S48.E15: Jenna Ortega / The 1975

[Jody]

14 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Oh hey, they reran this episode tonight where Pete Davidson's was gonna be. Somewhere he's breathing a sigh of relief. I hope the writers get what they want. The last strike felt like yesterday, not 16 years ago.

Cold Open: Oscars sketch! The power of hindsight, that Oscars was okay and nothing went wrong. The impressions were kinda weak. George Santos disguising himself as Tom Cruise was the most likely bet to pay off. Man, that costume and makeup department went above and beyond for a ten second Pinocchio cameo.

Monologue: And now someone who'd rather be known for anything else besides Wednesday, Jenna Ortega! Fred Armisen is everywhere. He's someone who has an apartment at 30 Rock. 

School vs School: Yeah, normal school vs the X-Men was a great concept. There was a little too much screaming, wasn't it? Kenan reacting to all of it was the best part.

Please Don't Destroy: "We missed the exit" was a mood. Loved this.

Parent Trap: Now I can see why everyone here was saying cool it on Fred Armisen. This is totally a sketch he would've starred in back in the day.

Ridiculousness: I've never watched this, but man did I feel old. And very awkward.

Varsity Valley: Well, that's how they got a Waffle House sketch in there. Pretty fun.

WU: The Tucker Carlson stuff aged like wine, as did the Coronation joke. The Randy McNally bit was good. It was good to see Molly as a character like that. Che got a lot of groaners, and he just ate that up. Loved that. 

Loved JAJ's quick impressions. "Jay-Z, but he's downstairs" was pretty inspired. 

Exorcist: Ego was great this. The best part was that it was 9pm.

Soul Booth: Oh, this is riffing on Cellino & Barnes, and how their number kept changing, and especially when the firm broke up. It's like each firm took half of the jingle. Wasn't feeling this one.

All in all...it was okay. See y'all in the fall, or when this strike is over, whichever one comes first. I can finally free up space in the DVR.

       Would Fred Play The Father In The Movie Parent Trap Because Fred Is NOT Lindsay Lohan OR Hayley Mills ? ? ?

On 3/12/2023 at 12:27 AM, MrWhyt said:

kind of lacklaster show IMO, though I can't put my finger on anything particular bringing it down. The diner pre-tape was the great and I thought the jingle sketch was the best of the night. Will be interesting to see how many pretapes we get next new show as it is scheduled for when the editors go on strike. And though the chances of me ever having to refer to him in conversation are low Mario Lopez will now forever be Mario Luigi to me.

     I DO Hope The Editors Do NOT Go On Strike In September ! 

On 3/12/2023 at 4:39 AM, Pete Martell said:

There was nothing bad tonight, but as keeps happening this season, also nothing I thought was especially good, other than the pre-tapes, maybe. I was happy to see Molly finally get onto Update, but I thought the piece was simultaneously cliched and also too much for them to work with for their debut. I enjoyed JAJ's impressions, but had hoped to get a break from Trump. 

I don't expect brilliant writing, but I feel like something has gotten worse with the quality of many sketches. An endless sketch all about Fred, who isn't a cast member now, and wasn't even the host, making faces. Two sketches that revolved almost solely around Mikey yelling. Another sketch that revolved almost entirely around Ego yelling. Then at the end, the sketch with James Austin Johnson and Andrew Dismukes became all about Bowen yelling. You can be funny while having sketches that are mostly about yelling, but it takes much more effort than I'm seeing now.

I don't think it helped that the host, while charming and competent, blended so far into the background and brought little to the material. 

The cold open probably summed up everything I'm so worn down by in the writing now. It had a nice enough idea, but just went on and on and on, cramming in people without knowing how to use them (I thought the Jamie Lee Curtis, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson impressions were just plain bad, and I don't know what was going on with Kenan as Mike Tyson.

     Fred Is On That TV Show Wednesday With Her ! That Is Why He Was On ! I Did NOT Think Bowen Was Yelling ! I Did NOT Think She Blended In The Back Ground ! She Certainly Did NOT Blend in The Back Ground With The Quiz Show ! I Did Not Think She Really Blended In The Back Ground About Parent Trap ! I Did Not Think She Blended In The Back Ground On The Road Trip ! I Did Not Think She Blended In The Back Ground In The Waffle Sketch ! That Was What The Sketch Was About ! They Would Not Show The Fighting IF She Was Not There With Her Boy Friend ! Mikey Was Causing Trouble In The Waffle House, But, Mikey Was Her Father ! 

On 3/12/2023 at 5:52 PM, rmontro said:

I thought when Ortega first came out for the monologue, she was speaking too fast, but she slowed the pace almost immediately (I wonder if the director signaled her?), and she was great the rest of the show.  

I liked the "X-Men" skit, the Parent Trap sketch, the Exorcist sketch, and JAJ's impressions - especially Bob Dylan's cellphone, that sounded perfect.  

It's interesting that to most people now, The Parent Trap is a Lindsey Lohan movie, when to me it is a Hayley Mills movie.

Didn't care for 1975's first song, the second one was all right.

     Hey Montro. I Also Liked Hayley Mills Better In The Parent Trap ! I Don't Like Lindsay Lohan ! I Like Maureen O'Hara Being In Masachusets ! Lindsay Lohan's Mother Was In England ! I Don't Know Who Lindsay Lohan's Father Was ! Hayley Mills Father Was Brian Keith ! Brain Keith Was Also In The TV Show Family Affair ! 

On 3/13/2023 at 5:36 PM, JeanJean said:

I think her and - was it Andrew's? - blandness was a purposeful part of the sketch. It made what was going on in the Waffle House behind them funnier. 

     I Think That Is True ! 

[heatherchandler]

On 3/12/2023 at 3:54 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

 

 

I liked The 1975's second song. Had never heard of them before. They sounded similar to the Jonas Brothers but less manufactured.

 

I think they are like the Jonas Brothers but MORE manufactured.

 

On 3/12/2023 at 5:13 PM, Andyourlittledog2 said:

I'm not a laugher. The most I manage usually, even when I think something was super funny, is a chuckle.  And yet, JAJ's impression of Bob Dylan's cell phone on vibrate actually made me guffaw. An honest to goodness guffaw. I have never done that before in my life. Scared the cat.

It was a middle of the pack show with moments of genuine funny. Not memorable for the most part but this season has been like that for me.

 

JAJ is really funny.  He’s the best impressionist on the show right now.

I think this was the worst show of the season.  
ETA looking back, I think all of the episodes were pretty awful.  Quinta Brunson was good, I think that was it.

Are there new writers this year?

 

On 3/13/2023 at 5:38 AM, chediavolo said:

This young woman was not ready for hosting SNL. I didn’t like Wednesday & she proved here that she is not that good of an actress nor does she have any charisma. I don’t get what all the fuss is about. 
waffle house skit was funny despite her blandness. 

I agree.  She was not good, and apparently she thinks very highly of herself. 

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by heatherchandler

[Galileo908]

On 3/13/2023 at 6:38 AM, chediavolo said:

This young woman was not ready for hosting SNL. I didn’t like Wednesday & she proved here that she is not that good of an actress nor does she have any charisma. I don’t get what all the fuss is about. 
waffle house skit was funny despite her blandness. 

Yeah, her whole attitude came off as "I'd rather be anywhere else but here."