Goodbye to February's Fabulous Sundays

As we're about to say good bye to February, it occured to me that this month had four exciting Sundays in a row. Now, when March first rolls around, there will still be things that will interest certain people, like the return of Once Upon A Time or new episodes of The Walking Dead.

Make no mistake, though, the past four Sundays had events that most people wanted to see. They were all curious about what would happen, and they also featured red carpet events. Yes, that included the Super Bowl. In fact, the Super Bowl and the Oscars almost had the same amount of pre-show coverage.



Super Bowl XLIX--Even though most people thought a slightly off Left Shark was the most memorable character from the game, people will forever recall Tm Brady leading the New England Patriots back from a ten-point defecit to beat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24. They'll also forever wonder why Seattle coach Pete Carroll didn't give the ball to Marshawn Lynch from the 1 yard line.



Grammys 2015--While this show had its moments, the structure was rather odd. Why would you have a long talk about copyright law after Record of the Year was announced,thus making people decide to tune out before Beyonce took the stage. At least we had Sam Smith dominate the show, along with a surprising performance by Kristen Wiig dancing to Sia's Chandelier. There was also great performances by Madonna, Common, John Legend and Annie Lennox, while Kanye West almost tried to grab Beck's Album of the Year and give it to Beyonce (who already won in the pre-show)



Saturday Night Live Turns 40--This was a supersized version of the show, filled with jokes that worked and those that didn't. There was plenty of nostalgia, like the remake of the Super Bass-O-Matic, the ultimate Weekend Update, and the excellent return of Wayne's World. Some didn't quite work, like The Californians (despite Bradley Cooper and Betty White locking lips, and Total Bastard Airways telling the cast, "buh-bye", and actually making it the perfect ending), and Eddie Murphy just showing up.  True, he didn't want to do a skecth where he'd mock Bill Cosby, but he could have done something else.  People were glad to see Paul McCarney and Paul Simon there, and some seemed to be surprised Miley Cyrus did a cool job with "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover". That would be topped a week later. Kanye and Sia came back for this, and they did fine.

The best part of the night, according to Jimmy Fallon, may have been the after-party...



At least we have this on YouTube:



Maybe Taylor can recreate that if and when she's back on the show.



Academy Awards--People were hoping that Neil Patrick Harris would conquer the daunting task of hosting the show, but, just like SNL, some of his jokes worked and some didn't. I still suspect Bad Horse wrote the script. It would have been better if Neil didn't include that magic trick.
People tuned in to see if Boyhood or Birdman would win best picture because that was the only suspense left in awards season, There were great acceptance speeches from Patricia Arquette, J.K. Simmons, Eddie Redmayne, and Graham Moore. There was also the director of Ida outlasting the "play-out music".
Two music performances wound up being the highlight:  John Legend and Common's performance of "Glory", and Lady Gaga's stunning performance of songs from The Sound of Music, followed by getting Julie Andrews' endorsement. Gaga may be built for Broadway, but first she's got an American Horror Story to tell this fall.
Then there's Sean Penn's ill-advised joke before he declared Birdman as best picture. Even though the director laughed it off, many movie fans wouldn't. It was the same story when Giuliana Rancic criticized Zendaya's hairstyle in an unfortunate way. That led to two apologies, but Zendaya let it go.

It was a fabulous February, but don't think it will be a "meh March". While Sundays may not be as exciting as they have been, there's still a lot to anticipate:  the return of Agents of SHIELD, spring training, NCAA March Madness, Cinderella starring Cate Blanchett (can you name who is playing Cinderella? You could do that in the TV versions), Chappie, Insurgent,..
and some of these events can be enjoyed on a Sunday.  

SNL Anniversaries, Celebrated on Cable and VHS

Next week, the show will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a three hour special, just like 15 years ago. A lot of people remembered that special because it brought back a lot of the old gang. It even recreated Elvis Costello's decision to change songs without telling anyone back in 1977. That time, it was appreciated.

Not too many people, however, remember the first big anniversary live special in September 1990, just before season 16 started. It was also live, and was only two hours. The VHS copy I had didn't include music performances from Prince and Paul Simon, or some past musical guests, due to rights.

Much of it is a bunch of clips from past shows. They were divided into three sections, 1975-80, 81-85 and 85-90.  Notice in the 81-85 section there's only one clip from season six: the unexpected finale where Tim Kazurinsky created the "I Married A Monkey" sketch. That section did have a lot of Eddie Murphy even if he didn't attend due to David Spade mocking him (supposedly). Murphy is expected to be back next week, and maybe with the same entourage who represented him in 1990.

There were also tributes to Gilda Radner and John Belushi, Charlton Heston reading a letter complaining about the show that he wrote (even though he hosted the show in 1987) and a section to sketches that were rather...naughty. It highlighted the Lord and Lady Douchebag sketch from 1980, and the nude beach sketch from 1988 where "penis" was said a million times. That sketch was written by Conan O'Brien, believe it or not.
The ending was disappointing. They brought out Robin Williams to riff on the show and some in the audience. It seemed they needed to fill time, but they should have had an extra segment just in case.

It's too bad NBC didn't release a DVD version of this anniversary show, as they did with their four history specials. It's not even on Hulu.  If you can't find in in your local thrift store, Amazon does have it and it's not too expensive.

Meanwhile, the VH-1 Classic SNL marathon is heading to the home stretch, showing the first five years. What's great about this is that they are showing the complete episodes, and that means the music, too. If only the channel had cleared the music for all the episodes between 1980 and 1998. That way we would have had 31 Days of SNL. That that, Turner Classic Movies.

It was still a treat seeing episodes that haven't been shown, not even cable, in at least 15 years. This includes stuff from the second Golden Age of Carvey, Hartman, Hooks, Lovitz and Miller.
People may have also been surprised to see George Clooney hosting in a suit that looks more ridiculous than Batman and Robin, and Alec Baldwin hosting with his then-wife Kim Basinger (one of four married couple who did this). Others may wonder, especially if they're under 18, what's Laura Leighton doing there, and may be surprised their parents remember her from another TV show. Some may also be surprised Steve Carrell's wife worked on the show, while he almost did. Others may see Conan O'Brien in the nude, Stephen Colbert as a doctor, or Sarah Silverman in a bit part. If you're lucky, you may spot a young Kirsten Dunst.

It was also a great chance to see past Weekend Update anchors. I've noticed Kevin Nealon tried to be the second coming of Chevy Chase, and actually succeeded. Norm MacDonald was good, but he may have relied a bit too much on OJ Simpson jokes. Current fans may wonder why during season ten (84-85), they let almost anyone host the news before they gave it to Christopher Guest. Bob Uecker can actually claim he anchored for SNL, but so can George Carlin, which was a much better idea.

The Andrew Dice Clay episode was shown, the one Nora Dunn and Sinead O'Connor skipped because they didn't like his jokes. It's amazing the jokes that were bleeped in the original showing were aired intact. One term even wound up being a movie title.
They showed two episodes from season six, mainly because they included some of Eddie Murphy's best early work. Without him, the show was nearly doomed. If the channel had cleared the music, we would have seen an early appearance by Prince...proving he has NOT lost a thing in more than 30 years.
Of course, they showed the famous Coffee Talk episde with Rosanne and Madonna talking about Barbara Streisand, followed by a surprising cameo. That bit is in the Best of Mike Meyers DVD.

Still, there are lots of old shows they skipped over, mainly more recent ones and from the Ebersol era. I would have loved to see "Da War of da Woilds" with the classic line, "what da funk is dat?", as much as Jesse Eisenberg and Nicki Minaj in their version of the "Bride of Frankenstein". Pee Wee Herman even hosted, but that wasn't included in the marathon
Of course, I also missed the music, especially from the shows between 1980 and 1998. Some from that period is available on the SNL 25 Years of Music DVD.

Yahoo Screen has clips from the 80s and 90s. Hulu has more than 300 episodes, including the first five years and the last ten. It would be great if VH-1 Classic aired the episodes those sites don't have, like Comedy Central used to do. Actually, if you go through Amazon, you can find Best of 1991 and Best of 1993 of SNL, but they're VHS. These titles should be available somewhere online or DVD.

SNL Vintage: What Bottles Should NBC Open?

This week, Saturday Night Live will be 40 years old. Not too many shows reach middle age. In TV years, the show is 4000 years old, and Sunday shows like Meet the Press are practically skeletons.

NBC will be showing one-hour versions of old episodes of Saturday Night Live in honor of this major milestone. The opening episode was Richard Pryor hosting from 1975. People prayed the classic "Word Association" sketch will be shown uncut, "N" word included--and it did. It also had the Samurai Hotel bit with John Belushi, a spoof of The Exorcist that was better than the real sequel, and Gil Scott Heron singing "Johannesburg". It's actually sharper than what you get outside of HBO these days.

Next week, the show turns to 2000, with the "More Cowbell" sketch with Will Farrell and Christopher Walken. There's also some fine early Christina Aguilera, too.

After that, what's next? Taking a look at the SNL Archives website, I wrote down several episodes they should air, or will likely air. It's almost certain the show will salute 2001 with the season opener, which aired a few days after 9/11. It featured Paul Simon and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. It also had Reese Witherspoon in a classic spoof of "The Little Mermaid" that sort of had a sequel ten years later,

So, here are some suggestions. Please remember this is from a typical SNL fan, namely someone who stopped watching at least twice in the 40 year run. Diehard fans may have a more informed list:

1976:  Candace Bergen's second Christmas episode, featuring the first sketch that completely collapsed when she forgot Gilda Radner's character's name--and Radner was supposed to be the dumb one.

1977:  The "Anyone Can Host" contest winner that included Elvis Costello deciding not to play "Less Than Zero", and singing "Radio, Radio" instead. He wasn't welcome back until 1989, and that decision was spoofed in the 25th anniversary show. (Alternate choice: Ray Charles)

1978:  Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi's first appearance as The Blues Brothers. Also, Steve Martin as a medieval barber.

1979: Kate Jackson hosting and seeming to sabotage SNL for then ABC chief (and former NBC chief) Fred Silverman

1980:  Final episode of original cast with Buck Henry

1981:  Bill Murray helping out in this most lost of seasons

1982:  Eddie Murphy hosting when Nick Nolte couldn't make it

1983:  John Candy or Jerry Lewis

1984:  Robin Williams' first time as host. (Alternate choice: Billy Crystal hosting before he joined the cast)

1985:  Mr. T and Hulk Hogan hosting to generate publicity for Wrestlemania. They never had a chance against Crystal as Fernando. 

1986:  Jay Leno in the season when Robert Downey Jr and Joan Cusack were in the cast, but a better choice would be Sam Kinison, NBC will likely choose Leno or even Sigourney Weaver

1987:  Not sure, but Dennis Hopper with Roy Orbison is a good choice,

1988:  Tom Hanks, thanks to the Girl Watchers sketch with Jon Lovitz and Mr. Short-Term Memory

1989:  John Goodman with Toonces and Wayne's World almost showing Madonna's "Erotica" video (compare that to what Nikki Minaj does now)

1990:  Alec Baldwin in an early turn as host, or Andrew Dice Clay

1991:  Michael Jordan with Public Enemy, or Roseanne spoofing "Misery"

1992:  Roseanne again with Tom Arnold, and the famous "Coffee Talk" sketch that includes Madonna talking about Barbra Streisand...and guess who shows up in the final 30 seconds

1993:  Christina Applegate doing a killer impression of Cher, but it's also the episode that introduced us to Matt Foley. Watch it in a van down by the river.

1994:  Dana Carvey, including an appearance by George Bush 41. It includes a sketch on the OJ Simpson Trial

1995:  Again not sure, but George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino are good choices

1996:  Jim Carrey will host October 25th, so why have his first time hosting so we can see "Jimmy Tango's Fat Busters"

1997:  Chris Farley or Jon Lovitz hosting are good choices, but seeing Claire Danes as a bitter Tinkerbell would be a wise choice

1998:  Cameron Diaz spoofing the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky controversy is an easy choice. It's a staple on VH-1 Classic

1999:  Another staple:  Gwyneth Paltrow pretending to be English until Ben Affleck calls her out on it. Yeah, he used to date her, too.

2002:  John McCain would be a good choice. He was quite funny until he decided to be a go-to guest on the Sunday shows

2003:  Justin Timberlake's first time as host, proving to be the best cast member SNL never had

2004:  Lindsay Lohan's first hosting gig, and debut of Debbie Downer. Or, Jude Law in the notorious Ashlee Simpson lip-synch controversy. He also does a great impression of Tony Blair.

2005:  Diaz again, with the Barry Gibb Talk Show including Timberlake. Or, Tom Brady in an unusual sexual harassment film

2006:  Alec Baldwin with Chrstina Aguilera, and Tony Bennett in a sketch with Baldwin spoofing him. Throw in a duet with him and Aguilera, and you have a classic

2007:  Peyton Manning showing he can host better than his brother

2008:  Tina Fey hosts for first time just after end of writer's strike

2009:  Tracy Morgan would be a good choice, but so would Neil Patrick Harris or Taylor Swift

2010:  Betty White, period. They should also show Jon Hamm's first hosting gig, too

2011: Obvious choice is Timberlake and Lady Gaga, but Jesse Eisenberg is my choice because he had better sketches--and Minaj as the Bride of Frankenstein.

2012: Actually, really tough: Mick Jagger would be a great choice, but Emma Stone and Zooey Deschanel also had strong showings. I'd choose Jagger because he did surprising well, It's also the farewell for Kristen Wiig

2013:  Melissa McCarthy in another classic rookie performance.

Yahoo Screen is the online source for old SNL sketches, but Hulu is missing seasons six to 29. What is surprising that no cable channel wants to be the home for all SNL episodes. Comedy Central used to serve that role, and so did E! despite terrible promotion. VH-1 Classic has episodes from 1999 on, but it should consider a marathon of many more episodes.
Also, remember when NBC used to air old episodes at 2 AM, even the less-censored Andrew Dice Clay episode? I got very good old episodes before I got the DVDs from the first five years. Wouldn't anyone like to have TV Land or Comedy Central show the complete history of SNL?

Well, at least NBC will show us a part of the show's history. It would be better if we saw more of it. If nothing else, we'd be surprised when we're reminded that Sid Caesar and Milton Berle actually hosted.

SNL Vintage airs at 10 PM Saturdays starting this Saturday on NBC. Season 40 of SNL airs at 11:30 with Chris Pratt and Ariana Grande.

2013 Emmys: No Clones or Fake Americans Allowed, But Come In, Netflix

When Orphan Black was being considered as a possible Best Drama nomination at the Emmy Awards, I had my hopes it would happen.

Then I remembered: if the Emmys had no use for vampire slayers, Browncoats, people who run a mysterious warehouse, zombies or time travelers, how can an actress who plays several different clones in one episode get nominated?

Answer: she doesn't.
Tatiana Maslany never had a chance, but at least she'll have TV critics who are also upset about this. It's a cinch this will be discussed at Comic-Con, but I'm sure she's proud of her work, and how it's made Orphan Black a big hit among sci-fi fans.

Also, where are The Americans? Sure, Margo Martindale got a nomination as a guest actress, but no Keri Russell for Best Actress?

However, what some people have predicted did happen: Netflix was welcomed to the Big Boy table with House of Cards getting nine nominations, including Best Drama Series, Best Actor and Best Actress. It took years for cable TV shows to be considered Emmy-worthy, and Netflix did it in less than six months. Meanwhile, Arrested Development's return got a Best Actor in a Comedy nod for Jason Bateman. It should be interesting if Orange Is The New Black will make its mark next year. Also, FunnyOrDie got a nomination for Between Two Ferns, probably for its Oscar nominee interviews, while Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, from Cracked.com, got a nomination. Still, it would have been great if Husbands got noticed. It's mostly due to the Emmys wondering how to properly honor online shows. Maybe with the growth of this type of media, they'll figure out something. They have to, now that Netflix is the first online network to snag a major nomination.

Also, does it tell you something that three shows competing for Best Variety Series have more credibility than Meet the Press or most newspapers when it comes to the news? Yes, we mean The Daily Show, Colbert Report and Real Time With Bill Maher. The two Jimmys, Fallon and Kimmel, are also in the running, but this may be Stephen Colbert's year.

This year's event will also get the attention of Browncoats. Remember the clashes Inara and Saffron had on Firefly, sort of over Mal actually? Now, Christina Hendricks and Morena Baccarin are up for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama. However, they have to fend off two likely choices: Maggie Smith from Downton Abbey and Miss Dragon Mom herself, Emelia Clark from Game of Thrones. I'd choose Clarke only because of the Astapor Barbecue.

By the way, Kristen Wiig's SNL episode as host is coming this weekend. What a coincidence she's nominated for Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, but my money's on Melissa McCarthy for that honor. Her Bank Loan and Evil Basketball Coach sketches are the best arguments. As far as Guest Actor, Justin Timberlake is nominated again, but he'll have to bow to Louis C.K's portrayal of Lincoln.

Best Mini-Series/Movie could be one wild completion. The Emmys should have put Orphan Black in the running since it's 13 episodes, like American Horror Story: Asylum. Still, AHS collected 17 nominations. The big story is Behind the Candelabra, which should have been in the Oscar race if not for short-sided movie executives. It's up for the big award, and may win. However, putting both Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in Best Actor may create vote-splitting and could be better news for benedict Cumberbatch for Parade's End. I still say Douglas should get the award.

Well, this year's Emmys will be very interesting. We should see Best Drama go to a network without a channel, a Browncoat finally win an Emmy, and a news show get Best Variety Series.
It'll also have this sign: No Clones Welcome....Yet.