Hey, fellow reviewers, great to be back.

OVERVIEW
Damn, I always have a hard time thinking of stuff to say in this part. Anyway, it's finally time for the long-awaited season premiere. I'm looking forward to tonight, but there's one particular event that I know it's going to be hard for the people at SNL to ignore (I'm especially concerned about Weekend Update). I'm sure they'll handle it well and tastefully. I'm also looking forward to the new cast members - the only one I'm really familiar with being Jeff Richards. I saw his stand-up bit on Late Friday last week, and he can do a lot of good and funny impersonations.

Tonight should really be an interesting show.

Side Note: I am sad to hear that Chris Parnell is not returning this year. I know he wasn't a star, but I really liked him. He always made me laugh, whether he was playing the goofy guy, the straightman, or the quirky commercial pitchman. I'm still wondering why they fired him. I know a lot of people don't think he did much, but he really held the show together, just in a more subtle way. In ways, he was like the Larry Fine of SNL. I will miss him. Good luck, Parnell.

 

COLD OPENING (8:02)

- Ironically, the cold opening to the last episode of SNL had Darrell Hammond playing Guiliani, and now in the very next episode, we have the real deal on.
- This isn't too much of a surprise to me, since I already heard from the 10:00 news that Mayor Guiliani was going to cameo on the show, but this still was a very touching piece and tribute to the heroes of the WTC Attack.
- Even though I'm not a music person, I really enjoyed the musical tribute by Paul Simon.
- If the firemen said the opening line along with Guiliani, then Mark Polishuk would've gotten his wish.
- RATING: ***** A+

 

OPENING MONTAGE (2:00)

- It's the same one from last season. OkayI guess.
- What, no Smigel cartoon?
- Ana's picture is the only one that's different this year. I guess she didn't like her old one.
- I'm glad that Tina, Rachel, and Maya are now official cast members.
- I like the pictures of the new cast members.
- One goof up, though. Don Pardo accidentally announced Tina Fey as Ana Gasteyer. Then when Ana Gasteyer's picture showed up, he announced Ana and Tina's names together. Poor Don. Even I felt embarrassed. Remember when Don did a similar screw-up during the opening credits from the 1999 Danny DeVito episode?

 

MONOLOGUE (2:48)

- This was okay, I guess, but you can tell Reese isn't much of a comedy person.
- RATING: **** B-

 

PREPERATION H OINTMENT (:54)

- Pretty funny.
- I like that they used most of the featured players in this.
- Thank god they blocked out the part where Kattan showed his ass to the camera.
- RATING: ****1/4 B

 

INTERLUDE

- Hmm, I notice that they have a new stage announcer. It used to be a lady's voice (who sounded eerily like my English teacher from last year), now it's a man's voice.

 

WAKE UP WAKEFIELD (6:59)

- I'm not too excited about this recurring sketch being used again, but I'll be easy on it tonight.
- I always thought that Rachel Dratch looked kinda Tobey Maguire, and this sketch proves it.
- For the second time tonight, some guy showed off their ass to the camera (was that Jeff Richards?). Unfortunately, this time it wasn't blocked out.
- Was that Amy Poehler among the people sticking their faces in the window?
- Again, Horatio steals the sketch with his teacher character.
- RATING: ***3/4 C+

 

THE LITTLE MERMAID (4:35)

- I was wondering where this was going at first, then when Reese as the Mermaid mentioned having mucous in her genitals, it got funny.
- The ending was really bizarre.
- Who were those people playing the singing fish? I'm not all that familiar with the featured players, so it may have been them.
- RATING: ****1/4 B

 

WEEKEND UPDATE (10:22)

- Surprisingly, they kept in Chris Parnell's voice over at the beginning.
- Whoa, Jimmy finally combed his hair! Although he made an ad-lib about it toward the end (while he was in the middle of an Update joke!), then he messed his back hair up again.
- Fav. News Items: The Afghanistan/Glitter joke; Tina's brown hair joke; Janet Reno joke; Elton John/George Clooney joke
- That Hardball/Nostradamus joke with Jimmy was kinda dumb, but his hilarious awkward twitch at the end of it made up for it.
- The Jesse Jackson bit with Darrell Hammond was funny as usual. The make-up people really need to make Darrell's skin darker. He always looks more like a Mexican than a black when he plays the Reverend.
- I was a little worried at first about Update tonight, but everything went just fine. Solid job.
- RATING: ****1/2 A-

 

THE KULPS (5:52)

- I don't really care much for these characters, but they were alright tonight.
- RATING: ***7/8 C+

 

CELEBRITY JEOPARDY (6:28)

- YAHOO!!!!!!!!! I always love it when they do a Celebrity Jeopardy sketch.
- I can't believe Jimmy Fallon wasn't in this, but Dean Edwards was funny as Chris Tucker.
- The Connery/Trebek banter was funny as always.
- The horsemen/whore-semen mix-up was funny, but my favorite is probably the Anal Bum Cover one from last season. I'm still laughing at that one.
- Did anyone notice that on the list of people that Anne Heche slept with, Chris Kattan was on that list? HA!
- To be honest, this was not the best CJ I've seen (my main problem is that it seemed way too short), but still a classic as always.
- RATING: ****1/2 A-

 

THE BABY MIX-UP (4:32)

- This was pretty weak.
- What was with that "coffee" chat between Ferrell and Kattan? It seemed like it was ad-libbed.
- RATING: ***7/8 C+

 

VERSACE (3:31)

- Okay, for the last sketch of the night.
- I don't know who Maya was playing (I think I remember Molly Shannon played this person once before, too), but she was funny. I liked all the impressions.
- RATING: **** B-

 

GOODBYES (1:21)

Looks like we're in for another season of the goodbyes getting cut again

 

FAVORITE SKETCH OF THE EPISODE: Celebrity Jeopardy
LEAST FAVORITE SKETCH OF THE EPISODE: The Baby Mix-Up/Wake-Up Wakefield
MOST BIZARRE SKETCH: The Baby Mix Up

 

OVERALL ­ Good show tonight. I know the writers have had a hard time coming up with stuff to right this week, and I applaud them for doing a decent job for this episode. B

P.S.: They didn't show that sketch with Kattan playing Bono fron U2 and Tracy Morgan playing Lil Kim. The clip they showed of the sketch had Amy Poehler in it, and I wish they showed it so I can see what she's like. I also wish Jeff Richards was used more because I think he has potential.

 

CAST MEMBER COUNT DOWN

RACHEL DRATCH: 2 sketches (Wakefield; Mermaid)
JIMMY FALLON: 3 sketches (Preparation H; Wakefield; Update)
WILL FERRELL: 4 sketches (Mermaid; Kulps; Jeopardy; Baby)
ANA... uh... TINA FEY: 1 sketch (Weekend Update)
ANA GASTEYER: 2 sketches (Kulps; Baby)
DARRELL HAMMOND: 3 sketches (Update; Jeopardy; Versace)
CHRIS KATTAN: 3 sketches (Preparation H; Baby; Versace)
TRACY MORGAN: 1 sketch (Baby)
MAYA RUDOLPH: 3 sketches (Wakefield; Baby; Versace)
HORATIO SANZ: 2 sketches (Wakefield; Mermaid)
DEAN EDWARDS: 4 sketches (Preparation H; Mermaid [?]; Jeopardy; Versace)
SETH MEYERS: 2 sketches (Preparation H; Mermaid [?])
AMY POEHLER: 1 sketch (Wakefield [?])
JEFF RICHARDS: 2 sketches (Preparation H; Wakefield [?])

 

Thank you for reading, and good night. I'm outta heah...

Back to Season 27 (2001-02)