Miss Scarlet

I feel so bad for David. He seems like the best Dragon to me, but has the hardest time making deals. I think it's because he probably has less money than the other Dragons and people see his area of expertise as only being publishing, which is irrelevant to most of the products being pitched. I laugh really hard whenever Mike Wekerle starts up with his cool/wannabe rock star act. Enough with the "chopping" and weird hand motions. I also can't understand a thing he says. He needs subtitles. I still like him though. There's an extra on the CBC website where Dianne Buckner is talking about the new dragons and refers to Wekerle as sexy. Hopefully his ego doesn't get too big from all of this. Is it just me or do the Dragons seem meaner this season? Like they're trying to make up for Kevin not being around? Not looking forward to the male Dragons being pervy next week, as per the preview.

I really liked Leslie's relationships piece at WU in the premiere this season, but I really hope that she has enough range to be a cast member. Having energy is great and something that this cast needs, but being over the top all the time isn't a good thing either.

The Continental was funny, although it did seem to go on too long. The census sketch was funny too. I find the Cowbell sketch amusing, but that's it. It might have to do with the fact that I'd heard all the hype about it before actually seeing it, so it didn't quite meet my expectations. I wasn't watching SNL during the Jimmy Fallon era, but from the reruns I've seen from that time, he really does break too much. Sometimes breaking makes me laugh (like when it happens to Bill as Stefon), but with Jimmy I don't know if it happens because he actually finds the sketch so funny or if it's more of an attention-seeking thing. He's really lucky that Lorne never got annoyed with about that (as far as I know) and that Lorne recommended him for Late Night, which totally revitalized his career. Without that he'd probably be in the same position as Horatio Sanz or Chris Kattan right now. WU was really weirdly edited. I'm not sure why they kept in the 1 minute clip of it that they did. Will Ferrell's "yelling" character was okay. I did like how he kept insulting Colin Quinn and then saying that he said those things "under his breath" or by "muttering". The Elian musical was really funny. I thought everyone was good in it, especially Rachel Dratch and Chris Kattan playing the dad. I like the way Christopher Walken says Christina Aguilerrrrra. I thought it was funny how at the end of the episode, during the goodbyes, Jimmy motioned for Christina Aguilera to come on stage. She did and then looked totally out of place during the goodbyes. People kept jokingly offering her the champagne they'd given Christopher Walken and she would laugh/pretend to drink it and then shake her head, since she was underage at the time.

ITA and find it gross that pretty much every few episodes they find an excuse to put her in revealing/minimal clothing. It reminded me of the episodes last year when they had her take off her shirt in that dream sequence where she hits on Sheldon and in a bikini in the gorilla movie episode, both of which were completely unnecessary. I always remind myself that yep, it's a Chuck Lorre show.

ITA. I was so disappointed to see this pitch. Every time I think the world is moving the slightest bit away from stuff like that, I see something like this. Sigh. Like the recapper, I was disturbed that none of the Sharks called them out for this. I wonder why? Maybe it's because this is still seen as a viable business model by a lot of people and they didn't want to get into an argument about it or discussion of it, since it's controversial? A lot of women claim that this is actually part of the feminist movement, because these women are making their own decision to do this and feel "empowered" by it? I completely disagree with this notion, but I actually had a female professor in graduate school argue with me that this is the "new feminism" and women have "this power" and should "use it". Puke.

The Acorn couple creeped me out. She also kept making crazy eyes at Robert once he and Mark were the last two Sharks still "in". I also don't see what's so special about their business. There are tons of similar boutiques in every city. I think the real reason none of the Sharks (except for Kevin) wanted to invest in the female gold caddy company is because they don't want to support a business that is based on sex appeal. It wouldn't look good in their investment porfolios and some (like Laurie) may be uncomfortable with it on a personal level. I am uncomfortable with it for those reasons too. Mark refrains from trying a lot of products. I like him, but he can seem like he think he's above the show/products sometimes. I don't think he ever intended to invest in the sunglasses. He was just messing with them. Daymond had so much patience with those pitchers. I expected him to say he was out every time they came back with a new number. I was surprised that he did make a deal with them.

Mitch and Cam's storyline is the same every week. They fight, they argue about how one of them isn't supporting the other, etc. It's so predictable. Also, I'm pretty sure they covered Cam's football superstitions in an early episode last season, soon after he becomes the football coach. Poor Phil. He's always trying to do nice things for the family and they're never appreciative until the end. \ I honestly don't understand how this show wins so many Emmys. I like the show, but even during its best seasons I didn't think it was one of the best sitcoms of all time.

I'm super excited for Prince!! I usually fast-forward to musical guests, but definitely won't this time. Does he have a new album coming out or something? Or is he going to be singing some of his classics?

I disagree too. I think one of the biggest problems with Cecily, whether it's because of her or the writers or Lorne, is that she doesn't show too much versatility. She is usually the pretty/ditzy girl (which I think they rely too much on for her), a Latina character (who is usually also pretty/ditzy) or a tough-talking woman. That's part of why I don't like when she gets so much air time - because all of her characters are the same. Versatility aside, I don't think she's at the same level of talent as Kate, so I'm not sure why she gets like quadruple the air time. It might be because even though Lorne removed her from WU she's probably still his favorite. I doubt he wanted to remove her, but felt stuck, because it would have been more difficult to remove Colin.

Cold Open - This was so ridiculous that I kind of liked it. I was glad it didn't drag on too long though. I thought it was funny how Cecily was totally in character and looking at the floor the whole time and only looking up tentatively when she spoke. Monologue - They could have done so many things with Bill Hader and this is what they came up with? Herb Welch - I laughed really hard at the "I know you're smooth down there" part. Thought it was good, but I don't remember the other Herb Welch sketches, so that's probably why I wasn't tired of it yet. Group Hoppers - I get what they were going for, but maybe I just haven't seen enough YA films for this to work for me. It just felt too thrown together or something, I'm not sure. Loved Bill in it, especially the parts where he/she was talking about being a king or queen and when his horns got stuck. Hollywood Game Night - I thought parts of this were funny, like the part when "Jane Lynch" is saying "yes, these are real games that we play" because they actually are. I remember her Jane Lynch impression as being really accurate and although it was funny in this sketch, it wasn't accurate at all. Beck's Nick Offerman was really accurate, but I think that's because his natural voice is already somewhat similar to Nick's. Cecily sounded a lot like Sophia Vergara in the first part of the sketch, but then in the second part just seemed to be doing a generic "Hispanic" voice. Or maybe I just misheard her one of the times. They seem to really be pushing her to do the pretty woman/party girl characters. I feel like maybe she has more range, but just hasn't been able to show it because she's getting type-cast or something. 39 Cents a Day - The joke was funny to me initially, but wore off pretty quickly. I think it would have been funnier to make parody how a lot of these "charitable" organizations are actually missionaries who will only help people who agree to convert. Leslie Jones is good in small doses. I think she's too over the top all the time to be a good featured player. WU - Something about the timing of Pete Davidson's bit seemed off. Maybe the lack of reaction from the audience threw him off. Loved Stefon. I laughed every time Bill broke. I had to google Dan Cortese afterward. I think both Colin and Michael are okay, but maybe I don't know what makes a really good update anchor. I just feel like it shouldn't really be that hard or complicated? Puppets - So I guess Howard Stern actually does have some influence on Bill Hader/SNL. It was fine. I liked that they tried something different with the video "flashback". Oh and I also liked when Bill's puppet was listing the emojis he would use to describe his time in Grenada. Inside SoCal 2 - Ugh. Why does this need to be shown on SNL? What high school student has not made a video like this? Again, I get that it's supposed to be a parody of that, but it's not creative or funny enough to do it. Cat in the Hat - Wasn't a fan, but I don't expect much for the 10 to 1 sketches. I don't understand why they're giving Kate McKinnon, who was nominated for an Emmy last year, so little air-time, but Cecily was in all the live sketches in this episode? There was way too much of her and hardly any of the other women in the cast. I like it when the air-time is more evenly distributed.

I liked this episode and I think it was because I thought the idea for the guys' storyline was good. It was something new that didn't feel like a re-tread of what they've done before, but it was relatable and funny. I did question how much Sheldon would join in on the procrastination activities. I guess we've seen him do that before when he gets obsessed with a train or something, but I sort of felt like he would be like Leonard and try to keep the group on track. Having them read off their old ideas for the sex robots just makes me think it would be great if they could stop portraying nerds as sex-obsessed and sex-starved. They've back off a bit in the past few years (and especially with Howard), but there's a lot more to being a "nerd" than that, even if they think it's a defining characteristic. The girls' storyline was okay. I did like the role reversal and Penny becoming serious about her job. I don't think they need to include dialogue in every storyline like this about the changes they've all made since high school (e.g. the popular girl is studying, the nerds are partying). They seem to comment on this almost as much as how pretty Penny is.

I really didn't care for the Emily/Penny storyline this episode. It was so unoriginal and I saw it coming from a mile away. As others have pointed out, it doesn't fit with what we've seen from Emily before. We really don't need more characters pointing out how pretty Penny is every 5 seconds. CBS shows love to do that. I've only seen a few episodes of HIMYM, but in every one of them characters would say stuff like that about Robin. Can't anyone say anything else about Penny? Or come with up different or more interesting storylines for her? We also don't need Amy making those comments again. One of the things I didn't like in season 5 was Amy's "crush" on Penny. Having said that, Amy stole the scene in Penny's apartment. Mayim Bialik was so hilarious. She's the only one that actually makes me laugh on this show.

I think it's because they don't have the rights to the music used in those sketches.

I wrote an earlier comment in this thread that this was the best episode I've seen in the last few years. I think this is because my bar is set so low for SNL right now. I still felt there was some originality lacking in some of the sketches and some of them really didn't pan out, but there was more potential there than I've seen in a while. I also thought Sarah seemed game for all of it and very confident (Joan Rivers sketch issues aside). Cold Open - Yeah, this was weak. Some of the hashtags were sort of funny, like the ones about The Voice being back. That's also promotion for another NBC show, so kudos to them, I guess. Monologue - This was funny. I didn't like the audience interaction part as much just because the audience member seemed really uncomfortable, but Sarah was good in this. The callbacks to her "person in the audience" questions was clever, although I can't believe how bad/unfunny those "questions" actually were. The Ebola in Our Everything - This was a really clever way to combine 2 topical things. Taran and Sarah did a really good job in this. I know he gets a lot of hate, but I thought Kenan was pretty funny here too. Joan Rivers - I know it was a roast, so technically it would have been Joan doing all the talking, but I think this would have been better if the other dead celebrities got to talk too. The only ones that did were Ben Franklin, Freddie Mercury and a little bit of Lucille Ball. It seemed like they didn't talk because most of them couldn't really do impressions of any of these people, so it came off as a bit weak. Whites - I appreciated that SNL was trying something a bit edgier, but these jokes have been made for a long time. So it was edgy, but not original. Forgotten TV Gems - Like other posters, I'm also hoping that this was mocking the idea that women can't get along and how this is displayed on TV/in the media. Sarah Silverman and the female cast members seem pretty feminist, so I'm thinking that it really was a parody. If it was a parody, then I liked it. If not, then boooooo. Weekend Update - Liked the Texas joke and the Kim Jong Un in Dennis Rodman's backpack. Michael Che moves his eyebrows a lot when he talks and for some reason it was distracting me last night. Also, someone mentioned that the new Update set looks like blue bathroom tiles and now I can't unsee that. I really did think Kenan was just messing up lines as Al Sharpton first, but then realized it was part of the sketch. Liked when Kate corrected Michael's pronunciation of Garage, but didn't think that song or the rest of that bit was funny. I liked the banter between Michael and Colin about words they can't say, although again, I've heard these jokes countless times before. I think their angle on Update is going to be to contrast Michael's "coolness" with Colin's "uptight/nerd" persona. This might be a way to make Colin's stiffness work for them. Cruise Ship - Um...no. Also, Sasheer's delivery is still really awful. It's like she's doing the voice for a 40s film all the time. Airport - I loved the first half of this. I thought it was clever and loved it when more and more characters kept popping up in the backseat. I loved Kate's delivery of the line "I have this confetti we were supposed to throw, but I guess I'll just put it back in my purse". The sketch lost steam after Adam Levine came in, though and totally petered out. Didn't think the stuffed crust part was funny. Good Neighbour - I feel like I repeat myself every week, but I don't like their digital shorts. I get that they're supposed to be "amateur/ironic", but their shorts shouldn't be something that looks like a film you would make in comedy 101. I did like some of their work last year, but am not feeling it so far this season. Vitamix - I think this sketch will be divisive because it wasn't over the top funny and didn't really have punchlines. It was more insightful and humorous because of the accuracy of that insight. That is really how those conversations go. I wasn't surprised that Pete Davidson didn't get any screen-time this week. I think they're trying to prevent the backlash that would happen if they pushed him too hard every week. I like that the screen-time for the cast members feels more evenly distributed these last 2 episodes. It's not about 1 person dominating the episode. Even though it felt that way with Aidy last week, it's not like she was in every sketch or anything. Oh and I have no idea how Maroon 5 is such a successful band. Adam Levine can barely sing and their songs are dumb. Never mind, I guess I do have an idea of why they're so successful (basically, those 2 reasons I just mentioned). I like that Adam is pretty game for sketches, though.

This was one of the better shows in the last few years. I really think it's because Sarah Silverman was extremely involved in the writing and the direction she wanted to take the show. The writing just felt so much more modern and current this episode than it has in a long time.

Ugh. I am so tired of Probst's sexism. Speaking of which... I think it was Probst that first mentioned something about how it's men's job to "protect" their women and how all men feel that way. It really repulsed me. Also, I didn't get all the waterworks for this. It's a game! Do you cry when you take your wife's pawn in chess? I get it, it's higher stakes and all that, but still. Usually I excuse a lot of the crying by thinking they're tired, hungry and just generally depleted, but at this point they'd only been in the game for a day. Maybe I'll attribute it to a long flight to Nicaragua... Ugh, I hate this way this show (and most reality tv) treats women!!! This probably belongs in a different thread, but between this and Probst's blatant and disgusting sexism, I've contemplated quitting the show several times. The way women are represented/treated on this show REALLY concerns me. I don't even know if it's the casting, editing or the depletion from the show because there have been female contestants that appeared to be morons on the show, but when I read their interviews afterwards, they were actually articulate, intelligent and insightful. The problem is, most casual viewers are never going to read this interviews and realize this. ETA - The ageism is really horrible too. I say this as someone in their early 20's, the demographic that Survivor caters to.

God, this show should really just be re-branded as a comedy, rather than a reality tv show. Some of my favorite moments from this episode, as pointed out by posters on this forum: Yeah, I felt badly for thinking that, but I did totally have the same exact thought. I was like...but you aren't attractive? I don't follow baseball, so I had no clue about any of this! Thank you so much for pointing this out! That is hilarious!!

From Parvati's CBS blog about the season, where she talks about the "hot or not" moments from the premiere (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/survivor-san-juan-del-sur-blood-vs-water-hot-or-not/): From her Hollywood reporter blog (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/survivor-san-juan-del-sur-735669?mobile_redirect=false): The first comment seems pretty hypocritical in light of the second comment. She makes the point that this was surprising because they're Broadway performers, but still. Someone in the comments section referred to this as silly and borderline homophobic. I agree. I also remember Miss Alli's disgust in her recaps when she wrote about Parvati during the Cook Islands season saying that she could sway Brad to do what she wanted because she knows how to work gay guys and knows about fashion or shopping or something.

That was so great! I think Mayim is the best thing about the show these days. Her delivery is amazing. I did like this and liked that his answer was that they enjoy spending time together. That was sweet and something that a lot of couples would say or that people would want in a partner. In terms of Penny and Leonard, I'm just wondering why the writers think that writing this way makes them a compelling couple? Do they seriously think they can write their relationship like this and have people root for them? I guess they think it's "funny", but honestly, I think they're one of the worst written couples I've ever seen on TV. Obviously they're going to end up together, but I don't think they should. It's supposed to be hilarious when Penny says Leonard's infatuation with her is supposed to be the foundation for their relationship, but I find that gross. It seems like there's a lot of repetition with the Big Bang episodes lately, like the writers are running out of ideas. Elements of last week's episodes and this week's seemed to be covered before, like the Howard/Sheldon feud, Howard having to prove his intelligence, the guys being bad at sports, Penny/Leonard issues, etc. It's fine for there to recurring themes on the show, but they're not being done in an especially interesting way. The tag last week where the guys answer physics questions just reminded me of the physics bowl episode and how awesome this show used to be. I can see how this would appeal to new viewers who haven't seen the older episodes, though. It would seem more original to them.

I thought so too. I think SNL has developed a habit over the years of having characters where the joke is that they say the most outrageous things. Characters like the Girl at the Party, Drunk Uncle and also Stefon and Penelope. I think Stefon and Penelope continued to remain defined and unique, but when this is the premise for some of the other character they tend become very similar to each other. Also, too much Aidy. She doesn't have the range to pull off being featured so much.

I don't know if it's that he reminded me of Fallon because he's young and looks like him or because he almost broke so many times. Probably the breaking. ETA: I think this comment by Esther Zuckerman at EW sums up my problems with Davidson's WU set really well:

I wonder if this is because Sasheer is more telegenic than Leslie. That seems to have become increasingly important to Lorne over the last few years. I like Leslie, but she is a bit too over the top. A couple more appearances and I think she'll get the hang of it and learn to tone it down a bit. With a lot of these sketches I just feel like the jokes are not that original. I watch the Canadian sketch comedy show, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and I find their material really original and funny, so I'm wondering if it's just the time pressures that affect SNL so much. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but I just feel like a lot of the punchlines on SNL are things that I've heard so many times from other people I know, who are definitely not comedians. Then again, there are a lot of people who are just as funny as comedians, but never chose to pursue comedy. Maybe those are the ones I'm hanging out with. Lol.

I found last night's premiere episode disappointing and this got me thinking about casting issues on the show. I'm sure this has been brought up before, but Lorne really needs to stop recruiting from the same 3 places (Groundlings, Second City and UCB). I know that sometimes he gets cast members other ways, like apparently he got the Lonely Island from a referral from Jimmy Fallon (I think?) and gets stand-ups in other ways. In general though, I think he relies too much on these 3 training centres and I think it shows. During every show I say to myself, I can't believe this is what the best writers and comedians in the U.S. came up with, but then I have to remind myself that they're not really the best ones. They were the best at Groundlings, Second City or UCB. So theoretically they should still be pretty good, but maybe some years they're just not. It's like instead of auditioning thousands of people (which is not practical, I realize) and picking the best ones, he's really auditioning like 8 or 9 and picking the best of those. I think it's hard to find the best ones that way. Plus, does anyone know what the requirements are to get into the upper levels of Second City or The Groundlings? I know you have to go through the program and audition, but is it actually very difficult to get through? Or is it more of a "wait your turn and everyone gets in eventually" kind of deal? If it's the latter then pretty much anyone could get into the upper levels of these programs. I also realized after last night's episode that Vanessa Bayer is now the most senior female performer and Kate, Cecily and Aidy are the most senior after her, even though this is only their third season. That's because there was this gap between Kristen Wiig starting and Vanessa Bayer getting hired because Lorne fired all the other women (except Nasim) hired between 2005-2010. This female cast is strong, but looking back, I wonder if that was such a good idea.

Lol about it being written by a second grader. That's how I feel about most of Kyle/Beck's skits. Especially the horrible one from last year where he gave a tour of his high school or whatever. Like I said before, I understand that some of this stuff is supposed to seem amateur and that's part of why it's funny, but it comes across as too amateur. It was super cute how Beck leapt into Kyle's arms during the goodbyes. Wow, it must be nice to get on SNL with a friend. ITA. So I'm not sure if my problem is more with him or the writers. Since it's probably something he wrote and was part of his stand-up before he came to SNL, I'm going to say my issue is more with him. I can just tell this is the direction the writers are going to keep going with him. Not looking forward to it. I'm also wondering about whether or not he's going to be able to come up with funny characters. A lot of stand-ups (even really funny ones) have struggled on this show. Doing well and being comfortable on WU makes sense based on his stand-up background, but we didn't see enough of him last night to see how it will translate to sketches. It must be hard to be the only featured player coming in this year. Although that does mean he won't have to fight as much for screen-time. Lol, I'm sure you've done plenty with your life! Plus being on TV or an actor/actress doesn't necessarily mean you've done a lot with your life. It's just the glamorization of it all that makes people think that. Although I guess we would be saying the same thing if we saw a 20 year old doctor or lawyer? It's great to get on SNL so young, but we'll have to see where Pete goes from here. I had the same thought and I think I'm in the demographic they think they're catering to. I'll give it another 2 episodes maybe and if it doesn't improve after that then I'm out. I don't understand why it's like this considering all the new writers and cast members they have. It really should be a lot better than it is. I don't know much about how network TV works, but sometimes I really think that if NBC wasn't in such a slump they would cancel SNL.

I found this episode disappointing. I've read interviews from cast members where they say that they don't really think of sketch/character ideas for SNL over the summer break. Based on this episode, I think you could tell that. It was weird not hearing Don Pardo's voice, but I think I'll get used to it soon. It's cute that they let Cecily have her dog in her intro. Cold Open - I think Jay's Shannon Sharpe impression is funny. I'm kind of grossed out by it just because it reminds me of the time he did it on WU and ended up with saliva all over his chin. It was so awkward. I don't know why Aidy was stumbling over the lines so much tonight, but it was definitely noticeable. Monologue - This was fine, but kind of boring and not very original. Turnt - Again, fine, but not that original. He-Man and Lion-O - Ugh. No. Just no. I thought this was awful. It was just creepy and weird, but not even in an interesting way. It was at this point that I realized the episode was in trouble. I couldn't believe this was so early on in the show. It just seemed to indicate that they really had no material to work with this week. Vets - I thought this was funny the first time around and like the idea of a sketch revolving around how incompetent some people are at their jobs. However, it really wasn't strong enough to become a recurring sketch. Again, this signaled to me that they really ran out of ideas this week. Not good for a premiere episode. Marvel - This was great and on-point. WU - I can tell Colin's making an effort not to laugh at all the jokes he makes, which is an improvement. I thought it was good enough for a first time out with the new team. I think they're going to try to make that "Cheer Up" segment a recurring bit, like Michael and Colin's version of "Really?!?!". They'll just take whatever celebrity or media person is having a particularly bad month and repeat it for them. Kenan really made me laugh with his "Ooh Child" rendition. Pete Davidson did a good job, but I wasn't crazy about the material. It's just so juvenile. Also, the jokes were not very original. I've heard similar things before from people that I've known. This is more a criticism of the writing than about him, unless he helped write it. I hope all the stuff he does on SNL won't be super juvenile, but I'm worried that's the direction they're headed in with him. Girl at the Party was okay. I'm not a big fan of that character in general. They did repeat the first few lines about the "abomination" from a previous appearance. I really liked when she said that Colin looked like her ex who died at Burning Man. Girl's Night - I thought they were trying to do something similar to when Vanessa and Josh Hutcherson did that sketch around the Outfield song "Lose Your Love" or when Vanessa and Paul Rudd did the sketch around that Fleetwood Mac song. This one was not as funny. Maxie - I get that this was supposed to be a parody of a 90s sitcom, but it just fell flat for me. I don't like most of the Good Neighbour shorts. I looked at some of the ones on their youtube channel that got them hired and I don't find them funny at all. They also come off as super amateur to me. I know that's the point sometimes (like this one or the one Kyle did about his high school last year), but they still shouldn't be like something that anyone could write/perform. NFL Offenses - This one was kind of funny, but also pretty obvious. I knew where they were going to the second they introduced the sketch. I'm glad it was a pretty short sketch too because it was essentially just one long joke played out for the whole sketch with not much else going on. Puzzle Word 6 - I got where they were going with this sketch and also similarities to some anime shows where the characters act like that, but I didn't like it. It was just boring, kind of weird and not that funny. Kenan made me laugh here too, with his "evil" character. Goodbyes - I thought it was so sweet that Taran and Bobby were pointing at Pete to congratulate him for his first night. They've done that for other new cast members too. They seem like such nice guys. Anna Faris and Chris Pratt are a cute couple, but I don't need the camera to linger on them making out. Other thoughts - I was surprised there wasn't more Cecily tonight. That probably means she'll be in every sketch next week. There was a lot of Aidy and definitely not enough Kate. We need more Kate! Sasheer has funny reaction shots, but horrible delivery. The way she says her lines is just too over the top and fake. Kyle Mooney has horrible delivery as well. I'm glad they've started to make the sketches shorter. They don't feel like they drag on forever anymore.