SNL in the Media

[ottoDbusdriver]

6 hours ago, Phishbulb said:

I've seen Casey Affleck be funny in a movie once, in the movie "Drowning Mona" (which is a hilarious little-seen comedy from about 15 years ago). Ever since then nothing in his career has indicated he has much interest in comedy; it's all pretty downbeat, depressing stuff (including his new movie).  I can't help but feel having Ben host the Christmas show would have been a much more fun show (also picking a different musical guest- Chance the Rapper??)

As opposed to Chance the Yodeler or Chance the Opera singer .... or Chance the Monopoly playing cards.  </sarcasm>

Ben would have been better --  that could have thoroughly mocked BvS:DoJ.   Start with randomly shouting "Save Martha !!!" throughout the entire show, and Ben could yell back "Why did you say that name ?"

Edited December 3, 2016 by ottoDbusdriver

[absnow54]

I ran to this thread as soon as I saw that Casey Affleck is hosting the Christmas Show. I just saw Manchester by the Sea, and damn is that movie depressing, and yeah, the sexual assault allegations are kind of troubling, especially for the Christmas episode. I know he's the lesser-Affleck, but I wouldn't say he lacks talent. He's given several critically acclaimed performances and is probably the front runner for Best Actor this year. The only comedic performance I can remember of him is his role in Good Will Hunting.

[helenamonster]

Excited about John Cena! I'm not into WWE but he was great in Sisters and Trainwreck and just seems like an all-around nice guy. I'm expecting good things from him!

Casey Affleck? The Christmas show? I don't think I've seen that dude in anything (apparently he's in Good Will Hunting which I have seen but I don't remember him so I basically haven't seen him in anything) but they profiled him on CBS Sunday Morning a couple weekends ago and he is human Ambien. Also I know his new movie is supposed to be prime Oscar bait but when I first saw the trailer I was legitimately offended at how boring it looked. I don't understand all the award buzz around him and that movie right now, when there are so many other great-looking Oscar contenders coming out this year.

[Princess Sparkle]

After this display on the Today Show this morning, I really hope SNL addresses Donald Trump incessantly tweeting about them into the show.  Or that Alec's impression gets even more biting.  

ETA - A new Hollywood Reporter article has Tina's take on it.

Edited December 7, 2016 by Princess Sparkle

[Fostersmom]

No, the problem is they 1000% get him and he doesn't like being called on his shit. 

[helenamonster]

Quote

“Well, I hosted SNL when it was a good show, but it’s not a good show anymore,” Trump, who hosted the show just last year, told Lauer. 

It hasn't even started and...I'm tired. I'm so tired.

To get this a little more back on topic, it's interesting that Trump criticizes the writing as having gotten worse when promoting Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider to head writers is the best decision this show has made since they hired Kate. The overall quality of the writing has really improved this season. Of course, we all know Trump doesn't watch the whole show, only the bits with him, so he wouldn't know this.

[possibilities]

On 12/2/2016 at 7:41 PM, wknt3 said:

You would think they might want to avoid having someone with a troubled history with women

As far as I can tell, they only care about ratings. They've had people on who were badly behaved and/or shitty people before.

“At one level, it just makes me feel sick for the state of the world because it’s so beneath a president,” said Fey about Trump’s spats with Baldwin, “but also my feeling is: ‘You think you’re good at being a jerk on Twitter? You will now face the grandmaster of being a jerk on Twitter.”

This quote from the Tina Fey article is awesome on so many levels.

[wknt3]

4 hours ago, possibilities said:

As far as I can tell, they only care about ratings.

That's not fair. They also care about buzz.

[helenamonster]

Yeah, but does Casey Affleck get ratings or buzz? I find it hard to believe that many people were clamoring for this particular host, especially for the Christmas episode.

[vb68]

Quote

Yeah, but does Casey Affleck get ratings or buzz? I find it hard to believe that many people were clamoring for this particular host, especially for the Christmas episode.

No, I think the responses to Casey hosting would be somewhere between the lines of "ugh" and "meh" being the most generous.   I do wonder how many would be "Huh? Don't they mean Ben?"   

I think it's very possible the Christmas show has the lowest ratings of the season, which would also be weird.

As for his troubled history with women, the media is doing a splendid job of not letting that be a focus during this Oscar campaign season IMO.   (Splendid meant as sarcastically as possible, btw.)

Edited December 9, 2016 by vb68

[possibilities]

Why does SNL keep insisting that the women in Trump's inner circle don't want to be there?

http://www.vox.com/culture/2016/12/7/13854412/snl-trump-impressions-ivanka-kellyanne-conway

[Princess Sparkle]

I don't have a link, but I've been recently seeing a series of American Express commercials with Che and Tina. They're really quite funny and the two of them are really charming together. 

[wknt3]

On 12/8/2016 at 0:12 PM, vb68 said:

As for his troubled history with women, the media is doing a splendid job of not letting that be a focus during this Oscar campaign season IMO.   (Splendid meant as sarcastically as possible, btw.)

The media ignoring something important like that during the campaign for something as important as an Oscar? And SNL legitimizing that campaign? I can't believe it. Nothing like this has ever happened before...

[vb68]

Vulture rates the top 20 Comedy Sketches of 2016.

SNL has the top one, and it's a very recent one that most of us thought highly of too.

[Princess Sparkle]

And not only that, but SNL had 7 of the top 20, and 4 of the top 10!  I can't really disagree with any they picked either. 

Edited December 14, 2016 by Princess Sparkle

[cpcathy]

I think my love for Tom Hanks would push David S. Pumpkins to #1.

[Princess Sparkle]

I'm just glad they remembered Finest Girl, one of the best digital shorts in awhile, and Popstar was a seriously underrated movie.  Made me realize that even though I watch Andy on Brooklyn Nine Nine, I really miss what he brought to the show. 

[vb68]

Ok here's an interesting article for debate that I never considered.  Is SNL biased against TV Stars as potential hosts?  

I bet someone from "This Is Us"-- Sterling K Brown or Milo Ventimiglia--hosts before the season is over.

Edited December 16, 2016 by vb68

[ktwo]

1 hour ago, vb68 said:

Ok here's an interesting article for debate that I never considered.  Is SNL biased against TV Stars as potential hosts?  

I bet someone from "This Is Us"-- Sterling K Brown or Milo Ventimiglia--hosts before the season is over.

Holy crap, I never realized before this that Kristen Bell has never hosted. That is criminal and needs to be corrected immediately.

[helenamonster]

Before reading the article I was going to comment that it was probably harder for a TV star to host due to their more demanding schedules, and that they don't get the kind of breaks between projects/filming that movie stars do (and don't do the kind of press tours that movie stars do that can accommodate a week at SNL), but it seems I was mistaken. As someone who generally prefers TV to movies and likes more strictly TV actors than strictly movie actors, this is disappointing. And there's really no reason to be snobby. TV isn't the poor actor's medium anymore; it's pretty prestige nowadays and a lot of it is better than a lot of the movies we've been getting lately. And as we've seen countless times on this show, just because someone's a big "mysterious" movie star doesn't mean they'll make a good host. I think most of us would rather have a decent host who's moderately less well-known than a big name that has to be carried through every sketch.

[Traveller519]

I couldn't comment on the article on the front page, about the Duck Tales Reboot cast singing the Theme Song, so I'll comment here. It includes both Bobby and Beck, and Beck appears a little "under the influence" in the video. 

http://previously.tv/ducktales-2017/watch-the-cast-of-next-years-ducktales-reboot-sing-its-theme-song/

[Phishbulb]

If Rachel Bloom were to win Best Actress in a Comedy again at the Golden Globes (which may or may not happen- the GG can be unpredictable in their choices sometimes), I think she'd be an excellent choice for host. She has legitimate UCB sketch training, and what she does on her show is essentially what they've been doing on SNL with the female-led music videos like "Do It On My Twin Bed", "Dongs All Over The World", etc. She seems like a perfect fit; she even auditioned for SNL and has an audition tape that she could show to humorous effect in her monologue.

[formerlyfreedom]

Show is back January 14, 2017.

Quote

Felicity Jones will usher in the new year as host of Saturday Night Live...Sturgill Simpson will serve as the musical guest.

[possibilities]

Do movies get more viewers than tv shows? What is the average in millions?

[Kromm]

4 hours ago, possibilities said:

Do movies get more viewers than tv shows? What is the average in millions?

Not always, but the successful movies?  A lot more. 

Otherwise why would anyone bother to make theatrical movies?

Of course, TV shows used to get a LOT more viewers than they do these days.

They typically figure/relay movie "viewership" in terms of dollars though, so the exact numbers aren't always totally clear.

[VCRTracking]

Things must have changed since the 90s.  All of the Friends cast hosted except Matt Leblanc (which is ironic because I think Joey was the funniest character). David Duchovny hosted. Sarah Michelle Gellar hosted twice and Buffy The Vampire Slayer while having a (devoted fanbase) was still a cult show on the WB. Dawson, Joey and Pacey each got to host too. Touched By an Angel's Roma Downey hosted for Gods' sake! Then something happened in the 2000s. From The Office, only Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson and Ed Helms have hosted and Helms arguably more because of the Hangover movies. From Lost, only Matthew Fox hosted. Of the Desperate Houswives only Eva Longoria(Teri Hatcher was a host but that was when she was on Lois and Clark, the New Adventures of Superman). Nobody from Grey's Anatomy hosted.

On 12/16/2016 at 8:40 AM, helenamonster said:

TV isn't the poor actor's medium anymore; it's pretty prestige nowadays and a lot of it is better than a lot of the movies we've been getting lately.

I think because TV has become so prestigious SNL only wants stars from shows that have lots of buzz and get critical accolades. They're not gonna settle for someone from Rizzoli & Isles(no offense to fans of that show).

[wknt3]

4 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

Things must have changed since the 90s.  All of the Friends cast hosted except Matt Leblanc (which is ironic because I think Joey was the funniest character). David Duchovny hosted. Sarah Michelle Gellar hosted twice and Buffy The Vampire Slayer while having a (devoted fanbase) was still a cult show on the WB. Dawson, Joey and Pacey each got to host too. Touched By an Angel's Roma Downey hosted for Gods' sake! Then something happened in the 2000s. From The Office, only Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson and Ed Helms have hosted and Helms arguably more because of the Hangover movies. From Lost, only Matthew Fox hosted. Of the Desperate Houswives only Eva Longoria(Teri Hatcher was a host but that was when she was on Lois and Clark, the New Adventures of Superman). Nobody from Grey's Anatomy hosted.

I think two things have happened. One is the splintering of television audiences - there are very few mass hits these days. Especially in comedy. The other is the end of Must See TV and NBC's decline in scripted programming in general relative to their competitors. If you bring on Jim Parsons or Ed O'Neill it just highlights that NBC doesn't really have anything to compare so if you can a movie star or an athlete why not avoid pissing off the network execs? Personally I'm surprised they haven't announced Kristen Bell or Ted Danson yet as it would be a big name of someone with proven chops and cross-promotion. Or America Ferrera as it would be all of the above and bring in some diversity as well.

[JZL]

SALON likes SNL election-year stylings . . .

http://www.salon.com/2016/12/25/best-of-2016-10-times-saturday-night-live-nailed-this-years-election-insanity/

[JZL]

 

A whole new meaning to the term, "Red State"

Oh wow, the hats are for sale!  http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/182414174121?

Edited January 7, 2017 by JZL

[possibilities]

That is some masterful trolling.

I wish the profits were going to charity; maybe Amnesty International or an immigration rights organization, just to make it even more delicious.

[BoogieBurns]

Aziz is hosting on January 21 with musical guest Big Sean. I'm really looking forward to it!

[vb68]

OMG yes!!  He's long overdue for it IMHO.  The monologue will be fantastic!

[Trini]

Directors Guild of America Award nomination:

Quote

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in
Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming

DON ROY KING

Saturday Night Live, “Host: Dave Chappelle”

Mr. King’s Directorial Team:

Associate Directors: Michael Mancini, Michael Poole, Bob Caminiti

Stage Managers: Gena Rositano, Chris Kelly

This is Mr. King’s eleventh DGA Award nomination. He previously won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials in 2015 for Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special and for Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming in 2013 for Saturday Night Live “Host: Justin Timberlake.” He was previously nominated for Saturday Night Live episodes in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014, and in 2015 in the Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming category for the Saturday Night Live episode, “Host: Tracy Morgan/Musical Guest: Demi Lovato.”

[Trini]

Nominations from The Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards:

Quote

TV AND NEW MEDIA SERIES – BEST CONTEMPORARY MAKE-UP
Make-Up Artists: Louie Zakarian, Amy Tagliamonti, Jason Milani
TV AND NEW MEDIA SERIES – BEST PERIOD / CHARACTER MAKE-UP
Make-Up Artists: Louie Zakarian, Amy Tagliamonti, Jason Milani
TV AND NEW MEDIA SERIES – BEST PERIOD / CHARACTER HAIR STYLING
Hair Stylists: Jodi Mancuso, Jennifer Serio, Inga Thrasher
TV AND NEW MEDIA SERIES – BEST SPECIAL MAKE-UP EFFECTS
Make-Up Artists: Louie Zakarian, Jason Milani, Tom Dernier

[possibilities]

I love Aziz. No idea how he will mesh with the SNL sensibility, but looking forward to finding out. I want to see him and Kate interacting one on one in a sketch.

[JZL]

On 1/10/2017 at 0:19 PM, BoogieBurns said:

Aziz is hosting on January 21 with musical guest Big Sean. I'm really looking forward to it!

*Cough*Cameo-by-Noel-Wells?*cough*

[vb68]

Quote

*Cough*Cameo-by-Noel-Wells?*cough*

Heh. Yeah I don't really see that happening.

[vb68]

I actually moaned aloud when I saw Kristin Stewart's name come up as the next host.  I wonder if she even breaks a smile.  I find her so uncomfortable to watch in interviews.   It's like they cause her physical pain, and she's doing them under protest.   I have no idea why she'd even want to host, and I bet she's as awkward as Felicity Jones and then some.

This season has mixed some inspired choices as hosts (Hanks, Dave Chapelle, Aziz Ansari) with some truly weird ones (Casey Affleck, Felicity Jones, Kristin Stewart).

[raezen]

2 hours ago, vb68 said:

I actually moaned aloud when I saw Kristin Stewart's name come up as the next host.  I wonder if she even breaks a smile.  I find her so uncomfortable to watch in interviews.   It's like they cause her physical pain, and she's doing them under protest.   I have no idea why she'd even want to host, and I bet she's as awkward as Felicity Jones and then some.

I wonder if Jimmy Fallon has something to do with it.  She's been on his show a couple of times since Twilight and seemed very comfortable. Maybe he talked her into it?

I agree it seems like a weird choice but I'll reserve my judgment. After all I had high expectations for Jennifer Lawrence's appearance and she was just okay,  and low expectations for Ariana Grande and I thought she was really good.

[Princess Sparkle]

2 hours ago, vb68 said:

I actually moaned aloud when I saw Kristin Stewart's name come up as the next host.  I wonder if she even breaks a smile.  I find her so uncomfortable to watch in interviews.   It's like they cause her physical pain, and she's doing them under protest.   I have no idea why she'd even want to host, and I bet she's as awkward as Felicity Jones and then some.

This season has mixed some inspired choices as hosts (Hanks, Dave Chapelle, Aziz Ansari) with some truly weird ones (Casey Affleck, Felicity Jones, Kristin Stewart).

Yeah, I actually said "REALLY?" out loud when I saw she was set to host. Not only is she awkward as hell in interviews, I can't actually remember her ever being funny in anything. The closest was probably Adventureland, but she was definitely not the funny part of that movie. 

[Fostersmom]

That might be the first episode I'm tempted to fast forward all the sketches and just watch the musical guest. I can't imagine she's going to be anything but wooden and awkward. 

[possibilities]

And besides that, they will probably cater the writing to appeal to her fans, which are not people who have similar taste to mine, so I am keeping my expectations super-low.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Usually actors/actresses with questionable hosting/comedic skills do SNL to tie into some movie, but Kristin Stewart hasn't got anything coming out for a while in 2017.  Maybe no one else wanted to host on Super Bowl weekend.

[Phishbulb]

4 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Usually actors/actresses with questionable hosting/comedic skills do SNL to tie into some movie, but Kristin Stewart hasn't got anything coming out for a while in 2017.  Maybe no one else wanted to host on Super Bowl weekend.

She has a movie coming out in March called "The Personal Shopper", which is what she's hosting to promote I guess.

I have to agree, normally in cases like this where they pick a non-comedic actor (Casey Affleck, Felicity Jones) you can usually say "Well, they're a really good actor". To be honest I don't even like Stewart's acting in dramatic films :(

[mtlchick]

Hold on to your nips and nuts, tips and bits, Baldwin is going to be hosting for the SEVENTEENTH TIME! http://deadline.com/2017/01/alec-baldwin-host-saturday-night-live-february-11-donald-trump-1201892374?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Phishbulb]

They may be overestimating America's love for Baldwin's Trump impression just a tad. Also, why NOW, after the election is over? Might have made sense back in November (especially since they weren't expecting Trump to win and thus it might have been his last chance to do the impression).

[raezen]

7 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Maybe no one else wanted to host on Super Bowl weekend.

I think that there might be something in this.  Not that no one else wanted Super Bowl weekend but that her demographic of fans and Super Bowl aren't expected to overlap all that much.

Edited January 23, 2017 by raezen

[Inquisitionist]

1 hour ago, mtlchick said:

Hold on to your nips and nuts, tips and bits, Baldwin is going to be hosting for the SEVENTEENTH TIME! http://deadline.com/2017/01/alec-baldwin-host-saturday-night-live-february-11-donald-trump-1201892374?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

1 hour ago, Phishbulb said:

They may be overestimating America's love for Baldwin's Trump impression just a tad.

IMO, Baldwin is an excellent host, whether he's doing his Trump thing or not.  I have his first hosting gig from 1990 on my DVR.  He clicked from the start.  Here's his opening monologue from his second appearance a year later.  So incredibly good-looking and game for anything!

[cpcathy]

I'm surprised we needed Alec actually hosting again so soon. Maybe a good fallback host?

[vb68]

I don't think it's surprising at all.  I mean, if he's going to be around anyway, why not host? Larry David did last year.  I don't think he's a fallback host at all.