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While the season finale of Saturday Night Live hosted by Alec Baldwin, with musical guest Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, certainly wasn’t the worst episode of the season, it was probably the most disappointing. It’s not so much that Alec Baldwin failed to prove himself, because as we all know, Alec Baldwin has nothing to prove. Not anymore. But for the show’s final send-off before the summer hiatus, with hosting duties in the hands of a salted veteran, it all just felt…BLAH. The show’s opening sketch about the oil spill was benign and blessedly short and didn’t even involve C-Span. And Alec Baldwin’s monologue was fine, whatever. And that was our show, everybody. I mean, the rest of the show just sort of dribbled out. It wasn’t awful, but it definitely wasn’t very good.
These are the highlights, such as they were:
The return of Nasim Pedrad’s Bedelia character was good, although not as good as the first time. Sophomore slump! That’s OK, though, it’s still a great nerd I MEAN CHARACTER.
And the digital short was good. I guess the Lonely Island boys are prepping a second album? They love songs!
Personally, my favorite sketch of the evening was the advertisment for the Timecrowave. It was not necessarily Laugh Out Loud Out Loud Out Loud Out Loud Out Loud, but it was really clever and weird and complicated and also funny but especially those other things I said.
But while that was my favorite sketch of the night, the highlight was probably Weekend Update, which has really been phenomenal all season long and a regular source for the evening’s best jokes and characters. This week was no exception, as they brought out some of the best to close out the season, including Garth and Kat:
And Stefon:
And…that was the show. I mean, there were lots of other things that happened, but they were all kind of bland and unnecessary. Alec Baldwin is probably just saving up the good stuff for his work as the voice of WQXR’s New York Philharmonic This Week program.
Oh well. SUMMER BREAKKKKKKKK!
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Oh! You forgot Bobby Monihan’s EXCELLENT Snooki on Weekend Update as well. I know I loled when she explained why she was called Prison Jumpsuit! And Summer IS the Spring Break of the Seasons. 4sure.
Maybe because Moynihan is such a hard word to spell. ANYWAYS another Snooki Spot is always welcome…and here it is:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/149657/saturday-night-live-update-snooki
It was definitely above average. Late December – March was pretty dour. Last three episodes picked back up and at least had a good run. Best episodes of the year was Gerard Butler, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Zach and Blake Lively.
Show me where I got that dimple? There it is.
I mean last two episodes. Gabourey was awful.
You need to catch up on your Videogum assigned reading, captain.
As of the last update, the rankings for this season were:
1. Zach Galifianakis
2. Charles Barkley
3. Jon Hamm
Jude Law, Jennifer Lopez, and January Jones were fighting for the bottom spot, so that is anyone’s game.
umm…Betty White?
http://videogum.com/149702/zach-galifianakis-hosting-saturday-night-live-is-just-going-to-be-so-great-you-guys/what-america-wants/
I’m just going by Gabe’s official tally. I’d update the list myself, but I’m not to the age where I’m willing to question grown-ups yet.
I had a dream featuring Kristen Wiig last night and she also wishes that sketches didn’t have to continue for another three minutes after they’ve run themselves dry.
Starfish the Script Supervisor not only made it past dress rehearsal but was the first live sketch? Yikes. 5 minutes of dead silence slightly masked by utter desperation.
Yeah, that one really put the brakes on. I bet Lorne wishes he could put that sketch in a Timecrowave™ and replace with a funnier sketch with a mustache.
Looking back – minus the digital short – the sketches could have run in reverse order, only Bedilia should have led off. Top 3 character of the year.
Also! if Nasim Pedrad’s Bedelia has Alec Baldwin for a father and Tina Fey for a mom are we (and stay with me here) SEEING 30Rock’s FUTURE?
It was a decent episode, especially the sketches you posted. However, my mind grapes weren’t blown.
This episode was a disappointment, for sure.
While it was great to find out that Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were brothers and have been on the show for centuries, in the end more questions were raised than answered and the answers we got were shallow and relied too much on magic and bad CGI.
Worst episode of the season.
I thought Bedelia was supposed to be some kind of Sandra Bullock impression.
Will Forte said in E.Weekly that he might not come back next year. That would be sad.
He’s the funniest on the show by a long shot, but he was relegated to minor parts for the most part this season.
Funniest right now would be Bill Hader
well he was filming, right?
Sad, if true. I wonder who’s in/out for next season…
He’s been on the show for a VERY long time– I honestly wouldn’t be surprised and it would probably be a healthy choice. No one wants to stay on SNL forever.
I will seriously cry the day that Kristen Wiig decides to leave the show. She and Maya Rudolph are, in my opinion, the funniest ladies ever on SNL (sorry Amy Poehler, although you are definitely up there!).
Maya Rudolph, huh? I’m sorry about your bad taste.
I guess I should clarify…Maya Rudolph was lousy on the show and one of the key reasons the show got truly unwatchable during the mid-00s (if you disagree, please, go ahead, watch any episode from the 04-05 season). Kristen Wiig is good, but I’m tired of her schtick and I’m tired of the Kristen Wiig quota that requires at least one wacky character per episode.
yikes. i’ll be sure that the next time i use the term “in my opinion” in a comment, i back it up with “which is not as important as Carson’s”…
oh…and when have you ever watched an episode of SNL that didn’t contain at least one wacky character? i didn’t realize mango, debbie downer, mr peepers or the HUNDREDS OF OTHER characters on the show were to be taken seriously…
I have a soft spot for Tom Petty. And that soft spot grew even larger when he started to play the maracas.
I have a soft spot in the middle of my head, but I think that’s different than your thing.
#fontanellejokes
I love you little baby you say the best things!
Why will no one recognize the Zach Galifianakis episode as the aggressively average semi-turd it was. In spite of a great monologue and the funny Zach on the set, that episode was really disappointing. I know we all love Zach, but take the blinders off people.
What about the “unique” swim coach?? I thought that sketch was awesome.
And Bedilia–God, she’s cute. The first one was better, though.
Both sketches just have her repeating the same joke over and over again. This one was worse because it was more uncomfortable. It felt like she was hitting on her father the whole time.
Sally Field! SALLY FIELD! That was my favorite next to the Timecrowave and it was TBS Very Funny!
glad abby elliot gets to prove WHY she’s on the show. she gets no work!
Am I the only one who doesn’t like Garth and Kat? Cause I never really found them funny and at this point I’m really sick of them.
Stefon on the other hand is amazing.
Couldn’t agree more. I don’t watch SNL religiously so this was my first time seeing them but it just seemed tedious from the start without ever going anywhere. That bit was almost as long as all the regular Weekend Update jokes with none of the laughs.
It felt like the whole cast had the giggles. I mean, Stefon was awesome, but Hader is lucky that part of the schtick is that he places his hands over his mouth because he was totally cracking up. Wiig and Armisen were doing it during Garth and Kat, too. My favourite sketch was the army shooting one. I giggled when Baldwin kept rolling over Sudeikis. Probably my biased crush on Sudeikis is responsible for that.