Saturday Night Live, Ranked and Reviewed: Season 12

 "What's the word on the street?"

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Having endured one of the most disastrous seasons of its entire run, SNL pulled one of the greatest tricks in its playbook: make the audience forget about last year with some dramatic course-correction. With Jon Lovitz, Nora Dunn, and Dennis Miller being the lucky (if unsurprising) few to evade the chopping block over the summer break, the show decided to match their comedy chops with a cast who would have guaranteed success with the art-form, prioritizing known talent over the botched optimism of Season 11's efforts to harness celebrity or bring alternative talent to center-stage. Goodbye, young Robert Downey Jr. and Anthony Michael Hall—welcome, 38 year-old Groundlings stalwart Phil Hartman! Farewell to Terry Sweeney from the world of cabaret, and Danitra Vance from the world of experimental theater—hello, Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon, and Victoria Jackson from the stand-up circuit! Jan Hooks from the Atlanta-based sketch show Tush rounds out the cast, securing the spot that she initially lost to Joan Cusack the year before in one of SNL's rare examples of righting a wrong. 

It was a cast poised for success, and fortunately, as history would demonstrate, they found it. But how is their very first season? Come along, dear reader, and let's find out together!

For my reviews of the previous season, Season 11, CLICK HERE!

Saturday Night Live, Ranked and Reviewed: Season 11

"Ahh, now our little play must end!"

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The second decade of SNL begins, and by god does it begin with a doozy! Of all of the infamous years of SNL, Season 11 is one of the more intimidating ones to me. While it has the same hypothetical freshness as Season 6, attempting to introduce skeptical audiences to the next iteration of the show, that season at least offers the potential exhilaration of an entire staff flying by the seat of their pants, week by week. Season 11, on the other hand, marks the grand return of Lorne Michaels to his show, which quashes that sense that we're gonna be learning as we go along. Lorne, by and large, is too stubborn a producer for there to be much of a sense of recalibration or finetuning; that, by next season premiere, he'd posit all of these episodes were "all a dream, a horrible, horrible dream" doesn't give me too much hope that this season will have any interesting arc, either, beyond seeing who swims and who sinks. (Knowing who stays on after this season, though... I could guess.) Realistically, I think this season will mostly amount to an annoying hurdle before I'm able to get into what will likely be the best era of the entire show's run.

Among the new cast members who have been brought on to define the next era of the show are the show's first openly-gay cast member, Terry Sweeney; the first black female repertory player, Danitra Vance; two up-and-coming stand-ups by the names of Damon Wayans and Dennis Miller; a very young Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr., and Joan Cusack culled from the Brat Pack; Academy Award-nominated actor and one-time New Show host Randy Quaid; and lastly, Jon Lovitz and Nora Dunn, two semi-obscure hires who quickly ascended the heap with their handy sketch comedy backgrounds. Dennis, regrettably, helmed Weekend Update.

The writers' room is also fully-stocked with a mix of key talent from the first five years (Franken, Davis, Downey, Novello) and startling new voices towards the beginning of their careers (Mark McKinney and Bruce McCulloch of eventual Kids in the Hall fame, Robert Smigel, John Swartzwelder), including some writers who previously worked on The New Show (Jack Handey, George Meyer)—like the cast, a clearly talented bunch, though one which would struggle to see their skills recognized on the stage. 

Will the season be able to triumph its negative reputation? Or will it be as bad as they say? As your intrepid tour guide through such a strange chapter in the show's history, here's my (pseudo-)professional opinion!

For my reviews of the previous season, Season 10, CLICK HERE!

Vintage Saturday Night Live Review: George Wendt and Francis Ford Coppola / Philip Glass (S11E13)

"I want you to react by laughing, but if you don't feel like laughing, I want you to go back and remember something from your childhood..."

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NOTE: Hey, everybody! I was planning on posting this on Christmas, but then I totally forgot about that like a complete idiot. But I'm posting it now, because while it's attached to my review coming out in a few days, it's such a substantive piece of writing that I'd like it to also exist on its own so that it can get more unique web traffic and serve as an independent writing sample.

(The full episode can be watched here.)

Desperate times call for desperate measures, but is that always a bad thing? Season 11 of Saturday Night Live, for the most part, would lead you to believe it, amidst the series of questionable decisions it's made up to this point... but sometimes, out of adversity, amazing things can happen. It's true that something as crazy as the George Wendt/Francis Ford Coppola episode could only happen in a season like Season 11, but it still feels so deeply improbable. With Lorne Michaels and SNL in general, any degree of self-analysis is a slippery slope that risks having its cake and eating it too, and there's a definite risk of this deeply meta night being a self-indulgent mess that pokes at the show's systemic problems without trying to rectify them—and perhaps it does, to some extent. But the audacity of this episode, and the willingness of the show to hold itself up to some healthy scrutiny, makes it a legendary success. This is perhaps the most unique evening of the show that you will ever see.

Saturday Night Live, Ranked and Reviewed: Season 10

"Hey, you! I know you! I know you!"

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With the loss of Eddie Murphy, Ebersol found himself in a nerve-wracking predicament. How could he maintain SNL as cool, appointment television without one of the greatest stars the show ever had? The solution: bring in some of the biggest names in comedy that he could and hoping for the best. Do the additions of Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Christopher Guest, Rich Hall, Harry Shearer, and Pamela Stephenson end Ebersol's era on a high note, or does the spirit of the show get lost in the shuffle? 

For my reviews of the previous season, Season 9, CLICK HERE! Otherwise, it's time to wrap up the Ebersol era—let's roll.

Patreon Announcement

Hi everybody!

My name is Matt, and I assume that if you're reading this, you know that I'm a freelance writer who's latest project has been working through every single SNL season systematically and writing reviews of every single episode along the way. 

What you might not know is that I have been writing online since at least 2011, and while I've historically been a bit uncomfortable with monetizing my work—it's a passion project!—I am now, officially, a young adult with many things they must do. I can't commit myself to my writing as easily as I used to. Writing my SNL reviews is something I greatly enjoy, but it's also a massive time investment; doing coverage for an entire season can take anywhere between 1-3 months depending on how busy I am, and it makes up some of the most lengthy and comprehensive writing that I have ever done.

That's where you can chime in! For only $3 a month, you can help support my writing endeavors and get exclusive, early access to my SNL coverage as it's written instead of having to wait for everything to come out at once! I'm also planning some fun, exclusive content for behind the paywall, starting with coverage of Lorne Michaels' doomed spiritual successor to SNL, The New Show! Even if I'm very biased... that sounds like a pretty good deal to me. I look forward to seeing you on the other side!

https://www.patreon.com/mattalamode

Saturday Night Live, Ranked and Reviewed: Season 9

 "Maybe we can turn off the lights and... see what develops!"

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And so, after a season that pushed the Ebersol era into an appreciative state of stability, the boat starts to rock again. With Eddie Murphy maintaining one foot out the door, missing shows and eventually leaving before the season's even concluded, the show's future is yet again thrown into question. How will it cope with the loss of its greatest star? And just how much will the hiring of our only new cast member, Jim Belushi, give the show an extra jolt?

For my reviews of the previous season, Season 8, CLICK HERE! Now, without further ado, here are my thoughts on every episode of Season 9!

Some Long Overdue Thoughts on Amphibia

 

"It's over. It's finally over."

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So... it's been a very long time since I've written about Amphibia, huh? I feel bad, perpetually, about it. I know the coverage I did for over fifty episodes of the show, spanning almost two years, was something that quite a few people really enjoyed, even people who actually worked on the show, and I still think about that. And that fed into a lot of guilt, because at a certain point... I didn't know what else I could say about the show anymore. And so I didn't. But now, having seen the full arc of the show, I thought I'd re-emerge from the shadows and share a few final thoughts about Season 3 and the series in general.