The Saturday Night Live (SNL) 2010-2011 Season thread

Comedians Vanessa Bayer, Paul Brittain, Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah will be joining the SNL cast for the new season, which starts on September 25. Will Forte and Jenny Slate are gone from the cast.

Amy Poehler will be hosting the first show of the season, with Katy Perry as musical guest.

EW reports that Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) will host week 2, and Jane Lynch (Glee) will host week 3.

Jay Pharoah will be the first black cast member brought on since Kenan Thompson in 2003. Pharoah is known for doing impressions, and blogs are speculating that he will replace Fred Armisen as the show's President Barack Obama.

 

Jenny Slate! Oh no! Was this because she swore?

I enjoyed her car horn and doorbell commercials. Oh well...

Lots of new faces to get used to. I hope they revitalize the show. Maybe do some actually comedy instead of skits involving inappropriate tongue kissing and spitting food into each others mouths.

 

Was that when she meant to say "freaking" but said the actual word? If so, that wasn't really her fault. I blame that one on the writers for putting her in that situation by speaking really fast and saying "freaking" almost every other word. The writers had to know something like that would happen.

 

Problem I had with Slate was she looked too much like Nasim Pedrad. Not her fault, just a bone-headed move by Lorne Michaels.

I mean, how diverse are your characters/impressions going to be when two of your cast members look like sisters?

BTW - I wonder if the under-performing and terribly reviewed "McGrubber" film had something to do with Forte's hasty departure. It's not like last May everyone knew it was going to be his last show. Usually when someone leaves SNL over the summer months it is because they were fired.

 

Love both of those two. Jenny was really versatile. I loved her Tina Tina Chaneuse character.

 

Let me save the haters some time:

Worse season ever

It should be called Saturday Night Dead

SNL is still on?

It's sucked since 1980.

(gonna miss Forte and yes, the way he left is rather suspicious)

 

I would rather Nasim Padred leave than Jenny Slate, who I think is hilarious. Shame to see Will Forte leave as well, and I wouldn't be surprised if Macgruber was one of the reasons.

The new cast members seem interesting, and hopefully the new girl will be used more than any of the other recent new girls have... It always seems to be the Kristen Wiig show when it comes to female characters.

 

I don't think it under-performed - it sucked and people didn't wanna see it, so it performed about as it deserved.

Even the MacGruber sketches on SNL weren't funny. I'm not sure how Michaels (or whoever) thought it was worth turning into a feature length film. Worst idea for a SNL spinoff film since It's Pat.

edit - I take that back, with the exception of Blues Brothers and Wayne's World, all the SNL spinoff movies have been pretty terrible.

 

Michaels' track record as a producer isn't very good, so one wonders if he could recognise a valuable franchise if it bit him on the butt. Most of the SNL spinoff films have tanked.

 

The SNL movies get made because they are profitable, even the crappiest ones.

First, they are made on extremely low budgets. For example, MacGruber was done on a $10M budget. By comparison -- Eat, Pray, Love (Julia Robert's recent film) - $60M budget; Scott Pilgrim vs The World - $60M budget; Salt - $110M budget.

If Scott Pilgrim takes in $30M, it's a total disaster. If MacGruber makes $30M, it's a totally success.

Second, they are not aiming to fill movie theaters, if your definition of "tanked" is weak box office results. They also aim to make money through in-flight showings, cable channels and rentals. The main downside with the SNL movies is that there is a limited international audience for them, as the characters are not known outside the U.S.

 

I've enjoyed Kristin Wiig, but at this point, I would have rather seen her go than Jenny Slate. Kristin has been on SNL long enough. She regularly appears in movies and some TV shows. Time to go maker your career elsewhere, Kristin. Come back and guest host every now and then, but I wish her spot was freed up. It sucked losing Michaela Watkins and it sucks losing Jenny Slate.

 

MacGruber was well-reviewed in some circles. I liked the tv skit and the idea was to make the big-screen version totally off the wall with an unexpected R-rating. Alas, it turned out to be terribly disappointing and in very bad taste. A complete train-wreck. During production, many thought this movie was gonna be a huge cultural smash like Wayne's World was. Poor Will.

 

"MacGruber" made $8.5 million in it's domestic run.

Total flop.

 

You completely disregarded what I said next.

"Second, they are not aiming to fill movie theaters, if your definition of "tanked" is weak box office results. They also aim to make money through in-flight showings, cable channels and rentals. The main downside with the SNL movies is that there is a limited international audience for them, as the characters are not known outside the U.S."

DVD sales and rental revenues alone more than double theatrical box office revenues. Box office receipts are only a sliver of the money to be made on any movie.

 

Sorry.

"MacGruber is a hit!"

 

Only a matter of time before the haters (who probably haven't even watched SNL since 1981 anyway) chime in.

I'm really gonna miss Forte. One of the more clever actor/writers on the show, I've always appreciated his style of humor. I'd love to hear why he really left, they're pretty quiet on this one.

Hopeful for this season. The election year really helped SNL during their early shows (and Thursday specials), they made some brilliant comedy there. Then it was hit and miss from then on. Still some very good bright spots.

Hope for more consistency this season.

dan c

 

Forget MaGrubber...I want "Garth & Kat - The Movie"....and soundtrack album.....

 

You left out, "I haven't watched SNL since '93"

Which is true for me.

 

I am always ready for more SNL!

 

It hasn't been good for me since Billy Crystal and MArtin Short left.

 

I've hated everything since the wolverines sketch. I tune in every week to make sure it hasn't gotten any better.

 

+1 LOL dead on.

 

It hasn't been good since George Coe left

 

And I don 't even remember the wolverines sketch.

 

First cold opening on the first-ever SNL. He was making a funny.

dan c