The AV Club had a piece not long ago about how Yellowstone is worth talking about. I feel like there is more interest in trying to use Yellowstone as some sort of political or sociological weapon than there is in actually talking about the show. People had plenty of chance to talk about the show in those features. Yet…

I didn’t think he dragged the last sketch either, I just thought it wasn’t quite in his range compared to a few others. On the one hand I think sketches that are poorly put together and just there to show the whole  cast aren’t the best idea, but on the other hand, it’s also the main way we are going to see most of…

I thought Willem Dafoe was fine. I didn’t really get the idea that he was a dramatic actor incapable of comedy - the one time I could see this was in the final sketch, which I liked, but where he was sort of put into a Walken role when that probably isn’t his style. To me he was genuinely very funny in the Nugenix…

I can see the similarity, more down to how much ITYSL material this past season was in an office setting, but that type of absurdist material is much older than anything Tim has done. SNL was doing office sketches in the ‘90s that someone might say were like ITYSL. I also wouldn’t say they wasted Tim - he was happy to…

I think they did in the ‘90s too, it’s just the Internet wasn’t around in a strong enough form to make the images immediate.

At least Johnny still got to host a truly terrible episode. This wasn’t his fault, he was decent enough - the writing for this period was truly godawful. There are two good sketches though, if you get through all the garbage. 

At least it’s a break from Bell and her husband sharing awful stories on their podcast to tell us they’re just like us.

This latest manufactured outrage coming around the same time as the Tennessee school board banning Maus because of a scene with naked mice just reminds you of what a joke so much of this country has become...or has always been.

Whenever I think of Perlman now I think of his bragging about how, after Harvey Weinstein insisted they shake hands at a charity event, he pissed on his hands before doing so. Weinstein went on to ruin the lives of many, but...at least you got to have a little chuckle with yourself there, Ron.

I really want Perlman to watch a few hours loop of the immortal, environmentally aware Segal SNL sketch (“Brace Steele, Greenpeace Photographer”) and tell us how awesome it is. 

I agree, but I thought she was the same in the monologue last week. Some cast, when they are there for such an extended period and are often the focal point, just seem to struggle with more mutual interactions. 

I was watching some older episodes and the applause for the show starting began in the early ‘00s. I do wish it could end, and that applause for cast and cameos could stop. However, I think the main problem with timing is that so many of the sketches feel so needlessly padded - this was especially bad last night.

I was so happy to see this again. One of my favorites for Wiig or Forte. One of the reasons I didn’t care as much about Kristen having a big cameo this week is I think her early work with Forte and with Jason was her best at SNL and aside from Macgruber, which I’m not a huge fan of, she hasn’t done much with Will in a…

I don’t know if they were trying to be comfort food or if they are just torn on what they think people want to see, especially with Kate back. I feel like they have been trying hard to shoehorn in Kate material while she is there, even though it jars with the rest of the episode. You make a good point about Update,…

For me this episode was the opposite - while Wiig did give those vibes in earlier cameos, she felt very natural most of the night, whereas I thought Kate was just completely closed off and muggy, unable to give anything to that Cinema Classics. It felt like she was on her own show.

I can name a number of cast members who were bigger try hards (Fallon might be top of the list), but the problem is her main comic persona is not going to get on SNL. So she had to do the loud voice, has to bring back the roasting Colin bit, in order to not get shut out. The audience there seems to enjoy her, so I am…

The best I can say is that it meant Kate took a half-season break from SNL and more people got a chance to shine...

Farewell...

Around the time I was watching Buffy in the late ‘90s I also started watching Blake’s 7. While that show had its own share of issues with writing for women, the first season with Cally and Jenna was such a breath of fresh air in just seeing these women who got to fight and go on missions, and then sometimes we’d see…

The more time passes the more I resent the corrosive impact of Whedon’s “strong female characters,” who were often drowned in layers of misogynist writing but copied over and over by other shows or films because they had sassy one-liners and butt-kicking montages. The sickness of his quote about how he felt he had no…