RECAP: SNL 11/01 "Chris Rock"

Well, that was disappointing. This was a very weak, very bad episode tonight, compounded by nearly everyone flubbing their lines or having trouble with the cue cards at some point during the show. Sigh. It held promise, but the highlight of the night was Chris Rock's monologue and Prince's 8-minute showcase.

COLD OPEN: They do a Megyn Kelly report on Chris Christie's handling of the ebola quarantine he placed on Kaci Hickocks, but Bobby's Christie really should be a lot funnier- I mean, there's no easier target than that guy, but instead he makes a bunch of old jokes about New Jersey. Then Kate shows up as Kaci the ebola woman, and of course makes it a little brighter, because she's so obviously the most talented cast member at the moment, but it's still weak.

MONOLOGUE: As I told you before, this was the highlight. Chris Rock, one of the great stand-ups of all time, comes out and does his bit, and of course it's funny and sharp and everything you'd want SNL to be on a regular basis but isn't. The only part of the show worth watching, really.

HOW 2 DANCE W/ JANELLE: A lame skit where Sasheer is a teen wanting to dance sexy on the internet, while Chris is her disapproving and tech ignorant dad. Goes on way too long and isn't funny.

GOPROBE: An ad for GoProbe, a colonoscopy that makes Taran, Chris and Beck cringe. Eh. Looking over my notes, I almost forgot this one existed.

HOW'S HE DOING: The Kenan skit where black intellectuals discuss how Obama's doing with black voters- the joke being, as always, that his approval in the community can never fall below 90%. They've done this three times now, and it's been the same exact thing every single time. No variation whatsoever. Hire some new writers, for the love of god.

UPDATE: Colin and Michael deliver some bad jokes, then Pete comes on and does another stand-up bit. His third already? I don't get it, can he not do anything else? He's not totally unfunny, but this is getting old very fast. Michael completely flubs several jokes tonight and I'm sorry but the chemistry between these two is just not getting any better. Get rid of them both. Final Update guests are Kenan & Jay as Katt Williams and Suge Knight, but it's a pretty mild riff on their latest arrest.

SHARK TANK: Okay, this sketch tries to be edgy, but while doing so it completely forgets to be funny. Chris and Kyle pitch their group ISIS to the billionaires, who almost go for it, but don't in the end. I think they thought the idea itself was daring enough to stand on its own without writing any jokes for it. Bad idea. The audience doesn't seem to be too down with this one either.

SWIFTAMINE: An ad for people who have vertigo upon realizing they actually like a Taylor Swift song- I have not experienced nor have met a single person who actually does like Taylor Swift, so if this is a real thing, it's lost on me. Lame again.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: Chris and Leslie (featured in the first sketch of her own, I think) are a bickering married couple, but the only notable thing here is that Leslie completely misses the cue cards, walks out of the skit and comes back in, ruining whatever timing they might have had and baffling the audience into awkward silence. Not that the sketch was any good anyway- nothing could have saved it, really.

One of the better things on the show last night

BANK ROBBERY: Pre-taped thing where Kyle, Beck and Bobby are super polite bank robbers who throw the people in the bank a party while they rob it- doesn't work at all.

WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE: Cecily and Kate in a 90's instructional video about behavior in the workplace- really, really bad, which I hate to say, because Kate goes for it in everything she does, and she's not that bad, but again, nothing funny about this.

Ugh. That was pretty brutal actually. You'll notice I didn't mention Chris a whole lot, because aside from the monologue, he didn't bring much to the skits themselves- but they were all so terrible I don't know who could have. Like I said, even though Kate stands out like a shining star among this cast, she can't singlehandedly save these things, and she doesn't seem to come up with enough of her own ideas (probably more a performer than a writer, which unfortunately means she's got to lean on this god awful crew to give her something to work with). I have to give it a D-. Dreadful season so far. Woody Harrelson's up next, coming back to host on the 15th for the first time since 1992- we'll see what kind of material he gets stuck with. See you then.

TEASER: "Justified" Season 6

Woo-hoo! The last season of Justified promises the final showdown between Raylan and Boyd after all these years of kinda being frenemies. I can't wait, even though it's sad to see it end. Justified has long been one of my favorite shows and one of FX's best. The sixth season starts sometime in January.

TRAILER: "The Fall" Season 2

Yea! Gillian Anderson's Irish series The Fall is set to come back for Season 2 on November 9th on the BBC. The first season is on Netflix and it's only five episodes if you want to catch up- but be warned, this show is very creepy, much scarier in my opinion than horror shows like Hannibal. But Anderson's great in the lead role of the detective in charge of tracking serial killer Jamie Dornan.

RECAP: SNL 10/25 "Jim Carrey"

Well, the Halloween episode of SNL gives us Jim Carrey trying his hardest, but for all his efforts, there's only a couple of sketches that really work. Still, a couple of skits is better than SNL on a good day, so that's something, I suppose. And in another development that should have been obvious for anyone watching, Leslie Jones is officially added to the featuring cast now.

COLD OPEN: Jay's Obama opens tonight to appoint an ebola czar that has to answer a bunch of very Fox News- esque questions, I have to say. This isn't funny at all, but what I don't get is why SNL is apparently endorsing the overblown ebola hysteria. Smarter satire would be to ridicule it, since there's nothing legit about it at all.

MONOLOGUE: Jim Carrey comes out in his Helvis costume for the Halloween episode and leads a church choir singalong to his Elvis impression. It's not that good, really, but at least he's got some energy.

Matthew McConaughey (Jim Carrey) ponders the important questions in life and takes Allstate spokesman Dennis Haysbert (Kenan Thompson) for a ride in a new set of commercials.

LINCOLN AD: Ha! A genuinely hilarious spoof of Matthew McConaughey's Lincoln car commercials. The best thing about this one is that it aims pretty squarely at the cynicism of a recent Oscar winner shilling for a crappy car, when SNL usually tries to remain toothless. Good.

CARREY FAMILY REUNION: Jim has a family reunion, giving cast members a chance to do their best Jim Carrey impressions, as he reveals he stole all his catchphrases and characters from them. And Jeff Daniels shows up as Lloyd! It's ok- Taran's impression is the best one, but by the end it feels a little bit self-congratulatory.

GRAVEYARD: A bad sketch with Jim and Taran as singing ghosts Paul and Phil, who keep upsetting the other headstones and ghosts in the cemetery. It's pretty lame though.

UPDATE: A bunch of ebola jokes fall flat, then Vanessa comes out as a romantic comedy expert flirting with Michael. It's mild, not that funny, and then Drunk Uncle makes an appearance, ranting about Halloween, but he's not as good as he usually is. By the way, Colin Jost continues to remain awful in this position, please get rid of him, guys.

SECRET BILLIONAIRE: A Bachelor-type reality show where all the bachelors answer Cecily's questions, and Jim is an old man in a wheelchair with insanely involved, conspiratorial answers. He's funny, and it's another one where Jim is really going for it (I get the feeling he made up a lot of these stories).

GHOSTS: FACT OR FICTION: A spoof of those ghost-hunting reality shows that showcases new cast member Leslie as the terrified one in the group. She's kinda funny here, albeit playing up a very old stereotype.

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE: Yikes. This sketch is dead in the water, as Jim is a survivor in the apocalypse who wants to keep his zombiefied son Pete. It's really bad, and falls utterly flat. Worst of the night, aside from the cold open.

OFFICE COSTUME CONTEST: Jim and Kate (who finally shows up this season) have a dance off to the 'Chandelier' music video and it's awesome, with both of them running all around the studio as they outdo each other in the dance. Love it!! How come they don't use Kate more? She rocks whenever she's given the chance.

GEOFF'S HALLOWEEEN EMPORIUM: Vanessa and Cecily do an ad for Geoff's Halloween superstore, with Jim as the creepy owner hogging the shots. Jim's funny again, but it's too short to be all that effective.

And that's it for tonight. Not too painful of an episode, but the best stuff was without a doubt the Lincoln ads and the Chandelier dance-off. Jim gave it his all though. I guess for him and the rest of the skits being mostly harmless, I give it a C. Next week Chris Rock comes back as host, with Prince as the musical guest, so hopefully that holds some promise. See you then and Happy Halloween!

REVIEW: "The Knick" Season 1

Cinemax's The Knick marked Steven Soderbergh's foray into long form television, as he directed all ten episodes of the first season, bringing with him his yellow-tinted look and slick style. Since television is a writer's medium above all though, I'm going to have to give most of the credit for this show (which I liked quite a lot) to the co-creators Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, who managed to put as new a spin on the "doctor" show as you've ever seen.

The Knick is set in New York City in the year 1900, at the Knickerbocker hospital where the staff deals with all the problems that the setting itself brings, which it turns out, is all the material you need for a compelling ensemble series. Right away you've got to know that there's a lot of blood on this show, and the kind that, for me anyway, is a lot more unsettling than the supernatural vampire tongues on something like The Strain (have you ever wanted to know what a late 19th century c-section looked like?) That in itself might be enough to put certain people off, but I'd advise against it, because with every episode you are pulled deeper and deeper into this world that now looks like another universe when you're faced with all the technological advances we've made in a relatively short amount of time. The sets, cinematography, costumes and yes, Soderbergh's direction, do work to create a gritty period setting that you constantly want to spend more time in, even if you'd never want to see it in reality (I don't think there's anything else you could watch right now that'd make you more grateful to live in the present day).

With every medical case that checks into this hospital, it's astounding and cringe-inducing to see what practicing physicians actually did to treat diseases and conditions now commonly cured (from hernias and difficult pregnancies to drug addictions and blood transfusions), and Amiel and Begler did their research, drawing from real life occurrences and history to show us the tools and discoveries that were only just being made at the time. But no matter the setting, every series is ultimately made by its characters, and one of the things that I love about The Knick, is that this is a show made by people who for once, are actually more interested in the stories of those living in the 1800's who were not the majority. That's right, these guys want to tell stories about immigrants, women, African-Americans and Asians, people whose daily lives  and prejudices were harder than most, and that's on top of living in a time where life was actually quite a struggle for everyone (sickness doesn't target the poor and disenfranchised- even the rich couldn't be saved from appendicitis when there was no doctor who knew how to treat it). Of course there are the straight, white, male doctors on the show (who would obviously be the ones in power in a hospital at that time), but there were also lots of other people moving around the fringes, and unlike a show like Mad Men, this is one that thinks their lives are just as interesting as everyone else's.

Clive Owen is the star as head doctor John Thackery, an ambitious physician with a dangerous cocaine addiction- dangerous on two levels, because he's physically unable to function without his daily dosage (this drug was injected in 1900). Owen is dominating and charismatic as usual in this performance, but his character is a bit of a jerk, and he's almost matched in screentime (I'd actually call him a co-lead) by Andre Holland, who's a major standout as Algernon Edwards, an educated black doctor who must learn to function in a near total white supremacist society that embodies not just the hospital but the outside world as well. It may actually be extremely frustrating as a modern viewer to see Edwards' dilemma as it progresses (you're tempted to hate every white person on the show), but it does progress and eventually you're as caught up with his story as much, if not more, than anyone's (he was probably my favorite character on a very strong ensemble). The cast is sprawling, but we're introduced to just about everyone almost instantly, and some of the other noteworthy characters include a nun who makes money on the side as a Vera Drake type of caretaker for women in need, the Irish "ambulance" (still a horse and carriage) driver who also skims on the side as a flat out criminal, Juliet Rylance as the upper class woman placed by her father in a man's position as owner of the hospital, and a young West Virginian nurse who falls into a dangerous infatuation of her own.

The manner in which the storylines move around among the large cast reminded me at first of a grittier Downton Abbey, but the show very quickly comes into its own and shows how occasionally familiar storylines and age old issues (drug addiction, interracial romance, abortion, mental illness) can suddenly seem fresh and new by being represented in a world that we can only imagine was like to actually live in. And watching this show, you'll never want to, but you will want to spend more time observing it, and I myself can't wait for the next season to have a chance to revisit.

Grade: A

POSTER: "Peter Pan Live"

The first poster for NBC's Peter Pan Live! showcases Christopher Walken's Captain Hook and Alison Williams's Peter- I don't know whether this will be a disaster or a delight. Probably both. It's airing on Thursday, December 4th.

FIRST LOOK: Charlie Cox as "Daredevil"

Preceding the big Iron Man/Captain America Marvel news last night, Netflix gave us a first glimpse of their upcoming Daredevil series, starring Boardwalk Empire's Charlie Cox (remember poor departed Owen?) as Matt Murdoch. This is the first of the four Marvel heroes coming to Netflix for their own interrelated series (the others are Luc Cage, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist), and it looks like they ditched the red tights for what appears to be more of a ninja ensemble. Then again, it could also be a work in progress outfit, as the costume is apparently going to evolve, perhaps over years.

What do you think? Like the look?

REVIEW: "The Strain" Season 1

Guillermo del Toro's vampire series The Strain recently wrapped its first season, and it's pure B-movie material meshed with some truly gross out special effects to deliver a mostly entertaining package overall, worth catching up with in time for Halloween if you can stomach it. Based on the novel trilogy written by del Toro and Chuck Hogan, and adapted for FX with some help from Lost co-helmer Carlton Cuse, we follow a group of characters in New York City as a mysterious plague begins ravaging the citizens after a plane lands at JFK airport with its entire passenger load and crew having been wiped out by something sticky and seemingly fatal. There are a few survivors, but these people quickly start to show some very graphic and disgusting symptoms of their infection, and rapidly begin morphing into demons who feast on the living and can't go out in the daylight.

Yes, they're vampires, but not just any vamps- these are creations from the mind of Guillermo del Toro, and if you're familiar with the director's work, you're going to recognize a lot of these creature features from his past delvings into the genre, in films 1993's Cronos and 2002's Blade II in particular. We're talking worms in the eyeballs, ejecting tongues that swallow people up, mutated body parts and others that simply fall off (one of the most memorable moments of the season is when one transforming vamp goes to the toilet and we suddenly hear a plop! Yeah, it's what you think it is). The funny part about all this is that the gross stuff, if you can handle it (it'll probably be too much for the squeamish) is really the best part of the show as a whole. For the most part, the effects are well done and realistic (as much as possible anyway), and it leads to some truly and consistently scary moments as the first season progresses.

The rest of the show is standard heroes versus villains plotting, as our rag-tag group of survivors eventually comes together and becomes a vampire-slaying crew, for lack of a better term. With this group of people we've got a lot of standard tropes in our midst- our main character is Ephram Goodweather, doctor from the CDC and played by Corey Stoll (who embodies the right tone, an appropriately lighthearted approach, which is really the only way to go on a show like this), and he brings along his colleague/girlfriend Nora, played by Mia Maestro, formerly of Alias and The Motorcycle Diaries, and coworker Jim (Sean Astin, who you'll probably be able to guess what happens to if you're familiar with his TV filmography-remember him on 24?). Then we've got the old man who's been fighting these things for decades, the Russian pest control operative who's finally got a enemy at his own level, a hacker girl who wants to be reformed, a Hispanic ex-con who's also looking for payback, etc. It may be telling that even as I write this after a thirteen episode season, I can't off the top of my head remember the names of these people, aside from Eph, our protagonist. With shows like this, the character development is usually slight at best, while the real meat of the series lies in the gory face to face battles with the monsters (like The Walking Dead I suppose, although I do think this show is a step above that one in quality).

There is a pretty good villain here, which is the undead vampire Nazi Thomas Eichorst, played by Richard Sammel, who has long history with the old man Setrakian, having once been the commander at the head of the concentration camp where Setrakian was a prisoner in WWII. Unfortunately, the show doesn't seem to realize he is the main villain and instead spends most of the season building up the head vampire The Master (was that name taken from Buffy Season 1?) as the ultimate foe, who when he's finally revealed is immediately hamstrung in impact by a very silly looking mask that I'm sorry to say looks like it could have been bought at the nearest Halloween superstore for $5. I mean, come on, you have all these great special effects employed for the slimy and disgusting vamps all year and this is what The Master has to look like every time we see him? It kind of diminishes the threat a little bit. Frankly, even Buffy's Master was scarier looking.

Another aspect of the show I grew impatient with was the near constant deployment of the "nobody believes me" syndrome in the first 8-10 episodes, where Eph or someone else is running around screaming  about the vampire plague, even showing video of infected people transforming, and you got it, no one accepts the truth or believes their own eyes, laughs the person off, and is promptly eaten alive in the next scene or two. Is everyone in New York City a total idiot? Would anyone really act like this if the city's power was shut off, hysteria and looting was rampant, and everywhere you look someone was being attacked by a giant tongue that sucks all your blood in seconds?

I don't mean to sound too harsh though. The Strain is mostly a lot of fun, even with the paper thin characters and the often idiotic things they do. Who am I kidding, this show is about watching people get eaten while others manage to fight them off by head slicing, which is the only real way to take vamps down for good (that or a silver bullet). It never takes itself too seriously either, which makes it easy to forgive things like plot holes and silly Halloween masks on major villains (although it really would be better if The Master was a more formidable looking creature- maybe they can fix that in the hiatus). For a show that fully embraces its B-movie mentality, I think it's only fitting to dish out that entirely proper letter for it.

Grade: B

RECAP: SNL 10/11 "Bill Hader"

Whew, A huge sigh of relief this week as former SNL champ Bill Hader comes back (along with Kristen Wiig) to make things funny again. Even if most of what was funny belonged to his old, recurring bits, at least it was a break from this current struggling cast.

COLD OPEN: This one doesn't deliver though, as it's an incredibly lame opening with Bobby as the rumored ailing and currently missing Kim Jong-Un, but there's just nothing good at all about this bit. Fail.

MONOLOGUE: Bill is back, excited to be there and ready to sing, and who comes out to help him but best bud Kristen Wiig, who as everyone knows can do "anything." Bill's singing voice sucks though, and he compares it to Harvey Fierstein, who wouldn't you know it, also appears to help him out. Boy, he's looking kinda rough. The whole bit is cute, I guess.

HERB WELCH: Yay! The grumpy old reporter is back, shoving the mic in people's faces and grumbling racist and sexist remarks. It's the same as it was before, which is funnier than anything the show does currently, so I'm happy to see it.

THE GROUP HOPPER: This is a spoof trailer of all the YA movies that have come out in recent years, but even though the premise is good, there are just no good jokes in it. This should have been a lot funnier, it's kind of an easy target.

HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT: Kate is a terrific Jane Lynch as the host, in one of those skits meant to showcase celebrity impressions. Sadly, aside from Kate, all the current cast is weak, while Bill and Kristen bring the funny thanks to their Al Pacino and one of my old faves, Kristen's Kathie Lee Gifford (yea!). They stand out from the pack on this, which is a sad commentary on the current group (sans Kate, who's really not being used enough this year).

CHARLES DANIELS: Bill is one of those guys asking for donations on a commercial to help African villagers, but Jay, Kenan, Sasheer, and Leslie complain about wanting more than 39 cents a day. It's pretty good- could be sharper, but at least they can actually do stuff like this now that they finally have more than one or two black cast members. But someone needs to tell me why Leslie Jones isn't just a featured player, since she's clearly willed herself onto the show from behind the scenes.

LOVE IS A DREAM: Bill and Kristen introduce a nice tribute to the late Jan Hooks, one of the classic sketches with another gone too soon great, Phil Hartman. It's a classy move, and appropriate that they did it.

UPDATE: Some mild jokes this week, and Pete Davidson shows up as the hip-hop correspondent to do another stand-up bit, but it's not as good as last time. And then, the moment we've all been waiting for- it's Stefon, everyone! He's back! And he's awesome, hilariously salivating over Colin and Michael as "Barack and Mitt" and randomly targeting 90's MTV host Dan Cortez as a feature of every new hotspot. It feels like it hasn't actually been that long since we've seen Stefon (it'd have more impact if it had been at least five years or something), but he's undoubtedly one of the most beloved characters in SNL history, and every single time he's showed up he's delivered, so I'm happy.

PUPPETS: Ha! Another great recurring Bill skit, with Tony the traumatized war vet puppet. I love this sketch, I have to say. That puppet kills me every time, thanks of course to Bill's total commitment to the bit.

INSIDE SOCAL: Sigh. Not excited for this basement college show thing from Beck and Kyle again, but wait a minute- Bill shows up and actually makes his bit funny? Yes, he does! Wow. Only a few seconds, but see what a great sketch player can do in that time? Cool.

CAT IN THE HAT: Last of the night is one of those random weird ones, but hey, this one works too! Bill's the Cat in the Hat who once had an affair with Cecily, the mother of two kids who want him to sing and dance for them. I love it, actually. Bill's reactions kill it.

Okay, so that was pretty decent! It started off weak, but in a twist, got better as the night went on. All because of Bill, but yeah, this was a good one. Adding it all up, I'd say it was a solid B+, which is a huge improvement, and I'm happy to take what I can get. Jim Carrey is hosting on the 25th, and his last one wasn't great, so relish this one while you can, guys. See you later!

Jan Hooks 1957-2014

One of Saturday Night Live's most underrated stars from one of its most iconic casts has died at the age of 57 from an illness she'd been battling (no details are yet known). Jan Hooks was a castmember of SNL from 1986-1991, known to many as the Phil Hartman/Dana Carvey/Jon Lovitz era, and even though she was lesser known than those guys, for years now she's been labeled by fans as highly underrated in her run on the show. Her impressions included Nancy Reagan, Tammy Faye Bakker, Hillary Clinton (the first to play her), Sinead O'Connor, Diane Sawyer and Kathi Lee Gifford, and some of her best known sketches were Brenda the Waitress and The Sweeney Sisters. After SNL she joined the cast of Designing Women for two seasons and was on 3rd Rock From the Sun as the crazy Vicki, but her run on SNL made her one of the show's most talented female castmembers ever. Hopefully the show does a tribute to her this weekend.

Tammy Faye Bakker meets the Church Lady:

Often paired with the late Phil Hartman, here's when her Nancy Reagan met his Barbara Bush: