Pete Martell

They also had another interview with Fallon a few days ago, and the first four minutes of their movie have been released as a teaser for viewers. Will Ferrell is in Sandra Oh's new Hulu film, Quiz Lady. SNL's other Will, Forte, is in his second movie of late to be put in the vault rather than released, even though apparently it's pretty good. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/11/why-are-people-outraged-over-john-cenas-canceled-looney-tunes-movie Inside Out 2, starring Amy Poehler but NOT Bill Hader, released a new trailer. I forgot to mention it at the time, but apparently poor Lauren Holt, barely used on SNL, was in Barbie. That's nice for her. Tim Meadows and Tina Fey are reprising their roles in the upcoming Mean Girls: The Musical.

For whatever reason (I think the strike may be a big reason), this is the first season since season 23 to have the first five hosts be male.

Quick video SNL did with Chloe Troast.

Nate gave some behind the scenes info for the episode on his podcast. (there are timestamps)

This has an overview of the ratings for the last three episodes. The newest episode had the highest numbers since Steve Martin/Martin Short last season. https://deadline.com/2023/11/saturday-night-live-season-48-ratings-halloween-nate-bargatze-1235589547/ Since it wasn't mentioned in this thread yet - the next show will be on 11/11, with Timothee Chalamet and musical guest Boygenius. https://pitchfork.com/news/boygenius-to-be-musical-guests-on-new-timothee-chalamet-hosted-snl-episode/

I generally like Sarah and even I don't have any use for these pieces anymore. Haven't for a while. I know the Update desk has repetitive characters, but I don't know how many more ways there are to yell about Jost being a racist or a pervert. Early on Sarah did sort of weird sketches and pre-tapes. I know they are an acquired taste, but I'd much rather see those than what she's been doing this past year or so (the Jost stuff and interchangeable drag roles).

Heidi's had several pieces cut in the last few weeks.

Hard for me to find ratings in the last few years, but one source (Showbiz411) said they were 800K below the premiere (in household ratings, not the 18-49 demo - don't know what those are). Dress rehearsal report:

The 10/28 episode has been announced. Standup Nate Bargatze is making his hosting debut, while longtime SNL staple Foo Fighters (who were intended to be on late last season) are returning as musical guests. https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/snl-nate-bargatze-foo-fighters-host-musical-guest-1235759599/ Nate is apparently a very popular standup today, but I assume he was booked mostly due to the ongoing strike. I'm always glad to see offbeat or lesser-known choices hosting, so hopefully he'll be fine (if the writing is there). And I'm glad there will be a Halloween episode.

I'm not entirely sure which thread to put this in, but here's a comedy short starring Chloe Troast. (NSFW language)

By season 56 everyone in the cast will be named Chloe. I'm glad to have a new cast member, even if some of the people I was hoping would leave haven't left. Anything to help shake up dynamics works for me. Pete isn't who I would have chosen for a premiere, as he seems to be struggling again lately, but I know their options are limited and Lorne is fond of him. Hopefully it will be a cast-heavy episode and they won't go too much into his personal life this time. Bad Bunny was fun in the few sketch appearances he had when he was a musical guest in season 46. I think he'll be OK. I wonder if they're not doing a Halloween episode this year or they just don't have the third show locked down yet.

It looks like that show has been rescheduled to the 15th, which leaves the 14th still open, potentially.

I know Twitter is unworkable now if you aren't on it (and even if you are on it) but I don't think this clip is available anywhere else. Dana Carvey recently tweeted a never before seen sketch he, Phil Hartman, and Jon Lovitz made, written by Robert Smigel.

SNL Network recently had an interview with Connie Crawford, one of the five finalists in the "Anyone Can Host" contest from season 3.

Aristotle Athari talks about his experience at SNL, along with his theater and improv work and his upcoming film.

Tonight's "vintage" is Paul Rudd/DJ Khaled.

Tonight's "vintage" is Oscar Issac/Charlie XCX, from last season.

Fans often speculate about who would have hosted, and we rarely know, so I appreciated the info. I do wonder if it was done by someone to try to make fans more unhappy about the writers choosing to strike. I am sad the season didn't get a proper end (I enjoyed Culkin's last episode quite a bit and would have enjoyed seeing him host again), but I still support the strike. I'm also curious about which cast might have left but may not feel they can now, similar to what happened with COVID ending season 45 early. I felt like Mikey, Colin, and Michael were all heading toward an exit...now I'm not sure.

Tonight's "vintage" is Issa Rae/Justin Bieber, from season 46.

Dress report:

The return of Lisa from Temecula reminded me more of the earlier years of the show than more recent times, where Michael Che had once mentioned (can't remember the interview) they didn't do recurring characters very often due to Youtube. The sketch reinforced the problem I had with recurring characters on SNL - unless these are very interesting pieces that change up, I don't want to see them. I stopped watching the show in the early '00s in part because of these characters I could barely tolerate the first time, let alone 10 more times, doing and saying the same jokes. One was (and I know this was popular so apologies to any fans) was The Luvahs, where the host and a male or female cast member would hear Will Ferrell and Rachel Dratch go on about their incredible love life, only for every single ending to be their lovemaking being ruined by his bad back. Hee hee, ha ha. There was an article after the first Lisa sketch which basically said this was always intended as recurring, which left a bad taste in my mouth, because I have never liked prefab pieces on this show. Something should work first with viewers, and also have a real demand to return. The first sketch got a positive audience response (I still attribute a great deal of that response to Pedro Pescal - people enjoyed seeing him break), but I did not see a huge demand for more Lisa. If there was, apparently most of those people were not in the studio audience on Saturday night. I don't know if the problem is writing or the current cast, but there have been a number of episodes this season loaded with sketches where I feel like they take viewers as fools. I'm not saying if you like the sketches you are a fool, I'm just saying I feel like no effort is being made beyond the bare minimum. That dog sketch with Chloe was such a carbon copy of the "cute dog" sketches Kate, Aidy and Cecily did over and over, just with Chloe in their place. The problem is Chloe isn't Kate, Aidy or Cecily - I don't think those sketches were that great, but they starred cast members who had their own comedic voices. I don't know what Chloe's voice is. When she does impressions, I think of other people's impressions. When she plays characters, I think of other characters from other cast members. That's not to say Kate, Aidy, Cecily, or anyone else is wholly original, but when I watched them, I didn't get that soulless feeling, even when I didn't enjoy their work. The nails sketch with Bowen continued one of the problems I've had with Bowen's work all season (and most of last season) - it's just him doing a very camp performance, and there's nothing else going on, as other members of the cast, and the host, are sidelined for a one-man show. It gives me deja vu to all the times Fred Armisen or Kristen Wiig did these sketches. They are vanity pieces, and they are all interchangeable for me. I know this is only my opinion, but we get these what feels like every week, and even when he isn't the lead, he's given some part in another person's sketch where he can have a big comedy moment, or he's on Update - his performances have become so broad to the point of taking me right out of the moment. (this was the problem I had with Kenan's work in this past episode, especially the game show sketch - he was just so OTT, I couldn't even pay as much attention to the rest of what was going on) I didn't even think the episode was that bad (it wasn't good but it wasn't bad, other than my finding the American Girl Doll pre-tape to be confusing and poorly put together) until we got to Update and we got that Kenan thing, and Molly trying to be Chris Farley talking about social justice (I agree with what they were trying to say, but I don't think it was suited to a comedy show, as none of these social pieces of the last few years have been - in this case, the execution just seemed to leave the audience perplexed and seemingly feeling guilty or unsure on when to even laugh), and then the night got worse and worse. If this is the last episode of the season, due to a possible writers' strike, all I could think was what a sad way to go out. I hope someone takes a look at some of the choices made this season if they have all that extra time to take stock.