Goldberg74

... and tonight we get the first episode of the new year!

<fieldset style="width: 500px; margin: 0px auto; font-size: smaller;"><legend>Season 42 (2016-2017)</legend>
SNL (S42E01) -- 10/01/16 -- H: Margot Robbie -- MG: The Weeknd
SNL (S42E02) -- 10/08/16 -- H: Lin-Manuel Miranda -- MG: twenty one pilots
SNL (S42E03) -- 10/15/16 -- H: Emily Blunt -- MG: Bruno Mars
SNL (S42E04) -- 10/22/16 -- H: Tom Hanks -- MG: Lady Gaga
SNL (S42E05) -- 11/05/16 -- H: Benedict Cumberbatch -- MG: Solange
SNL (S42E06) -- 11/12/16 -- H: Dave Chappelle -- MG: Tribe Called Quest
SNL (S42E07) -- 11/19/16 -- H: Kristen Wiig -- MG: The XX
SNL (S42E08) -- 12/03/16 -- H: Emma Stone -- MG: Shawn Mendes
SNL (S42E09) -- 12/10/16 -- H: John Cena -- MG: Maren Morris
SNL (S42E10) -- 12/17/16 -- H: Casey Affleck -- MG: Chance the Rapper
SNL (S42E11) -- 01/14/17 -- H: Felicity Jones -- MG: Sturgill Simpson
SNL (S42E12) -- 01/21/17 -- H: Aziz Ansari -- MG: Big Sean
</fieldset>

windom

Wow, I've never seen anyone so obviously reading the cue cards (badly) during the opening monologue.

Coral

Yea, it was bad. Not Robert DeNiro bad, but still pretty bad.

mcnabb

I was expecting the typical Q&A Monologue with the crowd as you could see Jones was very nervous.

JTH182

She was super nervous, I felt bad.

Man, that opener was truly savage! No tweets from Donnie yet.

movieking

Jones was petrified and awful.

brucehf

Sturgill Simpson!

slop101

I have no idea who Felicity Jones is, but I do love Sturgill.

mcnabb

That is where I think SNL and other media outlets miscalculate these TV/Movie franchises these days. The Original Star Wars movies were a phenomenon that everyone knew about and understood every pop culture reference, even if they didn't see the movies. Whether you liked Star Wars or not, you knew exactly what was meant when they talked about the Force and The Death Star.

Rogue One references are essentially inside jokes to only SW fans, as the average person has no idea who Felicity Jones is or the character in the movie that Keenan Thompson came out to.

The Questyen

Me and my wife both cracked up the second Sturgill opened his mouth. I was hoping it was a bad sketch or something. That is seriously unlistenable music.

slop101

I honestly didn't know she was the lead in R1, even though I saw it, I just didn't recognize her name. She was a such a non-entity in the movie, I don't even remember what she looks like.

slop101

Yeah, that's probably why his records are the most highly rated country albums, sell well and why his concerts sell out within minutes, because he's "unlistenable".

The Questyen

These are the same people who voted Trump into office. I don't trust their taste.

Dr. DVD

The cold open was good, but I turned it off after the first sketch. I like Felicity Jones and know from elsewhere other than Star Wars, but like many "fresh face" actors who try this stint she was in over her head. She was 100% reliant on the cue cards and I think the Fey appearance was thrown in last minute because they realized she couldn't last on her own. Nothing on her , as any athlete or non-comedic actor typically does the same thing.

slop101

Yes, those bastions of the alt-right, Pitchfork and NPR.

philo

Aside from the opening which these days pretty much writes itself the rest of the show felt like the Beck Bennett show and it was wall to wall bland.

Maybe I had higher hopes because they had an entire month off but even the filmed bit with Keenan's car not starting was a chore once you saw where the one joke was going.

Decker

I'm usually an SNL apologist, but there was literally nothing funny in this episode after the cold opening. Unwatchable.

RichC2

I get not digging the sound, but yeah Simpson is one of the few country acts I like.

Mostly, I can appreciate someone doing a Turtles All the Way Down song.

He isn't popular with the country bunch, mostly just hipsters and more traditional music fans (and Grammy voters I guess). But yeah to each their own.

That said, this episode was pretty dull.

Count Dooku

Rogue One has been the most popular movie in America for a month.
About 50 million tickets sold.
And with Carrie Fisher's death, the franchise has been all over the news.

How much more cultural currency does something need to have?

Count Dooku

I'm thinkng this is saying more about you than FJ

Count Dooku

Since the premise of the monologue sketch was that she was nervous and needed help, I am actually wondering if she was just acting the hell out of it

Count Dooku

This show had a very high number of sketches that (I think) women would find funnier than men

Troy Stiffler

Douchebag Don just posted a couple Tweets complaining about SNL again.

SNL is so hit and miss. I still maintain that it's all about the guest host. The Casey Affleck episode had mostly good sketches. And then this one was ho-hum. Other than the reliable cold open and news (minus the guest bits).

I liked the short too.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AzqFNs0Y7c4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

OldBoy

Holy shit was that cold opening bad. I never saw someone read so intently to the cue cards. She was stiff and terrible. Not her gig.

Troy Stiffler

That's called the Monologue. Cold Open is the Trump bit (the "opening sketch").