S42.E11: Felicity Jones / Sturgill Simpson

[Inquisitionist]

On 1/15/2017 at 0:56 AM, Mumbles said:

Well, when they needed to change the kid who played Bobby Draper because the character was getting older, the kid who was being phased out told his replacement to keep away from January (but that the rest of the cast was nice.) So there's that.....

That actor Bobby left to take another role.  The character of Bobby didn't seem to age at all.

[teddysmom]

Felicity was so nervous in the opening and couldn't even seem to read her cue cards. Beard Hunk was a rip off of Burning Love. They did that "can I steal him for a moment" bit much much better. And they brought the crazy. Felicity's character had nothing on Natasha Leggerro running around with no pants on.

[Mumbles]

1 hour ago, Inquisitionist said:

That actor Bobby left to take another role.  The character of Bobby didn't seem to age at all.

Thank you for that very interesting piece of information!

[Morgan of Hed]

Well at least Brie Larson has been in comedy movies, like 21 or 22 Jump Street, I think 21.  Felicity Jones, again I say that I don't know her British television history so I can't tell if any of her work on her IMDB page was comedic.  That's why this casting is such a question mark.

I happened to catch her in a lightweight rom-com called "Chalet Girl", she was OK in it.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

See Highlights From Rogue One Star Felicity Jones's Saturday Night Live Debut

Was The Force with the first new episode of 2017?

[Ottis]

This was never going to end well. Jones is a young actress now best known for being in a Star Wars movie, who has nothing to say. Not her fault; she's just not there, yet.

The show could have made fun of Star Wars, and perhaps the ending of her movie and its impact on SW incessant marketing (I won't spoil it here, but the ending was the only surprising thing that happened in that movie), but it didn't. It could have played with the fact she is now most famous for a role in a sci-fi franchise that goes back to before she was born, but it didn't. It could have tried to introduce her as someone who existed before the SW movie, maybe had her protesting she was someone beyond that role, but it didn't.

So we were left with out-of-context sketches that had to tie to Jones for no particular reason. At that point, the concept mattered more than Jones did. And few of the concepts were any good (Albert rich guy theatre) or fully realized (Susan B Anthony).I think I laughed once. And I typically FF through musical performances on SNL, so few interest me. I was intrigued by this guy using brass as back up, shades of EWF in R&B, but don't care for country music. 

[AriAu]

Well, that was about the worst episode since ........the Real Trump was the host. Unfunny, awkward, poor acting from host. Only saving graces were the cold open (which was not nearly as clever as it could have (and should have) been), Tina's lines and.....

Weekend Update. Che and Jost have really hit their respective strides AND are able to work off of each other. While Jost was fine this week, Che REALLY stood out. His monologue on things blacks and cops had in common was pretty funny, but became more so with the cutting social commentary that went along with it.  While I had ranked them behind Dennis Miller, Seth, Tina and Amy (together apart whatever) and probably Chevy, if they keep up this level of commentary and humor, they are may very well be the best. Even that awful Beck Bennett thing couldn't ruin it. 

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Susan B. Anthony has allowed white feminism, spoiled white women to not care about their history and their privilege?  LOL.  Was it going that deep?

No, it was not going that deep....outside of Update, nothing went that deep....ok, maybe the 15 pound thing.

Can someone explain the digital short to me? Did not get it at all and certainly didn't laugh.

[LoneHaranguer]

On 1/15/2017 at 0:21 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

I kind of thought they'd say more about Carrie Fisher, considering Tina Fey wrote a 30 Rock episode specifically for her, and Felicity is the star of Rogue One.

It was easier just to make the old SNL episode at 10 be Carrie Fisher's. Doesn't look like they put much effort into writing this episode overall, but it can be tough coming back to work after a break.

[Princess Sparkle]

15 hours ago, helenamonster said:

I saw Bobby during the credits and immediately realized he wasn't in a sketch. It was odd.

Yeah, the Susan B. Anthony sketch could have gone in a million different great directions. They could have brought up her racism and other not great ideologies, also all of the women were white so odds are at least two of them voted for Trump, which could have played a part. Damn, they could have had Sasheer play Ida B. Wells as part of it to give her something substantial to do for once. It's sort of astounding how badly they wasted what could have been an awesome premise.

Also, the best part of the cold open was something I didn't notice until I was watching the show's Instagram story earlier today: Donnie was wearing a Russian flag pin, not an American flag. Clap it out for whoever came up with that one.

Bobby was briefly in the cold open (he was sitting next to Pete), but then he didn't end up saying anything.  It seemed weird to me to take the trouble to dress him up and put him in there if he wasn't going to do anything, but maybe his question got cut at the last minute for timing.  There hasn't been a whole lot of Bobby period so far this season, and I don't like that.  

I thought FOR SURE the Susan B Anthony sketch was going to be similar to the MLK sketch they did last year(? I think last year; might've been two) where MLK came to Pete, and discovered that there hadn't been as much change as he would've thought since his death.  There was so much they could've done with that sketch, and I get what they were going for, but man did they whiff on it.

HAH!  I did not notice the Russian Flag pin, but that's an excellent catch.  Kudos to whoever came up with that.

[Traveller519]

The Monologue did a better job of parodying the cringe-awkwardness of The Bachelor than the Bachelor Parody skit.

I did really enjoy both of the pre-taped bits, the understated comedy they manage to get out of those as compared to the (seeming) necessity to go broad in the live skits works better with my sense of humor.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

Did anyone else feel that the Bachelor sketch and The Princess and the Curse were basically the same sketch, back to back. both featuring Beck's character dumping Felicity's character (for bringing a one-piece/for gaining 15 pounds after dark).  Yes, there were additional details in both, but it was striking to me how they were basically the same sketch, or at least 2 sketches with the same actors, leading up to the same conclusion (men are shallow).  They should not have both been in the same show, much less presented consecutively.

[BenjaminLeBaron]

This episode was particularly awful. Just cringe worthy altogether. The opening was the only good part. Sad about her acting chops.

[Mrs Shibbles]

I like Sturgill Simpson's version of 'The Promise'

https://g.co/kgs/TDR9xO

Felicity was pretty bad, as was most of the show.

[Bruinsfan]

Jost and Che can usually be counted on, but then the show insists on dumping horrible bits like that Beck-as-boyband-singer one or the ubiquitous Pete-as-idiot-stoner-man-child/himself ones in the middle of Weekend Update and ruining it.

[helenamonster]

21 hours ago, AriAu said:

Can someone explain the digital short to me? Did not get it at all and certainly didn't laugh.

The digital short (I'm assuming you mean the one with Leslie and Kenan) was about subverting some tropes in media about street gangs. Normally in those kinds of movies/tv shows, Kenan and Leslie's characters would have their little dick measuring "I don't wanna see you on my block" type dialogue before Kenan's character toughly drives off and the audience is worried for the safety of Leslie's character. The joke was that Kenan didn't get to toughly drive off because his car is a piece of shit, thus ruining what is usually a big dramatic moment in these kinds of movies. In the end, these two ostensible enemies were forced to help each other, and then the final gag of the car blowing up was just an easy last joke to end the sketch on. It wasn't brilliant by any stretch but it was a funny idea, I thought.

[Traveller519]

Beck is certainly looking to make the jump to wider acceptance. He's been comfortable in his off-kilter stuff, and normally has avoided going too broad. Even Boss Baby works because of the range of the characteristics. However, you can tell he's trying to do more than just that stuff. I've actually enjoyed the earnestness with which he's played "himself" this season with the "Why is Benedict Cumberbatch Hot?" skit and now the Pop Star update, though I don't think we need to revisit either of those directly.

Edited January 17, 2017 by Traveller519

[Jimmy McNulty]

Note to Sturgill Simpson:  your word of the day is enunciate.  Look into it.

Edited January 17, 2017 by Jimmy McNulty

[AdorkableSars]

On 1/16/2017 at 9:03 AM, Morgan of Hed said:

I happened to catch her in a lightweight rom-com called "Chalet Girl", she was OK in it.

Haha, I saw that too! Netflix browsing, and it looked just cheesy enough for the mood I was in at that time...also, Ed Westwick is hot.

This episode was fairly meh. I loved the cold open, and a couple of update jokes, but other than that, nothing really stood out, nor did I laugh that much.

However, I will say I actually really liked Beck's Update appearance. First of all because it was his first Update appearance which was really exciting. But also because I love his "Songs By Beck" account on Instagram, and this was very much in that vein. His ridiculous songs never fail to crack me up. So him and his ridiculous hair on Weekend Update were kind of awesome for me! 

[fastiller]

3 hours ago, Jimmy McNulty said:

Note to Sturgill Simpson:  your word of the day is enunciate.  Look into it.

Isn't it bordering on irony for you to ask a terrible enunciater (is that a word? enunciator?) to look into the word "enunciate"?  ('Cause it's not a simple word, like "it".)

Edited January 17, 2017 by fastiller

[JZL]

11 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

Jost and Che can usually be counted on, but then the show insists on dumping horrible bits like that Beck-as-boyband-singer one or the ubiquitous Pete-as-idiot-stoner-man-child/himself ones in the middle of Weekend Update and ruining it.

I've been complaining about this for years, but it's not as bad as it used to be.  There are surely exceptions, but sometimes they use WU to roll out bits or characters that are too lame to sustain their own sketches.  Sometimes I wonder if they stick these in as filler. 

[WhineandCheez]

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They've scraped the bottom of the Bachelor parody sketches but I still laughed at "I have the most severe ombre of anyone here."

ONLY funny line in entire show!!1  One of the worst SNLs I've seen in past few years.  Also, It was odd that the star of a movie that premiered like 3 weeks ago was on.  Why bother then?

[Bruinsfan]

Well, it's not as if a Star Wars movie is going to be out of theaters in three weeks, or needed extra promotion before opening.