OVERVIEW
Nuttin' much to say here. Gwyneth hosted before and that was a pretty good episode, so she should be good again in this episode. Her last episode was also one of the first SNL episodes I ever saw. I remember seeing that Staten Island nurses sketch, and remembering thinking that Gwyneth looked just like Fran "the Nanny" Dreschner with that wig and make-up and the New York accent, and I actually thought that was her at first.

 

DUBYA ADDRESSES THE NATION (4:07 ??)

- My videotape was acting up and I missed a little bit of the beginning of this sketch.
- Good Bush opening as usual.
- Saying the opening line in Arab or whatever language Ferrell said it in, was a nice touch. Still, let someone else say the opening line other than Ferrell and Darrell Hammond, dammit! How about Tina Fey?
- RATING: ****3/8 B+

 

GWYNETH PALTROW'S MONOLOGUE (4:20)

- A nice monologue.
- It's about time they give Maya some attention for once.
- I said it before and I'll say it again ­ Maya is a real good singer. Gwyneth ain't too bad, either.
- RATING: ****1/4 B

 

Nice camera transition straight from the monologue to the next sketch, like they did in the Christina Ricci episode.

 

THE BOSTON TEENS (5:35)

- About time we see these characters again.
- Nice change of setting putting them in a prom, though it looked kinda weird not seeing them in their usual Boston outfits.
- Lately in these Boston Teens sketches, they just seem to be writing Horatio's "Frankie" character in just for the sake of putting him in it. He hardly did anything here. Too bad, 'cause his character usually gets the most laughs.
- Oh my god! Tina Fey in a sketch??!!!! Great! Get her in more sketches!
- Seth Meyers would've fit into this sketch very well, because of that Boston Red Sox commentary he made last week, and I think he's from actually Boston himself, isn't he?
- Gwyneth ran off stage too early at the end.
- RATING: ****1/4 B

 

MTV SPECIAL - GEMINI'S TWIN WEEKEND (5:38)

- I've never been too crazy about these characters. I know the joke is that they're spoofing Destiny's Child, but since DC actually appeared in the last Gemini's Twin sketch, I figured these characters would be done. Then again, Joe Pesci cameoing in a Joe Pesci show sketch from 96-97 never stopped Jim Breuer from continuing doing the sketch.
- One high point about these sketches is that we get to see Maya in a sexy outfit each time!
- Dean did a good impression of that real guy from MTV, I forgot his name.
- The fact that they didn't use the TRL/Carson Daly setting this time just proves my point that Jimmy seems to have given up doing impressions this season. I wonder why. He usually does a lot of great impressions.
- RATING: ***7/8 C

 

NEXT WEEK
Billy Bob Thornton hosts. I have mixed feelings about this. He's a very good and versatile actor on-screen in the movies I've seen him in, but I just can't stand him as himself. So I'm kinda looking forward to this, and at the same time, I'm not. I dunno

 

THE ATTEBURY'S (4:23)

- I'm surprised to see this again. This was an old recurring sketch with Ana and Mark McKinney back in 1996-97, then they did it again later with Will Ferrell replacing McKinney's character, in that horrible Tobey Maguire episode. Not many people are even familiar with these characters.
- A dull sketch saved once again by Will Ferrell. He's great playing pissed off.
- RATING: ***1/2 C-

 

TV FUNHOUSE ­ MICHAEL JACKSON (3:24)

- Oh my god, I was laughing my ass off for the whole thing. This was priceless!
- The person who voiced the monkey sounds like the same voice of Boo-Boo from last season's Anatominals cartoon.
- Webster with a beard??? Oh my god!
- RATING: ***** A+

 

Why does the musical guest performance always have to be on before Update? For some reason, I don't like it when they do that. At least he only got one song, which is pretty rare for a musical guest nowadays (I think David Gray and Nelly Furtado were the only ones last season).

 

WEEKEND UPDATE (12:20)

- Great jokes as usual.
- Tina and Jimmy's Security/Pizza Party rant was pretty good.
- I'm surprised Darrell's doing Rudy Guiliani again after the real deal just cameod on the show recently. The impression is pretty good, but I think he looks more like Rudy without the glasses. I think he only did the impression without the glasses only once before, in the Britney Spears episode.
- Darrell slightly cracked up after making an ad-lib about the way Kattan (I'm not sure who he was impersonating) was walking.
- This is the second Update this season where Tina and Jimmy said "Andscene" after a bit.
- Horatio's Jasper Hahn character is back again after a pretty long time. His bit was the usual stuff (drawing obscene pictures that turn out to be pictures of presidential figures), but still okay. I wonder how they get away with doing this, though. Bonus points for drawing Osama to look like a dick at first. He should've left the picture just like that, cause it still looks like Osama.
- Horatio kinda screwed up the last picture he drew because he and Jimmy were laughing.
- RATING: ****3/8 B+

 

DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY DINNER (6:21)

- I remember this sketch from the 1997-98 Sarah Michelle Gellar episode. I'm happy to see this back.
- Ferrell's playing a lot of pissed off characters tonight.
- Did anyone notice that Amy wasn't even trying to look like she was eating? She was just scraping her fork against her plate and knife.
- It was funny the way Gwyneth sang when she said "Shut up, biotch!"
- RATING: ****1/2 A-

 

MANGO (6:18)

- Another recurring character tonight?
- Seth Meyers' impression of Hugh Grant was hilarious. He looked and sounded just like him.
- When Kattan said "Here comes Matt Damon, he's been rubbing against me all night!", his "Mango" accent slipped and he said that line in his real voice.
- This was Jeff Richards' ONLY bit in the whole episode, and again, he had no lines. He's gotta have a breakout episode soon like all the other 3 featured players have.
- I got a laugh out of the "69" number on Kattan/Mango's football jersey.
- This character's been run into the ground. I think Mango peaked with Garth Brooks the first time Garth hosted. This sketch was a mess. Why was Mango going out with a girl anyway? The "is Mango gay or not" theme is getting old. And the "song" bit was incredibly lame.
- At least Matt Damon's cameo was decent.
- RATING: ***1/4 D

 

FIESTA POLITICA (4:55)

- Like a lot of "foreign" sketches on SNL (Der Lacheln Berrscht, Rabin to Shuri), this was really bizarre, but hilarious. Maya was great.
- Gwyneth kinda looked like Kate Hudson in this sketch.
- The random shots of Horatio's face were hilarious.
- I just noticed that in the last two episodes, Tracy Morgan has played a gay person in every sketch.
- RATING: ****3/8 B+

 

JACK HANDEY'S BIG THICK NOVEL (:53)

- This was okay.
- RATING: n/a

 

What the hell? Where I live, the goodbyes weren't even shown! Hell, it's one thing if they just cut Gwyneth off while she's in the middle of saying the "I wanna give thanks to, etc.", but don't cut the whole thing off! What a gyp!

 

OVERALL - Solid episode. A lot of good sketches. This season is doing real well, but I have a feeling that next week's show will be a dud. We'll see.  B+

 

BEST SKETCH OF THE EPISODE: TV Funhouse; Fiesta Politica; Dysfunctional Family
WORST SKETCH OF THE EPISODE: Mango; The Attebury's
MOST BIZARRE SKETCH: Fiesta Politica
HIGH POINTS: Gwyneth did a good job hosting; It was nice to see Maya in a lot of sketches
LOW POINTS: Again, Jeff Richards wasn't given much to do; the damn goodbyes were cut out. I seriously think SNL needs to end their show at 12:50 just to avoid this whole fiasco.
COMMON THEME IN TONIGHT'S EPISODE: A lot of recurring characters were used tonight; Gwyneth sang in several sketches; Tracy played a gay person in all his sketches
SKETCHES THAT'LL PROBABLY BE CUT WHEN COMEDY CENTRAL SHOWS THIS: Fiesta Politica; Jack Handey's Novel; Weekend Update (because of Jasper Hahn, CC cuts out the other two Updates he was on); The Attebury's

 

CAST MEMBER COUNT DOWN:

RACHEL DRATCH: 1 sketch (Boston Teens)
JIMMY FALLON: 3 sketches (Boston Teens, Update, Mango)
WILL FERRELL: 4 sketches (Bush, Attebury's, Dinner, Mango)
TINA FEY: 2 sketches (Boston Teens, Update) Whoa, she actually did something other than Update this week!
ANA GASTEYER: 4 sketches (Gemini's Twin, Attebury's, Dinner, Mango)
DARRELL HAMMOND: 2 sketches (Update, Fiesta)
CHRIS KATTAN: 3 sketches (Attebury's, Update, Mango)
TRACY MORGAN: 2 sketches (Mango, Fiesta)
MAYA RUDOLPH: 4 sketches (Monologue, Gemini's Twin, Mango, Fiesta)
HORATIO SANZ: 3 sketches (Update, Mango, Fiesta)
DEAN EDWARDS: 2 sketches (Gemini's Twin, Mango)
SETH MEYERS: 1 sketch (Mango)
AMY POEHLER: 2 sketches (Boston Teens, Dinner)
JEFF RICHARDS: 1 sketch (Mango)

The airtime between cast members was balanced out pretty well. The stars tonight were Ana Gasteyer and Maya Rudolph. Good to see Maya getting a lot of airtime.

Damn, what's happening to Jimmy Fallon? Last season, he was almost the star of the show, now this season, all he does is Update and that's pretty much it.

That's my review. Thanks for reading. I'm outta heah...

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