‘Saturday Night Live’ review: Big Bird, ‘Long Island Medium,’ and Daniel Craig try
“Saturday Night Live” really can be described in one way this week: a mixed bag. There were some elements of the show that were really rather entertaining, but there were also some moments where we really had no idea at all just what the show was doing. Often, it harped on the same topics far longer than it needed to … and does anyone else think that handling the same Presidential debate on three separate occasions was a little bit much?
As for the host, Daniel Craig was more or less a ghost throughout the show. We really didn’t see him that often in the early part of the show, and by and large, his bright moments showed that he was really underutilized in the grand scheme of things. We’ll start with the highlights here, and they really come from all across the board this week.
“Weekend Update” in general – Overall, this was one of the best editions of the show that they have had all season long. Seth Meyers’ jokes were mostly roll-on-the-floor funny, and we also had a welcome surprise of Big Bird making an appearance to talk about Mitt Romney dissing “Sesame Street.” Was it really that funny? No, but we love the fact that Big Bird decided to appear in the first place here.
The “Long Island Medium” and James Bond sketches – The two best video pieces of the week were both completely random and completely relevant. The Bond sketch gave us the opportunity to see Craig alongside a hilarious Lea Michele impersonation; meanwhile, the “Long Island Medium” sketch was really just a spot-on look at the sort of things that we are feeling whenever we are watching Theresa Caputo’s TLC show.
Regine and Daniel Craig – This was really the surprise of the night for us. At first, Fred Armisen in drag playing Craig’s new girlfriend was dumb and really just a waste of time. But as the two poured on the PDA and talked about art in front of a bunch of people who could care less, it gradually became funnier and funnier. This is one of Armisen’s best characters, and we hope to see her turn up again at some point in the future. Not bad for a sketch that was actually later in the show.
As for what really didn’t work for this week’s show, the answer really is “everything else.” While we applaud “SNL” for actually going at Obama this week and making the show a little more balanced politically (which is good for comedy regardless of your affiliation), we would be willing to wager that at least half of the show revolved around this. There are other things going on in the world, people!
Even for some of the other sketches featuring Craig, many of them mostly fell short despite his best efforts. The construction worker sketch early in the show was really bad writing, and the “British sitcom” never really went anywhere. Even Muse felt a little bit underwhelming as the musical guest, save for that awesome iPad / guitar thing that one of their musicians was playing.
Overall, this was not a great “Saturday Night Live,” though it was also not horrible. It’s just starting to really take its toll that we are missing some great performers like Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg, and the lack of notable moments for the newbies, couple with the hosts not getting to do as much as we would like, really are making this far from the same exciting show it was last season.
PC
October 7, 2012 @ 10:47 pm
Oh, this episode was very dissappointing. I had such high hopes after last week but again, SNL writing is bordering on high school material. Some credit to the cast to try to make it work, but even they stumbled and presented as if they were trying to just get through the show. Seriously, was big bird that much of a treat? I can watch BB anytime. A kitten was the saving grace? Yet another skit with men on men? How about something worthy? Grade: D-
Eunice
October 7, 2012 @ 1:10 pm
As much as I looked forward to Craig, comedy isn’t his strong suit. He was awkward the whole show, starting with walking out on stage & rushing the monologue. And yes, not knowing his lines & flubbing them repeatedly takes away a great deal. He made the effort, but it didn’t work. Also surprised at how small & aged he looked. Too much felt like missed opportunity, including Big Bird. But I liked Kate McKinnon’s efforts – she’s great.
Dan
October 7, 2012 @ 8:00 am
I thought it was a good episode, the Space shuttle sketch had me in stitches and reminded me of MadTV’s golden years. The British sitcom was horribly funny with the cast struggling with their accents. Armisen’s drag performance was hilarious and pushed the lines of indecent exposure.
The construction worker sketch was bad, but the rest of the sketches balanced it out. I rarely laugh at SNL, but this episode is a keeper.
Jay
October 7, 2012 @ 7:42 am
This was the worst show since January Jones hosted a few years ago. The Maddow sketch was the only “winner” for me personally, and even that was at best a 7 out of 10. As for why Craig was “under utilized”, I believe we must have been watching two different shows. He was dreadful. There was not one sketch in which he actually memorized a line or felt like he was even remotely close to knowing what was going on. He was an afterthought in most sketches because someone working for SNL had to of noticed this in the days leading up to the show or during the dress rehearsal.
This brings me to the low point of the show and the season (granted only 3 episodes so far), the kitty in space sketch. Craig flubbed a line FOUR different times in just this one sketch. Bobby Moynihan tried to save it with a poor mans Chris Farley take on the central kitty loving Kirby but with Craig’s painful fumbles, and no real jokes besides Moynihan’s weird voice the sketch seemed like an funny idea executed in the worst possible manner. It felt like Moynihan made the Kirby voice around the office, which probably garnered a numbers of laughs, and then someone higher up the chain made the call to write an entire sketch around it. How it got to be a kitty lover in space with some generic streotypes to play the other members of the crew I’ll never know.
It seems the biggest flaw of this season as a whole so far isn’t the hole left by departing cast members, as Kate McKinnon and Jay Pharoh have impressed with increased roles, but the overall shotty writing in sketches. In three shows only one sketch so far, the puppet sketch, has come off as something one would deem memorable, and that may just be because of the brillance of Bill Hader. Everything else has seemed rushed to air. Not surprisingly, the best works other than the puppet sketch have been the pre taped bits. Maybe this transition year has been hard on the writers to find what works best for the younger cast members. Maybe the busy schedules of the veterans is making them rely on greener members for more sketches than usual. Maybe this is the fallout of having the last number of years seem like the Kristen Wigg show, with the writers unable to adjust to a show without her. Maybe Lourne is losing his touch of what is considered funny these days, and can only revert back to topical humor to save a show. Whatever it is with this writing and the quality of sketches, it needs to improve quickly or the gems still left (Hader, Thompson, Sudeikis) will soon be jumping ship to pursue better projects.