Jennifer Aniston / The Black Eyed Peas
January 10, 2004
(COLD OPENING) A Message from Donald Trump
Highlights:
-- Good to see Darrell's Donald Trump impression back.
-- Several good lines.
-- Jimmy's cameo as Jeff Zucker.
Lowlights:
-- None.
Misc. Comments & Observations:
-- A funny coincidence is that the last Jennifer Aniston episode also opened with Darrell playing Donald Trump.
Grade: B+
(MONOLOGUE) Jennifer Aniston shows an alternate "Friends" ending
Highlights:
-- Joey/Horatio being shot at the end.
-- Jennifer's... uh... dress... uh, you know what I mean...
Lowlights:
-- I thought and was hoping that they were going to show more alternate endings, not just one.
Misc. Comments & Observations:
-- Amy was dead-on as Courtney Cox as far as looks go.
-- What was with Jennifer at the end after the Friends footage? She looked like she didn't even know she was on camera or something.
Grade: B-
(SKETCH) Photographers at the red carpet
Highlights:
-- Jennifer's jokes about herself.
-- Jimmy/Steven Seagal kicking Amy.
Lowlights:
-- A lot of this fell flat.
-- Why didn't they have any actual castmembers play the passing-by celebrities (other than Jimmy as Steven Seagal)? It probably would've been funnier.
Grade: D+
(NEXT WEEK) January 17, 2004: Jessica Simpson & Nick Lachey
-- I'm not really excited about this, but on the other hand, I'm pretty sure I put Jessica Simpson on my list for the Guess the Hosts contest which would give me an extra point, and at least SNL is trying something a little different by having two hosts, which they haven't done in years. Plus, this could turn out surpisingly good, like the Justin Timberlake episode.
(SKETCH) Britney and her boyfriend
Highlights:
-- None.
Lowlights:
-- This was really boring, and I started to get sick of those various cut-aways to the clock. They could've done a much better job of making fun of Britney Spears.
-- The ending seemed abrupt.
Grade: F
(COMMERCIAL) "Gaystrogen"
-- This again???
(SKETCH) Democratic candidates
Highlights:
-- Darrell/Dick Gephart's line about running for his 19th time.
-- Amy as Dennis Kucinich.
-- Jimmy/Gen. Clark yelling "Ten hut!"
-- Parnell/Lieberman's pouty comments.
Lowlights:
-- None.
Grade: B
(MUSICAL PERFORMANCE)
-- No comment.
(WEEKEND UPDATE) Fallon & Fey, Steve Irwin, O.J. Simpson, Phil Specter, Robert Blake, Al Franken
Highlights:
-- Jimmy's moon joke.
-- Jimmy's Newman joke.
-- Jeff's Crocodile Hunter impression.
-- Tina's David Gest joke.
-- Tina's Michael Jackson joke.
-- Great to see Al Franken back with his satellite bit.
Lowlights:
-- The Crocodile Hunter bit should've been longer. It felt too short and ended abruptly.
-- Tina's Kate Hudson joke.
-- The Franken bit turned out disappointing and wasn't as funny as usual, although it got a little better with the soldier who's wife had a baby.
Misc. Comments & Observations:
-- I liked Jimmy's ad-lib about Darrell/Robert Blake's weird-looking stuffed parrot on his shoulder.
Grade: B
(SKETCH) Saddam phones Osama
Highlights:
-- A little better than the last Osama/Saddam sketch. And I didn't find Horatio's Saddam impression as bad this time like I usually do. Probably because he looked more like Saddam does now this time with the disheveled, graying wig.
-- Osama listening to a walkman at the beginning.
-- Some funny lines.
Lowlights:
-- Several awkward spots here and there.
-- Could've been shorter.
Grade: C
(SKETCH/COMMERCIAL) "Country Roses"
Highlights:
-- The abortion song at the end.
Lowlights:
-- The rest was nothing special and I've never been a fan of country music anyway, not even parodies.
Grade: D
(SKETCH) "Coco & Matsui Super Show"
Highlights:
-- Jennifer's conversation with herself.
Lowlights:
-- The rest wasn't that funny, especially considering SNL's otherwise usually good track record with classic Japanese show parodies (like the Japanese game show with Chris Farley and the Japanese Laverne and Shirley from a few seasons ago).
Grade: C+
(MUSICAL PERFORMANCE)
-- No comment.
(SKETCH) "Appalachian Emergency Room"
Highlights:
-- A funny concept.
-- Amy was very funny.
-- Parnell's appearance alone had me laughing.
Lowlights:
-- Jennifer and Horatio's parts could've been funnier.
Misc. Comments & Observations:
-- I think this was Darrell's first non-impression role all season. Speaking of which, I think it would've been even funnier if Darrell played his Skeeter character in this sketch. It would've fit perfectly.
Grade: B-
(SKETCH) Raw Talk
Highlights:
-- None.
Lowlights:
-- A very weak closing sketch and I was hoping Forte or Fred would save it, but they had basically nothing to do and were on-screen for less than a minute.
-- The ending was dumb. Bad endings seem to be a theme for the show tonight.
Grade: F
_________________________________________________
Overall Episode Grade: C-
Overall Highlights:
-- A Message from Donald Trump.
-- The alternate Friends ending with Joey being killed.
-- Jennifer's conversation with herself in Coco & Matsui Super Show.
-- Several characters in Appalachian Emergency Room.
Overall Lowlights:
-- Photographers at the red carpet.
-- Britney and her boyfriend.
-- The 10,000th rerun of Gaystrogen. Will we ever have another new commercial for the remainder of the season?
-- The Crocodile Hunter bit ending so abruptly.
-- Al Franken's cameo turned out disappointing.
-- Country Roses.
-- Raw Talk.
-- Overall, this was nowhere near as good as Jennifer's first episode. I guess that "first show of the new year" curse strikes again.
Funniest Single Moment:
-- Joey being killed off-camera as the alternate Friends ending
Best Lines:
-- Darrell Hammond as Donald Trump: "Over the next 13 weeks, I'll be looking for someone with an appreciation for the classier things in life, like solid gold telescopes and 40-foot TVs."
-- Darrell Hammond as Donald Trump: "The one that wins will get a very rare chance to look into my somewhat glamorous lifestyle with my marble and gold apartment designed after some of the greatest palaces in Iraq."
-- Seth Meyers as John Kerry: "The point is, in a few months when George Bush is calling Howard Dean a short-tempered liberal who will use middle-class tax increases to fund his gay Vermont wedding to Saddam Hussein--"
-- Jimmy Fallon: "On Friday, President Bush announced details of his plan to send a man to the moon. Bush told reporters that 'to guarantee success of the mission, we will only send astronauts up there when it's a full moon'."
-- Jimmy Fallon: "Last week, Britney Spears married Jason Alexander. In a related story, Christina Aguilera 69'd Newman."
-- Tina Fey: "Lawyers for David Gest charged that Liza Minelli has a medical condition that she hid from her former husband. David, a vagina is not a condition..."
-- Tina Fey: "A 7-year-old boy in Cheboygan, Wisconsin had to be rescued by a locksmith this past weekend after getting stuck in a supermarket toy machine. And so begins Michael Jackson's most recent letter to Penthouse."
-- Horatio Sanz as Saddam Hussein: "(to Osama) All your tapes - they sound the same, man. You're like a terrorist version of Aerosmith."
CASTMEMBER COUNT DOWN
DRATCH: 3 sketches (1: Britney and her boyfriend; 2: Country Roses; 3: Raw Talk)
FALLON: 8 sketches (1: A Message from Donald Trump; 2: Monologue; 3: Photographers at the red carpet; 4: Britney and her boyfriend; 5: Democratic candidates; 6: Weekend Update; 7: Saddam phones Osama; 8: Appalachian Emergency Room)
FEY: 1 sketch (1: Weekend Update)
FORTE: 2 sketches (1: Democratic candidates; 2: Raw Talk)
HAMMOND: 4 sketches (1: A Message from Donald Trump; 2: Democratic candidates; 3: Weekend Update; 4: Appalachian Emergency Room)
MEYERS: 3 sketches (1: Photographers at the red carpet; 2: Democratic candidates; 3: Appalachian Emergency Room)
PARNELL: 6 sketches (1: Gaystrogen; 2: Democratic candidates; 3: Country Roses; 4: Coco & Matsui Super Show; 5: Appalachian Emergency Room; 6: Raw Talk)
POEHLER: 5 sketches (1: Monologue; 2: Photographers at the red carpet; 3: Democratic candidates; 4: Country Roses; 5: Appalachian Emergency Room)
RICHARDS: 1 sketch (1: Weekend Update)
RUDOLPH: 4 sketches (1: Monologue; 2: Country Roses; 3: Coco & Matsui Super Show; 4: Raw Talk)
SANZ: 3 sketches (1: Monologue; 2: Saddam phones Osama; 3: Appalachian Emergency Room)
ARMISEN: 5 sketches (1: Gaystrogen; 2: Weekend Update; 3: Saddam phones Osama; 4: Coco & Matsui Super Show; 5: Raw Talk)
MITCHELL: 2 sketches (1: Gaystrogen; 2: Weekend Update)
THOMPSON: 2 sketches (1: Democratic candidates; 2: Raw Talk)
Jimmy was the star of the night.
FIN.