wiig): There's nothing technically wrong with this sketch, and picking on Bachmann is always fun, but by the time this aired Bachmann's speech had been a full four days earlier. Not only did the joke feel a little dated, it had been done to death on other outlets like The Daily Show.
Score: 5.5
"Digital Short" (Samberg, Taccone, Schaffer): Am I the only one who feels like that The Lonely Island is trying too hard with this one? It just comes off forced compared to earlier work like "Jizz in My Pants" and "I'm on a Boat." Or maybe "forced" isn't the word; perhaps "predictable"? For some reason, if someone had told me that The Lonely Island's next short would be about three shady guys doing a stalkerish dance, my first reaction would be, "Yep, that sounds about right."
Score: 5.5
"Weekend Update" (Meyers, Armisen, Thompson): The tone seemed off. More than 60 are dead in Egypt as demonstrations still rage; Armisen's comedic portrayal of Egyptian president Honsi Mubarak almost seemed to downplay the situation. Two weeks after handling the Arizona shooting terrifically, "Update" fumbled this one. Of course it should have been comically addressed, but a wacky Fred Armisen interpretation was not the right way to go about it. Also, with Kenan Thompson as Tyler Perry promoting I Can Do Internet All By Myself, this site's resident Perryologist said it best in a memo this morning: "Enh, too easy." (Though I did love his line when praising Eisenberg's performance in Adventureland as "a young man [who] is sad because he has a job.")
Score: 5.5
"Estro-maxx" (Hader, Brittain, Armisen, Moynihan): Everyone knows that no one is better at doing "commercial voice" than Bill Hader. Perhaps that's why he's getting gigs in real commercials these days. But... yeah: Dudes dressed in drag. There's not much going on here except for Brittain's fairly wonderful mustache.
Score: 5.0
"MTV Skins" (Samberg, Eisenberg, Elliott, Brittain): SNL takes on MTV's controversial teen debauch Skins. The sketch focuses on the abundance of product placement, but this effort just feels like a lost opportunity considering the wealth of material surrounding this show.
Score: 4.0
The Ugly
"Spa Talk" (Wiig, Thompson, Elliott) Kristen Wiig apparently has a new eccentric character. Awesome? Actually, this clip is worth watching just to observe the fairly awkward lack of laughter for over five minutes. "Spa Talk" ranks as one of the worst and most unnecessary sketches of the year.
Score: 1.0
Average Score For This Show: 5.79
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
· Jesse Eisenberg 5.79
· Bryan Cranston 5.79
· Jane Lynch 5.31
· Scarlett Johansson 4.69
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Comments
The score for Skins and Spa talk must be higher, maybe because this episode finally got me a crush on Eisenberg.
Exactly right about The Creep. That was too forced, not good. "Hey, Nicki Minaj wants to do a verse on our song? Go for it!"
Why can't SNL be funny again? =(
I thought this was maybe the best episode of the year. Seth was on fire during WU (though the commentaries weren't the best), and I liked Spa Talk because Wiig was playing a subtly eccentric character rather than over-the-top crazy and annoying. Eisenberg was better than I expected. Only Don't Forget the Lyrics fell flat for me.
See, I think that's why I'm disappointed. I agree, Eisenberg was good and seemed up for anything. It seemed they didn't think of much for him to do other than "meet Mark Zuckerberg." I liked "Don't Forget the Lyrics" because it let Jesse be the focus of the sketch.
Also, Meyers was good but both segments killed "Update" for me.
mike ryan, you have absolutely high expectations!
1. I didn't know that Zuckerberg would be on, nor do I care.
2. Last new episode I asked who the hell is Cee Lo Green. Now I ask who the hell is Nikki Minaj? What's up with all the crappy musical guests getting sketch time?
3. Off topic in terms of this week, but DeNiro's two line cameo on 30 Rock this week was light years better than anything he had to work with in a 90 minute show on SNL a couple of weeks ago.
This was one of the better episodes of the season. They wrote skits to the host's strengths. (El Shrinko, Spa Talk, and the opening were the worst of the night). The numbering system is flawed when the Hamm, Paltrow, Rudd, Stone and DeNiro episodes are ranked higher than this one.
Worst of the night was definitely Estro-maxx. It just went nowhere at all. The Digital Short at least had John Waters's bookends going for it; similarly 'Skins' had Samberg's excellent bookends. Heck, even Spa Talk made me laugh more than Estro-maxx did.
And I actually liked every moment of this week's Update. It was nice not to have any tabloid characters or Garth & Kat for a change.
When I saw the Mr. Wizard graphic, I somehow knew there would be some kind of sex joke, & it was a huge relief to see that it wasn't Mr. Wizard himself doing it. I don't think my lingering traces of childhood could've taken that hit.
The "Don't Forget the Lyrics" and Herb Welch segments should at least score an 8. They were hilarious!!! "Do the Creep" was OK too, at least a 6!!!
I was preparing for a train wreck but Jesse really impressed me. Loved how game and enthusiastic he was. He seemed like seconds away from laughing in the Herb Welch skit, he was having fun and that's the important thing. Nicki was awesome too. Kudos to everyone for a great show!
Eisenberg, Zuckerberg, Samberg, Michaels... That's one glaringly obvious yet assuredly coincidental all-Jewish name roster in the cold-opener.
Is it just me, or does Samberg look more like Zuckerberg than Zuckerberg himself does?
This was arguably one of the better episodes this season. I was pleasantly surprised by Eisenberg.
why is the U.S. map completely different in close-up on Fred during close-ups? they are obviously cutting together different takes. how is this possible in a live show?