‘Saturday Night Live’ review: Norman Reedus, Michael Keaton, Batman, CNN, and Beetlejuice (video)

This weekend’s new episode of “Saturday Night Live” is hosted by Michael Keaton, and if you have been around for most of the past thirty years, then you know the man’s pop-culture impact. He is coming off of the success of “Birdman,” but seemed ready and willing at least during the early part of the show to not just rest on those spectacular laurels, and instead do something new.

College Basketball opening – We will start off here by giving “SNL” some credit for being extremely current with their opener. This took place mere minutes after Wisconsin beat Kentucky to make it to the championship game, and the show managed to get the writing up to date. Unfortunately, this entire sketch felt somewhat off-kilter, like they had some other plans that were canceled out at the last minute because of the upset.

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Michael Keaton opening – This was really fun, since it was stuffed full of nostalgia about Batman and Beetlejuice. It was great that he still loves these properties as much as we do, and that he said a few famous lines at the end. Granted, it was really Taran Killam and Bobby Moynihan who really sold this above anyone else.

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CNN – This was brilliant. When we saw the network logo, we were worried, but this managed to be a hysterical spoof of a network that spends so much time with graphics and dramatizations, it barely ever focuses on actual news.

“She’s All That” parody – We never thought in a million years the show would give us a spoof of the Rachel Leigh Cook movie tonight, but that is surprisingly what we received … and it was pretty fun to watch overall.

Grandparents infomercial – We knew that there would be at least one Easter-themed sketch during the night, and this one was really fun. It played off of the fact that grandparents are the constant thorn in the side around the holidays, but calling them can be fun! Well, if nothing else, it can be strange…

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Corporate meeting – The first real miss of the night. Keaton tried to sell being a manic, attention-seeking boss, but the sketch did not have any consistent flow to it. It was almost akin going to a party where one guy demands you watch him non-stop until you leave.

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Neurotology – A really funny send-up of one of those old Scientology videos from the 1990s, complete with ridiculous statements and imagery. What pushed this over the top to us was the little reminders in here of what happened to these people after the video was filmed.

Weekend Update – Well, this edition ultimately pretty great for the most part. It’s weird that the weakest part of it was Pete Davidson’s bit about the zombie apocalypse, which wasn’t really going anywhere until that Norman Reedus cameo as Daryl Dixon. Then, we started to get a few good laughs. Michael Che and Colin Jost are starting to find themselves, and of course, the return of Jebidiah Atkinson was tremendous.

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Smart House – The only way to describe what we saw here was “odd.” We were watching Keaton and Cecily Strong introduce neighbors to their “smart” technology, which was incredibly invasive, strange, and uncomfortable. This added to some of the fun as a viewer. A decent sketch.

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Easter creepiness – There were only two sketches post-update tonight (sort of weird), and this reminded us a ton of one we saw previously with Edward Norton. The funny thing here is that we really did not care for it back when this sketch featured him, but with Keaton it was all sorts of gold to find out how terrible his character truly was, and at a time of year in Easter that is usually either sacred or sweet to many.

We were worried about this being a weak show, especially with a lame cold open and it being the second of three shows in a row. Maybe it was Keaton’s hosting of some good ideas, but we laughed at almost all of the sketches tonight. A nice effort overall. Grade: B+.

What did you think about tonight’s “SNL” episode? Share with a comment, and head over here to get our take on the music tonight! Also, be sure to sign up if you want to get some other TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)