Pretty decent premiere! They made the right choice in getting Tina back to host on a night where we meet 6 new cast members, but most of the sketches hit tonight, which is actually pretty rare for SNL.
COLD OPEN: I said most of the sketches hit, but unfortunately this was not one of them. They got off to a weak start with a town hall where President Obama explains the ACA and we get appearances from a ton of cast members but none of them gets anything really funny to say. The highlight was seeing Aaron Paul (!) show up in character as Jesse to explain the downfall of a certain teacher he knew due to lack of health insurance. That was good, but the rest was lame.
MONOLOGUE: Tina Fey brings everything up a notch with high energy and a funny bit where all 6 new cast members are hauled out onstage to embarrass themselves dancing. But man, they're constantly getting complaints for not hiring enough minorities and when they have this big cast turnover they choose 5 white guys and only one (also white) woman? I'm totally going to have a hard time telling those dudes apart from one another for a while.
GIRLS: yes! I'm all for anybody making fun of that show for any reason. This was good, but since I'm a bonafide hater of Girls, of course i think it wasn't nearly merciless enough. But they got in some good digs and the new girl does a spot-on Lena Dunham.
AIRPORT: A cute bit with Tina and Taran Killam as airline announcers calling out passenger stereotypes to board a plane one by one. My favorite was Kenan and his gigantic suitcase with "no chance of fitting in the overhead compartment," lol.
GAME SHOW: "New Cast Member or Arcade Fire"- more picking on the newbies as Kenan replaces Bill Hader as our go-to game show host, with Tina coming out to guess if the person in question is a new cast member or band member of the very numerous Arcade Fire. Another good sketch, especially at the end when Lorne Michaels can't tell who the new guy is either and thinks it's Kenan- that was great.
E-METH COMMERCIAL: loved this one! and it's Aaron Paul again! maybe he should have just hosted, huh?
WEEKEND UPDATE: with Seth and our new co-anchor, as was announced a couple of weeks ago, Cecily Strong! I still can't believe they went with somebody who's only been on for one year as a featured player, but here she is at the news desk. She's actually pretty good for her first crack at it. Tina gets a cameo before the first real dud of the night- one of the new guys in a bit about an unfunny comic that's pretty unfunny itself. But then Update redeems itself with an appearance from Drunk Uncle, who's just as great as ever, and the third showing from Aaron Paul as his meth head nephew (methneph!), so it goes out on a high note.
PBS CINEMA CLASSICS: So Kenan really is the new Bill, as host of the show that looks back on unreleased old movies. Nothing that funny in this one, it's a joke about a taxidermist's animals showing up as product placement.
USED CAR COMMERCIAL: I nearly forgot about this one. One of the new guys in a black and white car commercial in the 1940's, Tina as his wacky wife. Meh. Totally forgettable.
PORN STARS: Yay! One of my favorite skits (I thought this sketch was great since the first time they ever did it) doesn't disappoint, as the mentally challenged porn stars wax on about "Manuel Blondiks" (Manolo Blahniks) with Tina showing up to call out her old high school teacher for not believing in her. The perfect skit to end the night.
So, more good bits than bad ones with a promising start for Cecily Strong on Weekend Update and for that, plus all the Aaron Paul love, I'm giving the premiere a solid B+. See you next week for the perfectly timed Miley Cyrus hosted episode!
