The Saturday Night Live thread

[ChesterCopperpot]

39th season kicks off with Tina Fey and Arcade Fire on September 28th

 

Miley Cyrus hosts the second week and will be followed by Bruce Willis and Katy Perry on October 12th

[TimWresPowr]

Have any new cast members been announced?  I know some left after last season including Armisen & Hader, right?

[jaedmc]

Sounds like they're bringing in several: http://splitsider.com/2013/08/here-are-your-new-snl-featured-players/

[Ace]

Is Seth Myers gone as well? Or is he going to do SNL before moving down the two floors to Late Night?

[jaedmc]

Meyers is on for the first half of the season and then he's off to prep for Late Night.

 

So we get a new Weekend Updater. That should be exciting. I'm wondering if the Michael Patrick O'Brien, who was a writer that becomes a featured this year, is replacing Seth. The rest of the cast feel a little too character actory to be the Weekend Update person. Maybe Kate McKinnon or Taran Killam but they probably want them for the rest of the show.

[ChesterCopperpot]

Jason Sudeikis is gone as well

[LooseCannon]

Based on who has gotten the job in the past, co-head writer Colin Jost seems like a decent bet for the new Weekend Update anchor.

[JonnyLaw]

I can see Beck Bennett doing Weekend Update.

[EVA]

Ugh. I really hope the Weekend Update job doesn't turn into a showcase for the head writer. It worked for Tina Fey because she fit the role. I like Seth Meyers decent enough, but he never really fit the part to me. Too much winking and smirking and laughing at his own jokes.

The guy from the AT&T commercials comes off perfect for it.

[LooseCannon]

I could see Keenan Thompson in that role.

[Ace]

And it's official. For the first half of the season, WU will be Seth Meyers and Cecily Strong.

[EVA]

First half of the show was a HHH-calibre burial of the new cast members. Hilarious.

[Josh Mann]

I don't know where the "Feature Player or Arcade Fire" sketch ended and the Arcade Fire segment began.

[insidecradle]

I'm not a Tina Fey hater to the point that I want to use the word hate. This post will sound that way to some but its just my opinion. I do respect her for writing and such but am just not a fan of her on screen. Not on 30 rock, definately not Weekend Update, and most of all her random appearances with Amy Poeler ie the Emmys. That being said I knew I wouldn't much care for the season opener. The Girls bit wasn't too bad, like most early segments, but I actually started fast forwarding after the Arcade Fire set. Again not a fan of them but the way they "dance" in all of their appearances on snl have been comical. The airport scene had one funny part in it and it was a flatulence joke, which I'm sure will be used as a basis of my poor sense of humor. Hey at least we had Drunk Uncle......again my humor.

[Josh Mann]

Also, if there were already three Aaron Paul-as-Jesse Pinkman run-ins, would one more during the 12:50 porn girls sketch really have been a bad thing?

[EVA]

It's like Lorne realized he whiffed on the cultural zeitgeist by not having Cranston or Paul on to host and dictated that Paul should be in as many sketches as possible.

[odessasteps]

I could see NBC not wanting to give so much promotion to another channel the day before their final episode.

Perhaps better to have them host next week.

[SovietShooter]

It's like Lorne realized he whiffed on the cultural zeitgeist by not having Cranston or Paul on to host and dictated that Paul should be in as many sketches as possible.

 

Not only that, but it was a one-trick pony.  Paul as Jesse in the Obama sketch was a surprise, and got the pop it deserved. But the next two times, it was just the same basic premise.  If you are gonna have Paul there for the whole show, and in three sketches, why not just have him play a different character.  For example, he easily could have been Fay's "lifeline" in the "Cast Member or Arcade Fire" sketch instead or Lorne. 

 

I could see NBC not wanting to give so much promotion to another channel the day before their final episode.Perhaps better to have them host next week.

 

Next week they have Miley Cyrus. 

[EVA]

I could see NBC not wanting to give so much promotion to another channel the day before their final episode.

That might make sense if NBC had original programming competing against BREAKIN BAD tonight. But they have the NFL on Sunday nights. BB isn't a threat to that, at all.

[EVA]

It was interesting to see how the show slotted the new guys into the roles of departed cast members. They're clearly setting up Beck Bennett in the Jason Sudeikis "everyman" role. And Kyle Mooney seems to be the new Fred Armisen postmodern humorist who isn't funny but you're supposed to appreciate how precise he is at being not-funny.

[offspring515]

Used car sketch was ok, porn chicks was ok, The Girls thing was funny but I'm completely unfamiliar with the show so it didn't really hit for me the way it did for a lot of people.  Obama bit was flat, monologue was bad, airport thing had two funny jokes (giant suitcase, farting guy).  I liked Weekend Update, I'm a sucker for Drunk Uncle.

[EVA]

I was underwhelmed by Cecily Strong's first turn at the Update desk, but we'll see how she develops.

[TimWresPowr]

I thought the new female did well along with Beck and Mike O'Brien, the rest were largely invisible or openly bad (that big haired guy that did the comedian bit on WU).  I liked Used Cars, the porn girls sketch, and Drunk Uncle was the highlight.  I didn't think the opening sketch was that bad, it had it's moments.  I'm so out of touch w/ pop culture I had to go online to see who the guy was that got the huge pop.  I'm also completely unfamiliar with Arcade Fire.  Are they popular?  What is it about their random oddness or the creepy big heads or is that exactly what their appeal is that it is so random and "creative"?  I thought Cecily Strong did a good job on the news, glad she's being rewarded with a higher profile but sad we won't see the drunk girl at the party character anymore.  There wasn't a whole lot "newsworthy" over the summer to make fun of I guess so this was kind of a lackluster show.  I'm in fear of how much of a trainwreck the Miley Cyrus episode next week will be.

[The Z]

Wow, Meyers and Thompson are now the only cast members who've been there for more than five seasons and Meyers will leave the show during the season.

 

I'm surprised you can already differentiate between the new cast members.

I liked the guy who was in the e-meth sketch.

[Mookieghana]

My favorite was Bobby Moynihan's face during the airplane sketch. And the sight gag.