Hi Alan. Long time no read. As soon as someone in Lance Mannion's comment section mentioned you were blogging, I had to check it out. Nice place you have here!
I thought the first couple sketches were decent, and I did feel that the cast didn't seem nearly as bloated as it has in recent years... but then Update hit and, well, the show came to a grinding halt.
Back in the late 80s SNL had a sketch called "Comedy Killers," which was a gameshow based on topics that killed comedic momentum. Rosanne was hosting and her character would chime in and say, "singing the National Anthem poorly" for every category. Now, I consider Weekend Update to be the ultimate comedy-killer, unseating Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand.
Amy Poehler is terrific, but she's like the only bright spot left in the cast. Her absurdist Farrah Fawcett tickled the hell out of me. Her Kim Jong Il made me chuckle, too, even though the rest of the sketch didn't. Amy lays it all out there for a laugh, but never loses her intelligence.
In general, Dane Cook's stand-up is empty-headed and achingly unfunny. Last night was no different. But as a sketch comic, he can hold his own next to Jason Sudeikis... which isn't saying much.
That newly promoted class of featured players -- Sudeikis, Wiig, Samberg, Hader -- doesn't impress me much. Though I did like Hader's Pacino.
I was so excited to see Heder doing his Pacino again, since they only had him do it once last year for reasons I can't fathom. (Yes, everybody does Pacino, but Heder's is head and shoulders above any others I've seen.) And when it looked like it would be an entire sketch of Pacino dealing with a computerized voicemail system, I was pleased; then they went into much more generic territory and it kept going and going and going -- just like every other sketch. When I described some of the premises to Marian, she laughed, but then, she didn't have to sit through eight minutes on each of them.
Even the Digital Short could have been a live sketch.
I actually liked the first post-"Update" sketch once it went all meta (after several minutes of "Why is this on? You had four months to write and you're doing this?") but it needed Chris Parnell.
There was something sort of interesting going on near the end of the show. The Poland Spring sketch openly acknowledged its built-in overlength, and the combo Farrah/Last Call sketches seemed to toy with a way of running shorter, conjoined sketches. Neither really worked -- the first wanted its acknowledgment to act as a punchline, the second pair just weren't funny -- but maybe they signal that the Seth Green-fronted staff is looking for ways to escape the plague of the Endless Sketch.
If "Six Degrees" was going to be around long enough to bother with, I suppose we could. But as with "Kidnapped" and "Runaway," the ratings are so bad that hiatus/cancellation is a matter of when, not if.
Feel free to hijack this thread to vent, if you want.
While watching that dreadful second episode of Six Degrees, I found myself thinking that this is what Lost could look like if it had started, like, 1 year before the crash. All those silly coincidences and the meaningless ways in which one character's story often interweaves with another's. Anyway, good riddance, basically. I'm sure Campbell Scott and Hope Davis have better things to do with their time. At least they should have.
And since I'm off topic already, I have a question about Standoff. It's not anything radical, but I enjoy it. So I wanted to ask what are its chances of returning from the hiatus, especially considering FOX has brought Tim Minear in as a supervising producer. And does this mean that the network has passed on Tim's new pilot? Or just that they want to give him something to do until "Drive" premieres sometime midseason?
I hated the second episode of "Six Degrees." I wish they would lose the pretentiousness and just call it "Coinkydink" instead.
I think Campbell Scott and the two brothers are the only moderately interesting characters on the show. Everyone else is just vapid wastes of my time. None of them are clever, endearing, or appealing in any way.
I wonder if there's gonna be a series of mediocre shows slotted after "Gray's Anatomy" until they find it a fit like "Friends" had to deal with.
I wonder if there's gonna be a series of mediocre shows slotted after "Gray's Anatomy" until they find it a fit like "Friends" had to deal with.
Maybe they could just keep this waste of time around until Shonda Rhimes has her new show ready. Ugly Betty - Grey's Anatomy - New Shoda Rhimes Show could be The lineup.
Also, with Six Degrees, I think there was some retooling when they brought Peter Horton in to supervise directing and co-exec. I think they'll stick with it for a bit, if for no other reason than they don't have a whole lot else to play with. The one play I can see them making is to run sitcoms at 8 (they've got a bunch on the bench now, IIRC--Big Day, Underbelly), and push Betty and Grey's back to 9 and 10 respectively. Grey's can win the 10 PM slot with ease.
How bizarre... this was just posted on the National Enquirer's website:
"TV legend Farrah Fawcett is battling cancer, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.
"Doctors discovered a malignant tumor in her lower intestine and blasted it with radiation to shrink it, sources say.
"After surgery to remove the deadly cancer, the 59-year-old former 'Charlie's Angels' star faces chemotherapy and more grueling radiation treatments."
I feel bad for Farrah. But I also wonder how Amy Poehler will feel when she hears this... after her hilarious, surreal mockery of Farrah on "SNL" three nights ago.
I still laugh when I remember it... particularly that address: "123 Boop Street, Giggles, California, XXXXX."
*snicker*
ReplyDeleteHi Alan. Long time no read. As soon as someone in Lance Mannion's comment section mentioned you were blogging, I had to check it out. Nice place you have here!
I thought the first couple sketches were decent, and I did feel that the cast didn't seem nearly as bloated as it has in recent years... but then Update hit and, well, the show came to a grinding halt.
ReplyDeleteBack in the late 80s SNL had a sketch called "Comedy Killers," which was a gameshow based on topics that killed comedic momentum. Rosanne was hosting and her character would chime in and say, "singing the National Anthem poorly" for every category. Now, I consider Weekend Update to be the ultimate comedy-killer, unseating Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand.
Amy Poehler is terrific, but she's like the only bright spot left in the cast. Her absurdist Farrah Fawcett tickled the hell out of me. Her Kim Jong Il made me chuckle, too, even though the rest of the sketch didn't. Amy lays it all out there for a laugh, but never loses her intelligence.
ReplyDeleteIn general, Dane Cook's stand-up is empty-headed and achingly unfunny. Last night was no different. But as a sketch comic, he can hold his own next to Jason Sudeikis... which isn't saying much.
That newly promoted class of featured players -- Sudeikis, Wiig, Samberg, Hader -- doesn't impress me much. Though I did like Hader's Pacino.
I was so excited to see Heder doing his Pacino again, since they only had him do it once last year for reasons I can't fathom. (Yes, everybody does Pacino, but Heder's is head and shoulders above any others I've seen.) And when it looked like it would be an entire sketch of Pacino dealing with a computerized voicemail system, I was pleased; then they went into much more generic territory and it kept going and going and going -- just like every other sketch. When I described some of the premises to Marian, she laughed, but then, she didn't have to sit through eight minutes on each of them.
ReplyDeleteEven the Digital Short could have been a live sketch.
I actually liked the first post-"Update" sketch once it went all meta (after several minutes of "Why is this on? You had four months to write and you're doing this?") but it needed Chris Parnell.
ReplyDeleteThere was something sort of interesting going on near the end of the show. The Poland Spring sketch openly acknowledged its built-in overlength, and the combo Farrah/Last Call sketches seemed to toy with a way of running shorter, conjoined sketches. Neither really worked -- the first wanted its acknowledgment to act as a punchline, the second pair just weren't funny -- but maybe they signal that the Seth Green-fronted staff is looking for ways to escape the plague of the Endless Sketch.
ReplyDeleteCan we talk about how bad the second episode of "Six Degrees" was somewhere?
ReplyDeleteIf "Six Degrees" was going to be around long enough to bother with, I suppose we could. But as with "Kidnapped" and "Runaway," the ratings are so bad that hiatus/cancellation is a matter of when, not if.
ReplyDeleteFeel free to hijack this thread to vent, if you want.
While watching that dreadful second episode of Six Degrees, I found myself thinking that this is what Lost could look like if it had started, like, 1 year before the crash. All those silly coincidences and the meaningless ways in which one character's story often interweaves with another's. Anyway, good riddance, basically. I'm sure Campbell Scott and Hope Davis have better things to do with their time. At least they should have.
ReplyDeleteAnd since I'm off topic already, I have a question about Standoff. It's not anything radical, but I enjoy it. So I wanted to ask what are its chances of returning from the hiatus, especially considering FOX has brought Tim Minear in as a supervising producer. And does this mean that the network has passed on Tim's new pilot? Or just that they want to give him something to do until "Drive" premieres sometime midseason?
I hated the second episode of "Six Degrees." I wish they would lose the pretentiousness and just call it "Coinkydink" instead.
ReplyDeleteI think Campbell Scott and the two brothers are the only moderately interesting characters on the show. Everyone else is just vapid wastes of my time. None of them are clever, endearing, or appealing in any way.
I wonder if there's gonna be a series of mediocre shows slotted after "Gray's Anatomy" until they find it a fit like "Friends" had to deal with.
I wonder if there's gonna be a series of mediocre shows slotted after "Gray's Anatomy" until they find it a fit like "Friends" had to deal with.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they could just keep this waste of time around until Shonda Rhimes has her new show ready. Ugly Betty - Grey's Anatomy - New Shoda Rhimes Show could be The lineup.
Also, with Six Degrees, I think there was some retooling when they brought Peter Horton in to supervise directing and co-exec. I think they'll stick with it for a bit, if for no other reason than they don't have a whole lot else to play with. The one play I can see them making is to run sitcoms at 8 (they've got a bunch on the bench now, IIRC--Big Day, Underbelly), and push Betty and Grey's back to 9 and 10 respectively. Grey's can win the 10 PM slot with ease.
ReplyDelete"But as with "Kidnapped" and "Runaway," the ratings are so bad that hiatus/cancellation is a matter of when, not if."
ReplyDeleteNOOOO! Not "Kidnapped"! I love that show! DAMMIT!
Dane Cook is the most unfunny guy on the planet. How the hell does he have a career?
How bizarre... this was just posted on the National Enquirer's website:
ReplyDelete"TV legend Farrah Fawcett is battling cancer, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.
"Doctors discovered a malignant tumor in her lower intestine and blasted it with radiation to shrink it, sources say.
"After surgery to remove the deadly cancer, the 59-year-old former 'Charlie's Angels' star faces chemotherapy and more grueling radiation treatments."
I feel bad for Farrah. But I also wonder how Amy Poehler will feel when she hears this... after her hilarious, surreal mockery of Farrah on "SNL" three nights ago.
I still laugh when I remember it... particularly that address: "123 Boop Street, Giggles, California, XXXXX."