SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Rocks the Halls Once More

Article first published as SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Rocks the Halls Once More on TheTVKing.

Coming back to host another Christmas outing, the Jimmy Fallon-led installment of Saturday Night Live this past weekend is the best of the fall run. In fact, the whole show is on a bit of an upswing, at the good end of the cycle for a series that ebbs and flows over the years. Buoyed by a plethora of wonderful cameos, and joined by musical guest Justin Timberlake, who appeared in plenty of bits, as well, Fallon shows us what SNL should be.

It begins right off the bat with an opening that brings back Timberlake in a rapping (this time, wrapping) costume, with Jimmy and Aidy Bryant joining him. This isn't the only recurring sketch in the episode (Barry Gibbs himself shows up for Jimmy and Justin's "Barry Gibbs Talk Show"), and it's definitely a crowd pleaser.

There is some debate as to whether Saturday Night Live should rest on its laurels, reusing the same roles over and over again. However, the most memorable characters in the series have been ones who have returned many times. It's hard to come up with an hour and a half of new material every week, and as long as the performers and writers can do something new with the material, as they do for both of those follow ups this week, why not let them continue? They usually just build upon the past as a starting block, anyway.

A well-used surprise guest spot is always effective. Besides Gibbs, Paul McCartney pops in for the monologue, and Mayor Bloomberg and Madonna appear. I'm disappointed Chris Rock, seen in the closing, stays off stage, but overall, these are some big names that are not wasted, and that's appreciated.

Fallon is a veteran of SNL, which means he already knows what he's doing coming in (yes, losing it on stage counts as knowing what he's doing, as he did it back in the day, too). Hosts are not created equal, and sometimes it's hard to predict how a new one will act during the show. Going with Fallon, there's a known quantity that works, especially in the impressions department, and the episode plays to his strengths.

Timberlake has been a very frequent guest, and has hosted with success in his own right before. Combined with the already-wonderful chemistry he has with Fallon, he's a strong addition. From playing a Gibbs brother, to his spot-on mocking of Jimmy himself in the all-around funny Celebrity Family Feud bit, which has several hilarious moments, Timberlake adds much to the proceedings.

One of the most memorable sketches of the night, though, barely involves Jimmy or any other person who is not a regular cast member. The girls in the cast, including Bryant, Cecily Strong, Kate McKinnon, Vanessa Bayer, Nasim Pedrad, and Noel Wells, make a music video about having sex in their childhood bedroom. The tune is catchy, the lyrics are smart, and these women can carry a tune. It reminds me both of the highly successful Digital Shorts SNL used to have and the strong female ensemble during the time of Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Tina Fey. Might we poised for a second coming?

There actually was not a single dud in the whole installment. A couple of scenes were weaker than others, but still would have been great on any other week, when the bar wasn't set quite so high. After a couple of years of much mediocrity, it's great to see SNL get things together again, whether it lasts through the winter and spring or not.

Saturday Night Live airs Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET, returning in mid-January to NBC.

30 Rock goes live again

This week, NBC's 30 Rock is "Live from Studio 6H." Jack (Alec Baldwin) decides that he will save the company a lot of money if they stop filming TGS live. Almost everyone agrees to the scheme except for Kenneth (Jack McBrayer), who locks twelve of the staff in a room and reminds them of the heyday of live television, shown to viewers in clips acted out by the cast. Meanwhile, Jenna (Jane Krakowski) disagrees with Paul (Will Forte) over the perfect proposal, and Hazel (Kristen Schaal) plans a stunt to get herself on air, a la Sinead O'Connor.

Quick question: Is the picture of Sinead that Hazel rips ups actually Tina Fey as Sinead?

This is the second time 30 Rock has gone live, and there's a big difference from the first time. "Live from Studio 6H" feels more like a series of skits than a cohesive story. This is bringing many of the performers back to their Saturday Night Live roots, of course, and they excel at funny shorts. But it does not really feel like an episode of 30 Rock, despite keeping much of the same spirit and tone.

Continuity is not that important this week. Last time a live show was done, Julia Louis Dreyfus (Seinfeld, Veep) played a semi-convincing Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) in a cut scene. This time, Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation) plays Liz without even changing the color of her blond hair! Also, twelve major cast members are locked in a room, and yet somehow they keep slipping out to put on different costumes and perform various bits of "classic" NBC shows. What's up with that?

Yet, story cohesiveness is not the point of "Live from Studio 6H," so it's hard to get upset. The episode is meant to be nostalgic and humorous, and it does both rather well. The various bits play on a number of famous shows such as The Honeymooners and Laugh-In. These are comedy gold. Everything else in the episode is fluff, except for the proposal.

The cast of 30 Rock is fantastic. For "Live from Studio 6H," all the stops were pulled out in bringing even more talented people on board, most having appeared on the show before. Sadly, this means that some of the best supporting players are relegated to background status. However, all of the guest actors are terrific. Jimmy Fallon (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon) kills as a young Jack, and Donald Glover (Community) is the perfect earlier version of Tracy (Tracy Morgan), getting the mannerisms spot on. Jon Hamm (Mad Men) returns, but not as his recurring 30 Rock character. Instead, he participates in a very memorable sketch. Chris Parnell (Suburgatory) is the familiar Dr. Spaceman, and Fred Armisen (Portlandia) manages to stand out without any lines at all. Brian Williams (NBC Night News and a 30 Rock veteran) is great as an old-timey newscaster on the West Coast (Hamm takes the part for the East), and Cheyenne Jackson finally returns to the series!

And 30 Rock manages to single-handedly kill the "Zou Bisou Bisou" craze started by Mad Men only a few short weeks ago.

Because the show is live, two versions are done, one each for the East and West coasts. Thankfully, in the era of internet, both are freely available to everyone. Only a handful of jokes change, and Cheyenne and Jenna again split the theme song, which makes more sense in the East because Cheyenne's character doesn't return until mid-episode. But the East coast broadcast has a major leg up over the West, because in the East, Sir Paul McCartney gets a fantastic cameo. The West, though, is left to suffer through Kim Kardashian instead.

30 Rock is what it is. "Live from Studio 6H" is not typical, but it will not disappoint long-time viewers who delight in the zany slapstick the series thrives on. Credit must be given to the show for taking such a big chance and playing in such an unexpected sandbox.

30 Rock airs Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

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Saturday Night Lives has Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga end season on high note

     NBC's Saturday Night Live ends its 36th season by bringing back frequent and popular guest Justin Timberlake as the host, and Lady Gaga as the musical guest. The monologue begins with Timberlake singing about how he's not going to sing tonight, which proves to be extremely untrue over and over again. The episode is full of recurring sketches, including a revisit of The Barry Gibb Talk Show with SNL alum Jimmy Fallon, a new "Secret Password," Timberlake singing in a cheesy costume, a broken amusement park ride with creepy robots, Herb Welch, and the third in a series of digital shorts that Timberlake and Andy Samberg perform. Lady Gaga also appears in several sketches, as well as doing her customary two musical numbers.

     This is arguably the best episode of season 36. While the opening sketch with disgraced IMF chair Dominique Strauss-Kahn in a prison cell with two hardened-looking criminals talking economics before they rape him is only mildly amusing, as soon as Timberlake appears, almost every segment is strong. Besides the opening, the weak points are "Secret Password" and Herb Welch, which are both done to death, and are virtually always the same thing. It is time to retire them.

     Perhaps the most anticipated sketch is the Digital Short. Timberlake and Samberg delight with "Dick in a Box" and "Mother Lover," playing the same characters. Their newest begins with the duo leaving their moms' houses, which means brief cameos for Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson, who appear in "Mother Lover." They are then both called to a girl's house to have a threesome. In "Threesome," Gaga proves she has real comic chops as she prepositions the boys, who have sex with and without her. The lyrics are hysterical, and the hapless, sleazy characters that Samberg and Timberlake play for the third time are good for many more laughs.

     Lady Gaga dresses as a bottle of wine in a sketch where Timberlake, as a bottle of beer, faces off with Kristen Wiig, as a teabag who inadvertently says dirty things, as they battle for control of the crowd passing by. All three get to sing parodies as they try to lure the public to sample their beverages. While this is something done before, enough changes that it still feel fresh.

     The third sketch to include Gaga is a game show called "What's That Name?" In it, Timberlake is revealed to not know the names of girls he sleeps with or former N*SYNC band mates, while Gaga remembers small details about fans she meets only briefly. Timberlake shows a real willingness to poke fun at himself, while Gaga plays off of her reputation as caring Mother Monster. Because they are both playing versions of themselves, this sketch has a meta level, and shows they both have senses of humor.

     Weekend Update, which is always funny, no matter how lame the show gets, brings back "Really!?!" with a solo Seth Meyers. It doesn't work quite as well as when he does it with Amy Poehler, but "Realy!?!" is very funny, and it's nice to see it's not dead. Also in Update, Samberg plays Nicholas Cage berating Bradley Cooper (the real one) about why Cage is not in The Hangover Part II. Cooper is a good sport in the unexpected cameo. Finally, Update ends with Seth leaving to go on vacation with Stefan (Bill Hader), a character that gets more amusing each time he appears. It is a fitting end to the season.

     All in all, SNL goes out with some very funny material, talented guests, and wonderful music-based sketches. If only this quality can be maintained next year, the series will be back on top in no time. Saturday Night Live will return this fall to NBC.

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Article first published as TV Review: Saturday Night Live - "Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga" on Blogcritics.

The Next Late Night War: Stephen Colbert fueds with Jimmy Fallon

    The latest round of The Late Night Wars has begun. And already ended. On March 2nd, Ben and Jerry helped Jimmy Fallon celebrate the second anniversary of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon by presenting him with his own flavor of ice-cream, Light Night Snack. By Thursday night, Colbert was ranting on his show, The Colbert Report, that there was only room for one late night host inspired ice-cream, and his Americone Dream was the one. Fallon appeared on Colbert's show, and the two faced off.

      Fallon and Colbert argued. Among the best insults were Colbert's reference to Fallon's tendency to crack up during his sketches on Saturday Night Live, which almost made Fallon crack up, and Fallon reminding people that Colbert was in the movie Bewitched. Not exactly an insult, just a reminder. Then both called for their lead-ins to assist in the battle. Jon Stewart readily showed up with a baseball bat, but Fallon received only a phone call from Jay Leno (presumably; we didn't hear his voice) saying he couldn't make it. Not surprising, since Leno films his show in Los Angeles, and the other three hosts are New York City based. Stewart sulkily backed out of the fight, not having his own flavor, leaving Jimmy and Stephen to settle their disagreement by having an ice-cream eating contest.

     Predictably, this did not go well, as they were both soon overtaken by brain freeze, and transported to a cartoonish Ben and Jerry-themed world. The actual Ben and Jerry appeared in a cloud to save them from a killer ice-cream cone, and the hosts sang a song of friendship, effectively ending the feud when they agreed to be BBFSM - Best Friends For Six Months (Colbert didn't want to commit to forever). The lyrics were sweet (sic), full of puns, and a bit dirty in one verse. At the end of his show, Colbert congratulated Jimmy for his flavor.

     OK, so obviously their feud was fake. A stunt for late night television. But what in late night is not a stunt? I don't care if their beef was settled in ten minutes. What is important is that two really funny late night hosts got together (three, with Stewart's appearance) and made something worth laughing at. Stewart and Colbert had previously done bits with Conan O'Brien, which were fantastic, so I was pleased to see a return to that intermingling. Besides, it's more fun when the guys involved are actually enjoying themselves, rather than really fighting.

     The ice-creams themselves actually sound pretty similar. Both have a vanilla base with caramel swirled in. Colbert's edition contains chocolate covered pieces of ice-cream cone, while Fallon's boasts chocolate covered clumps of potato chip. Fallon's is likely to be a bit more salty. I'll have to check it out.

     Either way, kudos to both men (and Stewart) for providing some quality entertainment. The Colbert Report airs Monday through Thursday at 11:30 p.m. ET on Comedy Central, while Late Night With Jimmy Fallon can be found weeknights at 12:30 a.m. ET on NBC.

Article first published as TV Review: Stephen Colbert Fueds With Jimmy Fallon on Blogcritics.

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Saturday Night Live premieres with Amy Poehler

     NBC may be (unfairly) holding Parks and Recreation until mid-season, but Amy Poehler returned to the network this week as host of Saturday Night Live's season premiere.  Not only did Amy show up, brought she brought a multitude of friends with her.  In her awesome monologue, she relayed a dream she had supposedly had the night before, and the sequence was filmed for our enjoyment.  She had a kissing scene with Justin Timberlake, who proclaimed her a horrible kisser. Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon taunted her, saying they were back, and she would not be doing the Weekend Update segment.  A polar bear devoured her friend Rachel Dratch.  The whole thing was bizarre, and also very funny.

     SNL has been uneven for awhile now.  One could argue that last season was pretty bad, on the whole.  This week's episode was mostly polished and sharp.  While Amy's friends did fill in during the monologue, only a couple of them appeared in skits, so they can't get all of the credit for improving the quality of the show.  Justin Timberlake was in one very short skit with Andy Samberg called "Actor II Actor".  There wasn't much to it, but I laughed out loud the entire time.  Maya Rudolph also returned for a brand new "Bronx Beat", which featured Katy Perry in a sly nod to her Seasame Street video that was cut.  Perry also returned for an Oscar segment that was probably the worst part of the episode.

     Two cast members, that I noticed, are no longer with SNL.  Jenny Slade had not been on the show that long, and she's gone.  Also, Will Forte resigned.  I do not know if his departure had anything to do with the box office failure of the Macgruber movie, but it wouldn't surprise me.  The show added four new cast members to this year's lineup, but they weren't featured much, so it's hard to form an opinion yet.  My current favorite, who really stood out this week despite very limited screen time, is Nasim Pedrad.  I wasn't overly impressed with her last year, but her mock of Edie Falco in Nurse Jackie was spot on, and she also could easily replace Amy Poehler in the "Rick" sketches.

     The one did a Will Smith impression during Weekend Update that marked the only blemish in that part of the show.  Update was fantastic this week, with one of the best "Really!?! With Seth and Amy"s of all time, covering Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and gays in the military.  The real Governor David Patterson also showed up to face-off with his rival, and played along with the recurring bits.  My favorite sketch of this week's episode was probably the Mosque commercial.  The sad part is, there are people in this country that would take that seriously.

     Next week Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) will be the host, and Kanye West is the musical guest.  Tune into NBC Saturday nights at 11:30 to watch the show.

Emmys were good, but a tad unsatisfying

     Last night was the 62nd Annual Emmy Awards, and this morning, the results are a mixed bag.  First, the broadcast itself.  Host Jimmy Fallon did ok.  His singing tribute to 24 and Lost was very cool, but his reading of twitter comments was beyond lame, and he did it multiple times throughout the night.  The cast of Modern Family participated in some funny retooling clips of their show.  The best part, naturally, was the opening sketch.  Jimmy and Tina Fey helped Lea Michele, Corey Monteith, Amber Riley, and Chris Colfer, all from Glee, form a Glee Club.  The other members they picked up included Jon Hamm (Mad Men), a very enthusiastic Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries), the always enjoyable Jorge Garcia (Lost), Joel McHale (Community), the fantastic Jane Lynch (Glee), and last and definitely least, Kate Gosselin (Jon & Kate Plus Eight).  The bit also included appearances by the legendary Betty White, Tim Gunn (Project Runway), and Randy Jackson (American Idol).

     The comedy awards went in an expected fashion.  Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) and Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie) took the lead awards, while Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family) and Jane Lynch (Glee) brought home the supporting statues.  While none of these choices was surprising, each was highly deserved.  It was also nice to spread out the gold among four different shows.  Stonestreet's TV husband, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, touchingly has tears in his eyes as Eric went up to the stage.  The much-talked about showdown between Modern Family and Glee for best comedy ended with MF getting the prize.  Again, not surprising, as MF is the more typical comedy of the two, although it was surprising that phenomenon Glee didn't garner more statues.  Most surprising?  Broadcast television swept this category.

     The drama awards were a bit more surprising.  Not the Best Series, which went for the third year in a row to Mad Men, even though I was really pulling for Lost in it's final year.  Although I must ask, for a series that has won top honors three times, why was a new episode aired last night in competition with the Emmys?  Did they want no one to watch it?  Thank goodness for TiVo.  Also, Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) kept his Best Actor streak going  But Best Actress went to Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), a total mistake in my book, as I was rooting for every other actress in that category!  Cranston's co-star, Aaron Paul, got a well deserved Supporting Actor win, and Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife) rounded out the category.

     In the miniseries and movie genre, Al Pacino (You Don't Know Jack) and Claire Danes took home the top statues, the latter much more deserving than the former, and David Straithairn and Julia Ormond assured that Temple Grandin got three of the four awards.  Grandin also took Outstanding Made for Television Movie, while the Tom Hanks / Steven Spielberg epic The Pacific unsurprisingly won best mini-series.  Grandin and The Pacific were both fantastic, so no complaints there.

     I'd also like to mention that although it would have been oh-so-satisfying for Conan O'Brien's The Tonight Show to win, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart is a nearly flawless program that deserves every kudos it earns, so it someone had to beat Conan, I'm glad it was Jon.

Leno Loses in Primetime

    For months now, the chronically unfunny (in my opinion) Jay Leno has hosted The Jay Leno Show five nights a week on NBC.  What is unusual about this late night talk show is that it airs in primetime.  NBC decided this year to give up ten o'clock five nights a week as a 'bold experiment', and it has failed big time.  Not for NBC, the network insists, as Leno is performing as expected.  Plus it costs them very little to make his show, versus five other, bigger budget programs.  The problem is the affiliates.

     NBC doesn't own most of the local NBC stations.  Affiliates began complaining that Leno was losing them viewers for their eleven o'clock newscasts.  This is very bad because advertisers pay top dollar to run spots during the news, and lower ratings mean less money.  The local affiliates count on that money to stay afloat.  Some threatened to pull Leno off the air, even before the show premiered, and in return NBC threatened to stop allowing them to air any NBC shows.  Things seemed to have settled once Leno began airing in the fall, but when November sweeps came back, the unrest returned.  NBC has backed down and agreed that on February 12th Leno will be leaving ten o'clock.

     The problem posed is that Leno still works for NBC and they have no desire to get rid of him.  However, Conan O'Brien is under contract to host The Tonight Show, and Leno cannot take it back.  Currently, NBC would like to air a shortened Leno from 11:35-12:05, bump The Tonight Show back to 12:05-1:05, and by extension, move Late Night With Jimmy Fallon back to begin at 2:05.  This would leave Last Call With Carson Daly out, as two a.m. belongs to the affiliates, though NBC has pledged to keep him at the network.  Currently, none of this moving around is finalized, other than Leno leaving primetime, but all involved parties are in talks to make it happen.

     So what would air at ten p.m.?  Suddenly NBC has five more hours to fill.  Top on the list are new episodes of Friday Night Lights, which has aired on satellite already, but NBC is allowed to begin airing as of March 1st, and had planned on bringing back soon anyway.  Also likely is the USA-aired Law & Order: Criminal Intent, an expanded Dateline, and another reality show or two.  Nothing is set in stone, and NBC could end up airing other shows from it's networks, including Bravo, USA, or even SyFy.

     What exactly will happen remains to be seen, but NBC is hoping it will all be worked out by February 12th.  This could shape up to be one heck of a battle, or a huge disappointment.