Saturday Night Live (SNL) 2013-2014 Season thread

I actually kinda feel bad for Milhiser... when I was on Facebook, I had friends in the acting biz who actually knew John, and had very high hopes for him on SNL.

Most casual viewers wouldn't even know him to see him now. Unfortunately, I don't see him staying to next year.

 

That's very sad, it's all SNL's fault, there's too many people on there and it looks like Kyle Mooney got most of the parts like that not unlike what happened with Paul Bettany and Taran Killiam a few years back....

 

I saw his demo reel online (posted in an article about SNL's new hires) and thought it was funny. And then on SNL... virtually nothing. He did have a sketch with Lady Gaga that went down well, but it didn't get him started.

 

I thought there were a few better bits this past week than I've seen lately. The dog food commercial was pretty smart humor, and the cop teaching the kids to just say no was pretty darn funny!

 

I felt like the cop talking to the kids, and another skit that I don't remember, were skits I've seen before. I thought at the time, "They're re-doing old time-tested skits that were funny in the past to make up for the lack of good writing now". The show overall seemed a little better, but we're going to have to get into next year to start seeing funny things being written, IMO.

 

Paul Bettany?

 

I'm guessing you're referring to Nasim's character Shallon (the girl in the classroom) - that has been done a couple times recently.

 

He means Paul Brittain.

 

If anyone is wondering my dyselxia is going great

 

Robert Blake was a colossal a-hole to everyone, not just Kroger. In the 'Live From New York' book it seems there was almost a split between cast members. Different teams, if you will. Kroger, Hall and Louis-Dreyfus were basically alone together, IIRC. He did have some funny bits, but IMHO overall he was kind of bland. He's creative director of an ad firm in Iowa now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Kroeger

dan c

 

I actually had to look him up! Left of his own accord in 2012...for what? He is, apparently, Bob Newhart's nephew...

 

As I recall, he wasn't getting much screen time and decided he'd try his luck elsewhere. Though that may have been code for "you're fired."

 

It's a recurring bit they do with different guests... hardly an unusual thing for SNL to do.

 

I just love how, online, SOMEONE will respond to every single episode with "That was the worst SNL I've ever seen!"

Oh, really? Tell us how much you loved the Bob Saget episode. :-D

 

Correct, but the shows this season have been lacking in writing ability. It just occurred to me while watching this weeks episode that the cop bit had been done in previous years and they were pulling a sure thing that would get laughs. I know running characters are one thing, and great if they're good characters. I think it could be a bit that has been done before and knowing it's certain to get laughs, it's a way of determining if it's the cast or not.

 

The cop bit certainly came from the "have someone do something irritating over and over and maybe people will think it's funny" school of uninspired comedy writing.

 

It's like that every year not just this year. The can do no wrong in this forum Kristen Wiig did Target Girl or Secret Word almost every other week.

 

I know I enjoyed every single "Secret Word" and maybe every "Target Lady" sketch. So, imo, she did no wrong there. "Gilly" on the other hand...

 

I liked Secret Word, too. Target Lady can go off with Gilly, IMO.

 

They first did this bit in October 2013. Lots of other classroom sketches in SNL's past, but this one with Nasim Pedrad as the smart-ass student is a new recurring sketch this season.

It's no more a sign of desperation than any of their other recurring sketches.... (which is not to say that their writing is good this year)

 

I laughed aloud a few times. Actually it wasn't too bad at all. I liked quite a bit of it.

 

Even though I wouldn't say this season has been horrible, I think it's safe to say that it will go down in the books as one of the tricky transition years.

 

It's been a mess, very iffy. I think SNL's problem is a certain sense of cowardice. There's so many sacred cows, they are afraid to offend anyone and the show is really dumbed down now.

 

I plan to watch the four remaining episodes before already coming to a conclusion.

 

The 4 remaining episodes could be great, but that wouldn't change my assessment.
Like I said, the season hasn't been horrible, imo, but even with the better episodes, I often struggled to remember what I'd watch on Sunday morning.