SNL isn’t a show where people tend to flock to it because of the high quality - some of the most acclaimed periods in hindsight like the late ‘80s or the cast with Bill Hader/Kristen Wiig/Sudeikis/etc. were not that well-rated. Usually stunts and political material give them short-term boosts. 

I can see premieres and finales and the Christmas shows being seen as pivotal. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard the second episode of the season being described that way. I remember Awkafina being lumbered with a pretty rote episode.

I thought he did a pretty good job.

The self-promotion and family being shoehorned in was one of those moments where you expect it, you say, “Well I expected that, it’s OK,” then stop and think, “Wait, why am I giving it a pass?” In this case the family sketches managed to give me a few laughs (some not intentional...), and the cast was working hard to…

That’s all fake, rather than live performance. That’s one of the reasons she did so poorly on Dancing With the Stars a decade ago. It’s also why I expect her to feel much more lifeless in this episode than she did. This seems to be a nice cast who get along well. I guess they made her feel welcome. The vibes in this…

I felt like we got the right amount of Kenan (especially as he had some big parts in last week’s episode) and Ego also got a good pre-tape (she was also in a lot of last week’s show). I do think Bowen was poorly used (he had a cut sketch you may enjoy - I’m not sure). My main issue was having so much Aidy just doing…

The funny part is 2012 was around the time SNL got these types of comments over Kristen Wiig leaving. Some things never change.

I also miss Beck, and I think the show misses him too (his parts seem to be divided into three - Jason, Alex, and Aristotle). I think if the writing ever improves then the rest of the male cast can take up more of his weight.

I think Update suffers when they don’t have a big news story to talk on, but Jost and Che usually manage to carry it off. I think having two Update guests who were similar wasn’t the best idea, although the individual performances were very good (in Heidi’s case the performance was everything). I never thought they’d…

This is one of those episodes where I’m not sure if I am judging by lowered expectations or if I was judging that harshly just because of the person’s path to being famous. Owen Wilson is a much more likeable presence and has a better body of work, but I’m not entirely sure I’d say he was much better than Kim as a…

Even at the time this felt like a very ships-passing-in-the-night film. Meg Ryan faced the usual culprits for women her age in Hollywood, but even beyond those constraints, she felt very burnt out, and no longer connected with most of her roles. Jackman was still a shiny new toy, even if he was (and always will be)…

The one that always kind of gets me is Vicki on Doctor Who, who finds true love and decides to leave the TARDIS...during the Trojan War. Good luck there. Maureen O’Brian was fired and did not find out it was her exit until she got the scripts, I believe. At least Maureen got some good audio book material out of…

Nick Mohammed did an excellent job in a very difficult part, made doubly difficult because he was basically the only  villainous character in the season, a side from a wicked ex  and  bad dads who popped up here and there. The end  scene with Nate and Ted reflected on something I wish they’d done with a few other …

Similar to Robin Williams, I kind of prefer Carell in drama, but he has chosen many poor vehicles. 

When I saw “Dani fights the Queen” my mind went to another show entirely...(I know the spelling is different)

“The thing is, though, all the stuff you’re talking about skipping over that we can just fill in the blanks on? That’s the stuff that made the show great in season 1. It was great in how it didn’t skip over the process at all, and that made for steady and plausible plotting— it made Ted’s journey to winning over the…

“You’re not wrong that writing criticism is a personal journey, but there’s no such thing as overthinking a show.”

Yes, most of what I see is a mix of jeering/easy jokes and genuine concern. I think some people have also become wary of the “look what a stud ____ now is” genre of publicity, especially when it leads to such drastic body changes. 

I was watching BB at the time, and the context was that she was turning against her alliance partners and not really bothering to hide it. So when one of the people she was now starting to work with said something, she had this reaction. It was probably meant as fake, to send a message to her old group. It just looks…

For as much talk as cast changes get (seemingly more and more with each season), other than the first 5 or 10 years of the show, I’m not sure how often the cast has been a part of why the ratings are what they are. Starting around 1988 you have Lorne putting a lot of focus on election coverage, and then a few years…