Saturday Night Live ended its 36th season this past weekend, and as you know, Movieline tracked the progress of not just the actual live show from week to week, but also each cast member and featured player as well. We certainly weren't going to let all that data go to waste, so we tallied it all together to present now, to you, the complete 2010-11 SNL Relevancy Poll.
Below you'll find:
· Each SNL star's average Relevancy Poll score, derived from 22 weeks of rankings.
· A graph charting the general trajectory of each cast member and featured player over the course of the season, depicting where they began the year, where they ended it, and their showings at crucial milestones throughout.
· And since this is Movieline's official sign-off from our SNL coverage this season, it seemed like an appropriate time to remember each comic's signature sketch from the year past.
[Click below for the full-size image.]
With that, let's discuss the ups, downs, hits, misses, winners and also-rans of Saturday Night Live's 36th season. This time around, we'll work from lowest-ranked to highest-ranked:
Even though Brittain is ranked dead last in this poll, he showed some fascinating glimpses of brilliance over his first season (his "Mother's Day Card" sketch comes to mind). Unfortunately, there were just way too many shows where he would have nothing more than one line. Another shame was that his most memorable sketch of the year, "Sex Ed Vincent," never saw a sequel. Hopefully Lorne Michaels will give us all a chance to see that follow-up next season.
At least Brittain can take solace in the fact that this was his first season. Elliott was promoted to full-time cast member 2010-11 and promptly had a year she most likely will want to forget. Still, when she could actually get some airtime that wasn't "Person on Couch No. 5," she had some great moments.
For me, this was the biggest surprise on the list. I really expected Bayer to be higher than 12th. Bayer gets so much attention for her recurring "Miley Cyrus Show" sketches that it's easy to perceive that she had more airtime than she actually received. The truth is, without "Cyrus," she didn't have a lot going on. Nevertheless, for a featured player to have something as popular as "The Miley Cyrus Show" in her first season -- particularly the edition featuring guest host Cyrus herself as Justin Bieber -- is quite a coup. It would be shocking not to see Bayer back for a second season.
It's interesting that Pharoah's best moment of the season, his parody of Unstoppable, occurred in by far the worst show of the season. If someone asked me with a gun to my head, "Will Jay Pharoah be back next season, yes or no?" My response would be, "How in the world is this a life or death question?" Then, after hearing the gun cock, I would have to say, "No." I was the unofficial leader of his fan club for the first half of the season, but, unfortunately, I'm not sure this is a good fit. I hope I'm wrong (and that I don't get shot).
The highest-ranked rookie on the list, Killam would rank much higher if we could negate some of his dreadful early-season rankings. Killam blended himself into the cast better than any of the new players and, once Jason Sudeikis decides to leave the show, will easily take over the "everyman" role on the show. His "Les Jeunes de Paris" sketches were so bizarre, but unfortunately they never showed up on Hulu so they never got the Internet attention that they deserved.
Nasim Pedrad is the biggest enigma on this list. She's obviously talented, but still doesn't quite get the airtime that she deserves. Most of the time she is in a sketch, it's either as "News Reporter B" (as we saw this past week) or as someone under the age of 16. But, she's still a driving force of the "Kickspit Underground Rock Festival" sketches and, on one glorious night, she felt up Helen Mirren. Like Killam, Pedrad will become more of a force once another cast member -- in this case, Kristin Wiig -- decides to pursue her film career full time.
I root for Bobby Moynihan. Trust me: Some people might care about SNL's history as much as Moynihan -- but no one can possibly care more. After two up and down seasons as a featured player -- though, writing the famous "Single Ladies" sketch can give a boost to one's SNL career -- Moynihan was promoted to cast member this season and, for the first two-thirds, anyhow, was really excelling. Of late, he's been relegated to the background, which hurt him here. His highlight: "Black Friday."
For Kenan, this was the year of Deandre Cole: "What's Up With That?", after premiering in late 2009, officially entered the popular culture lexicon this season. And hey, Ernest Borgnine, the real Lindsey Buckingham and even Boba Fett stopped by this season. But no other cast member could own the show one week and then completely disappear the next show like Kenan Thompson -- so its really no surprise that he's smack dab here right in the middle.
Meyers had a fairly strong season as host of "Weekend Update -- his second as a solo host. Here's the thing about Meyers: Assuming he comes back, he could use a co-anchor. Not that Meyers hasn't been brilliant at times, but Meyers is so good at playing off others, it's just a waste not to have him with a permanent newsdesk partner in crime. In the clip below, just look at the fire he has with Amy Poehler back for one episode. And do you want to know the secret to Stefon? It's Seth Meyers. Without Meyers' everyman banter, Stefon would flounder.
Of course Fred Armisen is going to get his fair share of airtime -- he currently has the Barack Obama gig. What is slightly disappointing about Armisen's season is that there wasn't near enough of his more, shall we say, quirky characters. You know: the ones that piss people off. Nicholas Fehn was, unfortunately, nowhere to be seen this season. And it appears the days of Frondi and Sidecar are gone forever. But! Armisen did bring us the most polarizing sketch of the year -- you probably still have it trapped in your head: "I sent a bottle of sparking apple juice to your house. Did you get it?" Sing along...
Andy Samberg has the ability to save even the worst of shows with his Digital Shorts. This season, however, nothing really set the world on fire like previous installments "Lazy Sunday," "Natalie Portman Rap" or "Dick in a Box." "Stumblin'" comes close -- just for the sight of Paul McCartney singing a song from the Top Gun soundtrack alone. It's not surprising to see Samberg in the two-spot, but it is kind of surprising that he didn't have any bigger viral hits this season.
And your Most Valuable Player for Saturday Night Live's 36th season is... Bill Hader! Admittedly, this wasn't much of a surprise. Of the show's 22 weeks, Hader was ranked first five times and was in the top five a fairly astonishing 16 times. I mean, we know the revelation that Stefon became, but he also unleashed an Alan Alda impression that became popular. Alan Alda! M*A*S*H has been off the air for 28 years! Again, Stefon gets the headlines, but, behold: Hader's best work of the season (and my personal favorite sketch of the season, earning a perfect 10 in that week's Scorecard), "Don' You Go Rounin' Roun to Re Ro."
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