Hey readers and fellow Saturday Night Live fans!
Welcome to Season 40! I know you’re
probably just as excited as me for the start of a new SNL season. Even with the reruns of episodes from last season and
past seasons along with a Word document full of old sketches and monologues, I
still crave for new episodes and new material. Over the summer, I was
constantly checking for any SNL-related
news regarding cast changes and possible hosts. Along the lines of cast
changes, I even went as far as to list predictions of which cast members would
stay and which would go. My predictions were so accurate, it was scary. Those changes
include:
· 1) Nasim Pedrad
leaving after five years to focus on the Fox sitcom Mulaney which is produced by Lorne Michaels.
· 2) John Milhiser,
Noël Wells, Brooks Wheelan, and Mike O’Brien leave the cast after one season
(though the latter will return as a writer).
· 3) Michael Che
replaces Cecily Strong at Weekend Update
though Strong will remain in the cast. Colin Jost and Michael Che are the first
male Weekend Update duo and Che is
the first African American anchor.
· 4) Former cast
member Darrell Hammond returns as the show’s new announcer after the death of
longtime announcer Don Pardo, who passed away in August at the age of 96.
· 5) Pete Davidson
joins the cast and is the first cast member born in the 1990s
Show
Rundown
State
of the Union Cold Open:
I thought the cold open was pretty good.
One of the best moves I think was made was putting Aidy in the cold open since
she’s been a little underused since joining the show. By the cheers of the
audience, you could tell the audience was excited for the start of the new
season. The use of the NFL scandal in the cold open was a little expected since
this is one of the top stories in the news. Kenan and Jay both played very
funny impressions of Ray Lewis and Shannon Sharpe, respectively. I don’t know
much about Ray Lewis or Shannon Sharpe but the impressions were very funny. Aidy
did a great job despite some line flubs but I think she played them off pretty
well. The use of the host in the cold open is kind of unusual but I feel in
this case it felt necessary. After seeing Chris Pratt play a seemingly accurate
role of the NFL Commissioner, I don’t know if I could see one of the other cast
members in that role. At the end of the sketch, I felt that Aidy shared in the
excitement for the new season when saying the famous line “Live from New York,
it’s Saturday Night!”
Opening
Credits:
I’m not going to mention the opening
credits every time, only because it’s the first episode of the season. I thought they were better than the last
season because I like seeing the cast members out and about the city instead of
only seeing a still picture. The updated logo in the beginning looked nice
against the New York City background. Something else that I found nice about
the opening credits came when Cecily Strong was introduced in the credits.
After new announcer Darrell Hammond introduced Cecily, the opening cut to
Cecily holding her dog, Lucy, and Cecily giving her a kiss. A tender moment
between a dog and her owner. As mentioned earlier, Darrell Hammond became the
new announcer for SNL. He did a good
job but it felt like the music was overpowering and made it difficult to hear
Hammond. Although I thought Hammond did a good job, it will be very difficult,
if impossible, to replace Don Pardo.
Chris
Pratt Monologue:
I thought the monologue was okay.
Something I loved about it was the Chris Farley reference with Pratt saying at
one time in his life he “lived in a van down by the river.” I’m not very familiar
with Chris Pratt so I didn’t know what to expect from his monologue. That being
said, I wasn’t expecting a musical monologue. Also, I thought his wife, Anna
Faris, showing up in the monologue was expected. I do think Chris Pratt is a
funny guy but I wasn’t a huge fan of the monologue.
Cialis
Turnt Commercial:
I’m still trying to figure out what I
want to say about this parody. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting a commercial parody
after the monologue since that hasn’t happened for a few seasons. Some of the
highlights of this sketch involved Aidy just being Aidy and Cecily and Taran
with a stripper pole. To me, this parody was a weird kind of funny. It was good
but it wasn’t one of my favorites of the night.
He-Man
and Lion-O:
This was a sketch that I thought was
just okay. I wasn’t a big fan of the humor of this sketch. In the beginning, I
almost felt bad for Kyle Mooney’s character, Danny. I felt his character had
some similarities to his character in the “Camp Wicawabe” sketch from the
finale last season. I felt like this sketch was an over sexualized version of Toy Story, especially with the
crotch-patting parts of the sketch. Two parts of the sketch I liked: Ariana
Grande’s cameo and Cecily Strong’s accurate portrayal of an overdramatic
sister.
Animal
Hospital:
I didn’t this would ever be a recurring
sketch. This time around, I felt the sketch was a little redundant. Though when
Kate’s character said the bird was “bird-ered” and the turtle was “turt-ered,”
they were probably the highlights of the sketch. Basically, Kate made the
entire sketch.
“Marvel”
Trailer:
Although I haven’t seen many of the
Marvel superhero movies, I would actually pay to see these movies if they were
ever made. This short seems to fit a lot of stereotypes with superhero movies.
Ariana
Grande “Break Free” performance:
I thought this performance was really
great. I loved how Ariana started the song at the piano and then at the start
of the second verse the song went to full speed as a high-energized song.
Weekend
Update:
As we say goodbye to Cecily Strong as an
anchor, we welcome Michael Che to the desk. Che does a great job at his first
show as anchor, even playing off well some line flubs that may have well been
from nerves. Also, Colin Jost seems to be better this time around than last
season but there is always some room for improvement. For this installment of Weekend Update, it really should have
been renamed “The Return of ‘The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a
Conversation with at a Party.’” Of course I’m sad to see Cecily leave the Update desk but I’m so happy her popular
character is back. I love this character but I felt she was a little nervous
getting back into character after having not doing it for a season.
Nevertheless, it’s still the same character that we have all come to know and
love. I was also excited to see the return of SNL writer Leslie Jones. I really hope she’ll be on a couple more
episodes on Update. I think she’s
been a great addition to SNL altogether.
New cast member Pete Davidson did great in his SNL debut. Davidson shows that he’s a funny guy and there will be
more to come from him. The “Cheer Up, President Obama” segment at the end has
now become the new “Really?! With Seth and Amy.” Kenan singing “Ooh Child” was
a good addition for this segment to go along with the jokes. Overall, Weekend Update was good and I can’t wait
to see more from Che and Jost. The new set and new intro were also a nice touch
to the sketch. SNL also paid a
tribute to the late announcer Don Pardo at the end of the sketch with a picture
of Pardo shown in silence.
Booty
Rap:
I still don’t know how I feel about this
sketch after seeing this sketch about three times. Seeing Chris Pratt rap with
Aidy Bryant was pretty funny but I guess I didn’t get some of the humor in this
sketch. Though seeing all the girls together in a sketch was a nice touch.
Bad
Boys:
I like the “Good Neighbor” sketches but
they’re not my favorite. I thought this sketch was good at portraying the
stereotypical 90s sitcom. One complaint I had about the sketch was the music was
overpowering and some of the lines weren’t able to be heard very well. Another
thing I didn’t like about the sketch is that one of the little kids had a gun.
I mean, what’s up with that?
NFL
Intros:
This had to be one of the funniest
sketches of the night. I was surprised to see Jost in a sketch and Che and
Jones were a good surprise. Pete Davidson also had some funny characters in
this sketch. Jay Pharoh’s impression of the actor who played the Somali pirate
in Captain Phillips made a return as
an NFL player which was also another good surprise.
Ariana
Grande “Love Me Harder” performance ft. The Weeknd:
I felt the song choice was interesting
since it’s a song many people don’t know well along with a group many people
don’t know. I feel like this song is a new single or a lesser known track on
her new album. Overall, I think Ariana Grande was a good choice as a musical
guest.
Video
Game:
This sketches wasn’t one of my favorites
and it seems like the typical sketch saved for the second half of the show. The
sketch starts off good with a focus group for a new video game and three kids
testing out the game. I wasn’t a huge fan at the full make out session between
Chris Pratt and Vanessa Bayer. Seriously, I had the same reaction as Bobby,
Sasheer, and Pete. I felt like I saw too much “hot tension.” Although, I did
find the reference to Ghost pretty
funny and also Taran holding the bucket of popcorn.
Overall, I thought this episode wasn’t
one of the best episodes I’ve seen but I’m giving SNL the benefit of the doubt since it’s the first episode of the
season. If it was me making the host choice I probably wouldn’t have gone with
Chris Pratt for the season premiere, though he did a good job hosting. I think
that the next two episode, respectively hosted by Sarah Silverman and Bill
Hader, will bring in more viewers. I thought that Michael Che and Pete Davidson
did a great job in their SNL debut
and I can’t wait to see what they’ll do in future episodes.
This has been my take on the season opener
of Saturday Night Live. I’ll be back
next week with my take on the episode hosted by SNL alum and first time host Sarah Silverman and musical guest
Maroon Five. I would love to hear what you guys have to say about the episode,
what you hope to see this season, and anything else regarding SNL. Please feel free to leave comments
but please keep the comments clean. Basically, if you wouldn’t want your
parents to read it then don’t post it in the comments section. Since this
is my first time blogging, feel free to leave me some constructive criticism so
I can improve the blog to make it more enjoyable. I do apologize for this post
being a little lengthy. There’s a lot to write about since it’s the beginning of
a new season. Lastly, please subscribe to the blog and tell everyone you know
to come check it out.
Thanks so much for reading!
Lauren
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