Cardiff Giant11

Yikes watched this today and I see what everyone meant about Kristin Wiig. The opening sketch was PAINFULLY long and unfunny as were most of her other appearances. I used to like her but now I'm not so sure. I liked the line at the start of the Discovery Kids sketch about having that many channels guarantees your kids will stumble across porn. I also liked the Gitmo sketch.

NiCK Crush

Cant wait for Steve Martin and Jason Mraz

cracksky

Don't blame Wiig or Hammond for that opening. Blame the awful writing. Maybe the worst in 10 years of the show.

I thought the impression of Barbara Walters on The View skit was frighteningly perfect.

Does anyone know why TV Funhouse hasn't been on this season? Did Smigel piss off Lorne or what?

Charlie Goose

I am a big fan of Wiig, does that make me a Wiigger? Still, I do not like the Judy Grimes character, and absolutely HATED the Gilly turd. She's still the best female performer SNL has ever had.

Rosario Dawson is beautiful and was a very good host, despite the material. I liked the Aladdin sketch and the one written by the 4th grade Spanish class. Mostly because it brought back my Spanish class days and I understood everything without the visual clues.

Giantrobo

@ "Wiiger".

Yeah Wiig got tons of talent and can "do it all". If a bit falls short on SNL it's not her because she gives 100%. But I get people will hate who they hate.

Rosario was good, but overall the show was kinda 'so so'. I think last night's show was a classic case of SNL bits going on for 4 or 5 minutes longer than they should.

JeffTheAlpaca

thanks for the Arnold joke.

it sounded like a joke that Kevin Nealon would pull off perfectly if he still did the show but it was still funny LOL.


Steve Martin should be banished from the SNL studios if he is using the show as a platform to promote another shitty Pink Panther movie.

movieking

I really like Dawson, but aside from the Aladdin thing, the show was pretty bad.

NiCK Crush

Wiig's Elisabeth Hasselbeck (or however you spell it) from the View is fucking hilarious.

islandclaws

This episode's Weekend Update reminded me why Seth Myers needed Amy so badly. It's the only reason I DVR the show, but his material isn't funny enough for me to justify that anymore. They need to add a new, funny female co-anchor now.

Josh-da-man

I like Wiig's "Penelope" character because it's funny to see what batty thing she's going to say next, and also to see how others will react to her.

The problem is that several other of her stock characters fall into the same "middle-aged eccentric woman with odd ticks" category. She's good, but she needs to retire the Target lady.

Daytripper

And Wiig's Kathy Lee Gifford last week was spot on. Also fucking hilarious.

jjcool

This episode was pretty crappy. The Aladdin sketch was funny. I thought Rosario looked good. Wished she showed more of the twins. The Barbara Walters impersonation was spot on. The band sucked. Wiig was pretty crappy. That godawful Gilly sketch went on and on and on. And I am getting real sick of the Just Kidding lady.

theflicker

I'm a big Wiig fan, but I can understand some of the complaints.

She is very good at doing understated, sort of absurd comedy, with lots of awkward silences. I think the 'Gilly' sketch this week was the result of her combining those sensibilities with Forte's similar sensibilities. The result being a very absurd and dry sketch that many won't care for. I happened to enjoy it, but felt it went a little bit long, but what SNL sketch doesn't? A similar recurring sketch has Wiig and Forte as the quiet, closeted, office deviants.

At the same time, however, Wiig also does very gimmicky characters. Target Lady and Judy Grimes are two of her characters that I really dislike. (The Target Lady sketch mixed it up a little in the Ben Affleck episode and was better than any of the other instances.) Two A-Holes also falls undert his category, but it seems like most people are clamoring for more of them. Penelope has also become rather formulaic, but there's a nice little new bit in each one (showing up in the video this week, for example. Telegraphed? Maybe, but I still enjoyed it. Heck, I just enjoy her showing up from different directions off-frame. Perhaps I'm easily amused.)

Ultimately, I see Wiig being forced to do more of these formulaic, stock characters as she assumes more and more of Poehler's workload. I imagine Watkins will be primarily cast as older, straight-man roles and Elliott will be given kid roles with Wiig sort of bridging the gap between them.

jeffkjoe

So, what kind of roles will Casey Wilson be cast in?

theflicker

Heh, I forgot all about her. She's been sort of absent from the show lately.

Someone earlier said that Watkins is similar to Nora Dunn (good or bad, up to you). Casey Wilson reminds me of Julia Sweeney. Sort of a straight man, but she has had a sketch or two with more eccentric, theatrical characters along the lines of Molly Shannon, though much more reined in.

I like the female cast as it currently stands. I think the show needs another option when it comes to minorities. Kenan is . . . not great and while Armisen is wonderful as the foreign utility player, it'd be nice if someone else was around.

For Weekend Update, I wouldn't be surprised if they had Samberg join Meyers if only to justify listing him as a cast member and not just giving him a Smigel-esque credit of "and an SNL Digital Short by Andy Samberg". I wouldn't like this decision, but maybe it would be better than having him in sketches.