So, we got the first SNL after the strike tonight and it was mostly pretty good. The opening Obama/Hillary debate sketch was funny, and I liked the Daniel Plainview/Anton Chigurh Food Network sketch.
I could have done without Carrie Ubderwood but other than that the show wasn’t too bad.
Next week the host will be Juno.
I only saw the first half hour and a bit of Carrie Underwood’s first song, so shouldn’t comment too much on the show. I did think the Obama/Hillary debate skit was pretty good! NBC has really irked me recently, and did anyone else notice how much they’ve been pimping the return of SNL?! Geeze, they’ve even had Brian Williams (and Lester Holt) mention it on the Nightly News!! Bah. 
Decent show. Of course, I’m not one of those people that laments the constant decline of SNL…it’s always been about the same to me.
Don Pardo looks great!
I thought they could have done a whole lot more with the opening scene than one joke that dragged on for 2-3 minutes.
I thought Huckabee was funny & was surprised at how far he went saying the race was over.
I was surprised at how far Tina Fey went (And how far the PTB at SNL let her go) flat out endorsing Clinton at the end of W.U. - wrapped in “jokes” sure but it was in her own “voice” not the voice of a character.
I thought the game show what is that b^tch talking about was the seemingly obligatory skit built on one semi-funny joke the first time you hear it, that is then run for 5 minutes into the ground over and over.
I laughed at the period commercial - thought that was funny.
I thought the opening skit was hilarious. Fred made a pretty good Obama, which makes me wonder why they waited so long to rope him into the job. Though, I’ve heard rumors that they’ve finally hired a black guy who will be taking over. I hope this is true, and I hope they find someone to fill Maya’s shoes. Kenan (and Finese Mitchell…and Tracey Morgan…and Tim Meadows, etc.) in drag stopped being funny a long time ago.
I also loved the grandson’s in the DVD commercial and the “What’s that bitch talking 'bout?” show. Everything else was just normal.
Fred is my hero, and had the look and mannersims of Obama down, but didn’t get the voice at all- hence the no laughter at all from the crowd while he was speaking. Odd though, because he usually nails every impression he does, and Obama’s voice doesn’t seem to a non-impressionst like me to be that difficult.
Bad sign when your first skit after months off is a parody of a reality show maybe only 10% of the people watch, and only slightly more are aware of- how can we tell if the skit is a good parody if we don’t know the show?
And the new girl was painfully unfunny, and odd they would add someone mid-season, strike or no strike. And she sounding nothing like Rachel Ray, so why have her unncessarily inpersonate her?
Update was the highlight, especially Tina’s pro HRC bit. Huckabee was good, although someone coming on to explain why they are doing something unexplainable was a bit odd.
ETA, I see now the new girl was there to replace Maya Rudolph.
OK, now I’m disappointed. Not that Maya Rudolph was all that great, but at least she was a decent stand-in for women of a darker hue. Seriously, who’s going to impersonate Beyounce and Whitney Houston now? Fred can only do so much.
I guess I need to go back to watching Mad TV.
I enjoyed the episode. Could someone clue me into why Maya Rudolph is gone?
Anything on the new girl? Someone Wilson?
I really enjoyed everything up to the VH1 reality show and the Weekend update, but I thought Tina went too far from humor into just pushing her own candidate choice. I desperately do not want Huck to ever be VP or POTUS, but I cannot help liking the guy. He has a great sense of humor and a strong willingness to mock himself.
I started fading after the update, What’s that Bitch talking about was funny though.
Jim
Someone ought to tell the people at the AP that it was a joke.
Yeah, they really jumped right in and picked up seamlessly where they left off—which is not a particular compliment.
Agreed that Fred had the mannerisms down but not the voice, with another minor distraction being SNL’s continuing minstrelphobia (I guess) which prevents them from applying any noticeable tint to the makeup of a nonblack actor playing a black character (when exactly did that start, anyway? I could swear I remember Darrell Hammond doing his earlier impressions of Jesse Jackson while wearing tinted makeup, but at some point he stopped using it—is the specter of blackface really that ominous, even when the parody/impression has nothing otherwise to do with race or racial sterotypes?)
And I beg you, SNL, do something to improve the “Weekend Update” segment, which has been a groaning embarrassment for years (or at least put it out of its misery). Better, less obvious jokes would be a nice touch, or at least use different anchors—any two who don’t feel it necessary to punctuate every goddamned line with a fatuous “Hee hee! Wasn’t what I just said funny?” smirk.
I did like the new girl’s jugs, though.
I just read the article, I think they got it.
It seems to me that Maya wore dark make-up the last time she did an impression of Condolezza (not a lot of make-up, though), but now that I think about it, I don’t think she wore any when she did her Oprah or Whitney Houston. So perhas she didn’t for Condi either and I’m just imagining things.
If SNL would just hire some melanistic people that can do good impersonations, it wouldn’t have to go there with make-up. I mean, my eyes still hurt thinking about Tim Meadows dressed up as Mariah Carey(!). The show realized how ridiculous that was and had Sherri O’Terry do her afterwards, but still. It wasn’t the least bit funny.
Man, she’s not funny but what a rack! lol. Lewis Black 
Cheri Oteri.
I disagree, Maya was consistently hysterical, as long as the material was good. That said, I didn’t notice that she wasn’t on last night. Is she gone for good?
I loved the Plainview/Chigurh Milkshake sketch, particularly Amy’s unnecessary but still perfect HW and the “I’ve abandoned my boy! Oh, there you are” bit, and the period commercial.
I don’t remember much else except it was great to see Tina Fey behind the WU desk again, and that she looked absolutely gorgeous in the opening monologue. Something about the LBD and nude-colored shoes - wowza. She’s my she-ro.
I thought exactly the opposite most here, as far as Fred Obama goes; once he got rolling with the ‘yes we can’ speech he had the voice down, but the mannerisms, particularly the ‘two finger hand roll’ was completely borrowed from Hammond’s Jackson. From what I’ve noticed, Obama’s got more of a finger pinch or an actual finger point. Obama has got to be tough to parody though, maybe they should do a character completely opposite of him, bring in Chappell and have him do his ‘Black Bush’ full time.
Huckabee was funny as usual. I hope to see him stick around in some form, just no where where he can get his hands on the Constitution.
Tina Fey- always been in the top 5 of my ‘if the opportunity presents its self celebs’. Easilly top three now(N.Portman and Queen Rania are the other two). I grudgingly enjoyed her Hillary endorsement at the end; not a fan of the ends but the means were funny. Fair’s fair; they got a pretty biting Clinton shot in the opening, paraphrased: ‘ride the sympathy of being cheated on into an easily Democratic Senate seat in NY’.
Used the first one for a bathroom break, but Carrie Underwood’s second performance was great, and that comes from a total hiphop-head outta the NW. It did help just a little that she looked absolutely stunning, but surprisingly enough to me, I was actually enjoying the music too.
Finally, I was really enjoying Kristen Wiig. I haven’t been a huge fan of her reoccuring characters(Aunt Linda & annoying one-up lady) in past seasons, but she looks to be the alpha-female cast member soon. Sorry Amy, you’re still funny too however, just in a more Chris Kattan, support sorta way. Just like NFL wide receivers and MLB starting pitchers usually do, I predict a third year breakout. She’s really funny with a lot of range, not even afraid to tounge a dog for a laughs apparently. I guess she really did just need some “face time yeah!”.
Forgot about that. 90 years old?! Yeah he did. Good on ya Don.
Maya Rudolph wasn’t on the show because she was off with PT Anderson for all the award shows this week.
I thought the same thing, except I don’t think he really ever came around on the voice. He was way too terse and monosyllabic in the beginning, as if he was afraid to say much. His speech moment was better, but still far from the mark, I thought. With respect to his gestures, it almost seemed like he was throwing gang signs at times; he’s fingers were sticking out the wrong way and he kept drawing them close to his body instead of thrusting his arm forward the way BO does, with his fingers pinched together. That should have been pretty easy to mimic, so I don’t know why he got that wrong.
I don’t see why it would be necessary to bring in a black guy to play Obama. Hammond has Jackson down pretty well, after all. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hammond was able to render a good Obama, too.