The new trailer for Game of Thrones is action-packed as usual, but I'm really not looking forward to the seemingly neverending Wall storyline. I'm more excited about Tyrian teaming up with Khaleesi this season, since it's obvious that's what's going to happen there.
TRAILER: "Daredevil" Season 1
The full trailer for Netflix's Daredevil is here. I like how dark and gritty it looks, as opposed to how the other Marvel movies and shows so far have all had to tow the PG-13 line. Being on Netflix allows them to do and show whatever they want with this, so let's hope showrunner (and Buffy vet) Drew Goddard took advantage of it. I guess you run the risk of becoming depressing when you go darker, but I don't necessarily think a more "adult" approach couldn't work, especially if the material is supposed to be darker anyway.
REVIEW: "Parks and Recreation" Season 7
When Parks and Recreation ended its sixth season, it was such a perfect wrap-up for all the characters, that I really didn't think it needed an extra seventh to close things out. But funnily enough, I guess I was wrong, because this final year served as an elongated epilogue for the whole crew, and ended up being the best thirteen episode run since its third season. It was a smashing way to go out, even if NBC treated it kind of shabbily (pairing up the episodes two at a time so that the show could sputter out in just seven weeks), and the perfection of this kind of an ending helps to cement the show in the pantheon of great workplace sitcoms, even if it was always a small, underrated series with a following not large enough to qualify as "cult"- but you know what? Shows like The Office and Community may have had more hype at their peaks, but Parks and Rec remained the most consistent in quality for all six years it was on the air, and that's a run to be admired, and hopefully, remembered in the years to come.
This season jumped ahead two years to 2017, where the gang had all moved on from the Parks department to bigger and better futures. Leslie of course was serving as the head of the federal Parks department and trying to establish a national park in Pawnee, while April was still temporarily working for her and Ben still serving as city manager. The first half of the season spun a hilarious arc involving the gesticulating offscreen feud between longtime friends and ideological rivals Leslie and Ron, who was now running his own building company and battling Leslie for a bid to win the right to establish the public land for their own use. The fight between Leslie and Ron led to some of the season's best moments which of course ended in their inevitable reconciliation, but the friendship and the chemistry between Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman has been the heart of this series since the very beginning, and the show did justice to their long, complex relationship this year (their final moments together may even bring a tear to your eye).
The rest of the season was spent making sure each character got their due, showing us how they ended up in the two year time jump, and eventually how they ended up for all eternity. The series finale jumped even further ahead in time (this season was all about the time jumps) to show us how Donna, April, Andy, Tom, and Garry (finally established as his actual, real name) lived out the rest of their days, in what direction their careers went, who they ended up with, where they moved and how many kids they had- for people who can never accept that series finales are all about closure, Parks and Rec went out of its way to make sure we got an overload of happy endings for everyone. It may be kind of an abundance of sugar to ensure that literally everyone ends up happy, wealthy and married (does being married really equal being happy? Even the perpetually single Tom was hurriedly paired off for good this season), but it still warms your heart to see it, knowing this is the last time we'll see any of them after all.
We also saw the final entrances and exits of all the recurring citizens of Pawnee over the years and where they ended up (at least some of those guys are allowed to not end up so happily). We said final good-byes to the Douche, Jean-Ralphio (my favorite), crazy Tammy, Perd Hapley, Shauna Malwae, and Chris and Ann, who showed up for one last cameo appearance in the epilogue to the epilogue. And the final season was also jam packed, as Parks does and has always done so well, with topical references, inside jokes and dead on political satire that rips current news headlines/characters to morph itself into the political issues affecting the city of Pawnee as a microcosm of society at large (this year when Ben decides to run for Congress, Leslie is targeted by protesters as a woman driven by her own career and accused of wanting to "have it all" instead of standing by her man. You can guess what Poehler's response was to that). More senators and congressman came by the show for the last time, as Leslie and Ben both made their way up the political ladder, and with The Colbert Report gone, Jon Stewart leaving The Daily Show, and now Parks and Rec signing off, it feels like all my political catharsis shows are leaving me, one by one.
The show ended with a hint of big things in sight for one of either Leslie or Ben (I think we can all assume that Leslie was the one who finally made it into the Oval Office, right?), and a note of perfect happiness for all of the Parks family, as well as the audience who came along for the ride. They did it on their own terms, and maintained a remarkable run in quality, consistency, and frankly, political ideology in the ultimate message that endorsed collective action for the public good, even as you work with stubborn individualists (Ron Swanson will forever be the nicest, most soft at heart prickly conservative I'd actually want to talk to). It was a run for the ages, a perfect show for the Obama era, and will live on in syndication as a symbol of its time for years to come.
Grade: A
RECAP: SNL 3/07 "Chris Hemsworth"
It's always a good thing when a host comes on and proves affable and good natured enough to fit easily into the cast and make fun himself as a good sport. That's what Thor hottie Chris Hemsworth proved tonight, as frankly, it doesn't even matter what the sketches were, you could just watch him on TV for an hour and half and it would hardly prove to be a painful experience (am I right, ladies?) Overall though, it was a pretty decent episode.
COLD OPEN: Well, we might look back on this moment as the beginning of the new Hillary era, as Kate takes her on in our major introduction to what could end up being a long run as the former First Lady/Senator/Secretary of State/ (President?), as she gears up to run again for the final time. Kate's Hillary has down the ambition, the sense of entitlement/frustration, and the attempt to seem "relatable" as she defends herself against the recent email "controversy" in the press. I think she does a great job, and I'm glad she's the one chosen to follow Jan Hooks, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler as at least the fourth woman to play Hillary during her long reign as a public figure in this country (I may have forgotten someone, but I think those four are the ones who've played her, right?).
MONOLOGUE: Chris Hemsworth takes the stage to mock his looks and the Thor movies, and he brings out his brothers Luke and Liam to share the stage with him, as well as Kenan, the adopted Hemsworth sibling faking the Aussie accent, and Kate as their mom (Kate loves doing her Australian accent, as you'll see later in the show too). It's short and sweet.
AMERICAN EXPRESS: Chris mocks the credit card commercials about how hard (read easy) it was for him, a tall, hot blond Australian muscle man to make it in Hollywood. See what I mean about a good sport? It's funny.
BROTHER 2 BROTHER: Taran and Chris do the Disney show spoof about the twins, and Taran tries to take Chris's place in class, only to be ridiculed by the teacher and students for not being anywhere near as hot as Chris- third sketch in a row to make fun of Chris's looks. This one's just okay.
EMPIRE: An ad for Fox's hit Empire that introduces one dorky white guy into the cast, who just doesn't fit in with the rest of the family. SNL loves skits like this, that do racial humor by forcing the one awkward white guy to fit in with the black people. It's funny, but I feel like I've seen this same sketch before.
SS ORION: A space crew reports to their captain, who happens to be an actual chicken. Um, this is weird, but seeing Chris really go for it in attempting to woo the chicken, who keeps turning her head away from him is kinda funny, in the way that unpredictable animals on talk/variety shows always are. Where did they get that chicken anyway?
IGGY AZALEA TALK SHOW: In material that's been ripe for parody for a while now, Kate takes on Iggy Azalea's posing as the new hot rapper, getting to use her Aussie accent again, while making up stupid raps and mocking Iggy's phoniness. It's not as funny as it could be, but Kate's game and Chris gets into it as her mentor, a fellow Aussie into "hip-hops."
UPDATE: Colin and Michael do some Ferguson, Hillary and Ben Carson jokes (whom they pile onto for suggesting homosexuality is a choice), and then relationship expert Leslie comes out to talk dating in New York (she's okay this time), and ugh, Cecily's Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation With at a Party again. I really don't like that character and think it's an exact riff on Drunk Uncle, who does the same thing but funnier. By the way, this week it's Colin's turn to epic-ly flub a joke, and it's actually funny because it was SUCH a slip-up.
AVENGERS: A news report on the Avengers victory over Ultron that treats it as a sports team victory with Chris whooping it up and the cast doing some Avengers impressions. Pretty good.
ACTING TIPS: Ok- this one made me laugh out loud. Kenan is a terrible acting coach who gives awful, Jeffersons inspired acting tips to TV show actors Kate and Chris while directing a scene. Short, but Kate and Chris go for it, and their reactions are hilarious.
THE HOUSE: I dread at first another Kyle/Beck video, but this one might actually be their best one ever, if only because they're spoofing something that's actually familiar. Kyle, Beck and Chris are roommates on a reality show and parody a combination of Big Brother, Bachelor, American Idol and anything else you can think of in a quick 3 minute route. It actually works! Congrats guys, you didn't make me cringe.
PORN STARS: So, an oldie but goodie for the last one of the night, although I still think this sketch is played out by now. Vanessa and Cecily are selling Dolce & Gabbana products this time (which of course they can't pronounce), but Chris steals it as the guy who can't say the name of any product when he comes in. Good.
So, yeah I liked this episode. Not everything was laugh out loud funny, but almost everything at least made me smile, not least of which was Chris's up for it, clearly enjoying himself, laid-back attitude. Probably one of the best hosts they've had in a while, and lots of Kate always helps an episode too. I give it a B+. Happily, the second half of the season seems to be a somewhat marked improvement on the dreadful first half. Let's see if they can keep it up. No host or date yet for the next one, so come back in three or four weeks to see who's up then!
TRAILER: "Happyish" Season 1
Here's the full trailer for Showtime's Happyish, with Steve Coogan taking over for what would have been the late Philip Seymour Hoffman (who filmed the original pilot for the series). They've fairly different personalities, I hope it works just as well as it would have with Hoffman in the starring role. It starts April 26th.
TRAILER: "Veep" Season 4
Veep joins House of Cards as another season of television begins in which a person who should never be president has suddenly risen to the highest office in the land (not by election of course). The cast looks as funny as ever, as Julia Louis-Dreyfus's deeply incompetent, Palin-level Selina Meyer ascends to the podium. Shudder. Veep comes back April 12th.
TRAILER: "Orphan Black" Season 3
A new trailer for Orphan Black dropped today! Tatiana Maslany returns as all versions of herself, and now there's a new clone villain in town, this time a boy. The new season starts April 12th- can't wait.
RECAP: SNL 2/28 "Dakota Johnson"
So after the SNL 40 celebration left me feeling nostalgic and a little more affectionate towards the show than I have in a while, it's time to get back to the actual season at hand, where we have one of the most no name hosts in many years, hosting what basically amounts to another mediocre, middling entry in a bad season overall. Yeah, that sounds about right, doesn't it?
COLD OPEN: So we start off with a Rudy Giuliani skit mocking his "Obama doesn't love America" comments (boy does that seem like an old story now), but it quickly turns into a BIrdman parody (with Taran mixing his Giuliani and Michael Keaton facial expressions quite nicely). Ok, so this is the third time in a week that I've seen this exact same Birdman spoof (the Indie Spirits, the Oscars, and now this), but I guess that speaks to how unique the movie was. What it doesn't speak to is the creativity of the SNL writers, but then again what does?
MONOLOGUE: Dakota Johnson comes out onstage, solely because of who her parents are- if you didn't know, they're Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, and they're both in the audience tonight to watch their kid try to be a celebrity like them. Yes, Dakota's in 50 Shades of Grey, but since that movie came out two weeks ago now, and it's the only thing she's ever really done, this an entirely self-promoting, make me more famous stint here tonight, so I kind of resent that.
ISIS: An ad that starts off about a dad (Taran) ostensibly dropping his daughter off at college, only to show that he's actually dropping her off to join an ISIS recruitment truck. It hits the mark.
CINDERELLA: Ugh- Cecily's horrible Cathy Ann character sucks the life out of every sketch she's in, and here she shows up to ruin an already bad Cinderella skit. Seriously, does anyone like this character? Anyone?
SAY WHAT U WANT: A video about the women of SNL foregoing niceties to say what they really feel to annoying co-workers and acquaintances they don't really like. It's okay.
50 SHADES PRESS TOUR: Dakota sits for junket interviews about the movie, but is interviewed by Kyle's Peter, an awkward middle-schooler who saw the movie for his school newspaper. This isn't really funny, it's just kind of lame.
I CAN'T: Cecily (in her annoying teenage voice), Dakota and Bobby mock hipsters who continually use the words "I can't" and "literally" all the time. It eventually bothers fellow worker Aidy so much she falls out the window- you do hear those words a lot, but again, this is bad. Just not funny.
UPDATE: Colin and Michael do some ISIS jokes and of course comment on "the dress" controversy that seems to have engulfed the entire world in the last two days (for the record, all I see is white and gold), but this is actually the first time I've cottoned to the observation that these guys might actually hate each other. I don't know what it is, but I'm starting to notice it blatantly now. Weird. Kate comes on as Ruth Bader Ginsberg and is funny as usual, while Jay shows up as Kanye to sing his apology song to all the people he's dissed. Finally, Riblet shows up again to briefly do Update better than either of the actual anchors (and I don't think Riblet is that hilarious, but seriously, Bobby can do this gig better than Jost or Che).
WORF: A bit of a random skit that sees Kenan in a Star Trek: Next Gen Worf costume come in as a doctor supposed to save a patient, but his cosplaying distracts the nurses and patient's relatives. Ok, so this isn't funny at all, but I assume they did this as some kind of Leonard Nimoy tribute? Yeah, it ends with a still of Nimoy and his Vulcan salute. Well, that's nice, but maybe, I don't know, do some kind of skit that had something to do with the show that Spock was actually on? Just a suggestion.
NET NEUTRALITY: Sasheer hosts a panel of nerds supposed to explain net neutrality and none of them can do it. Very long, very boring and very stupid.
BULLYING: Great, we end with a Kyle and Beck thing. Why do they keep doing these? They're the hipster guys who try to do some anti-bullying PSA's- eh. Don't care. Every time I see Beck now I desperately want him to be tried out on Weekend Update. I can't stop thinking that he'd be a perfect anchor if they just tried. C'mon Lorne!
So, that was it tonight. Pretty mild overall, but you may notice I barely mentioned Dakota all night long, and that was because she was one of those hosts who I kept forgetting was actually hosting. She was mainly shoved to the side and faded into the background of the skits, so I'm guessing she doesn't have a whole lot of comedic chops. But hey, at least she's got famous parents. Next week it's Chris Hemsworth (expect a Thor sketch), so come back for that one. Tonight gets a C-. See you later everyone!
RECAP: "SNL 40"
Okay, so I'm a little late on this SNL 40th anniversary recap, but hey, better late than never, right? It was a long show (3 and a half hours plus an hour long red carpet special), and it was bloated, messy, funny, not funny, sometimes pointless, sometimes touching, lots of technical difficulties...all in all, it represented Saturday Night Live at its best and worst, and simply seeing so many former cast members there on the same stage again made the whole thing worth it, even if some of them (ahem, Eddie Murphy) refused to do anything worthwhile with their appearance. And you know what? There were several sketches that were actually some of the funniest stuff they've done in years, so it may be worth it just for that.
COLD OPEN: Jimmy Fallon and five-time host Justin Timberlake open the show with a rap incorporating every SNL catchphrase you can think of. I wasn't totally nuts about this, but I guess it's a nice little homage. Plus there's cameos from all stars Rachel Dratch and Molly Shannon (superstar!).
MONOLOGUE: Epic host Steve Martin comes down to do a pretty funny monologue (he is a pro), and right away we know that this show is essentially going to be an All Star SNL episode, rather than a clip show (although there's plenty of those tossed in). More cameos here, unfortunately from people I'd rather not see, like Miley Cyrus, who actually performs later (seriously, Miley, no one cares about you, get the hell off the stage).
SUPER BASS-O-MATIC: Dan Aykroyd redoes his classic sketch word for word, with a pop-up by fellow original cast member Lorraine Newman, but it's actually not that good anymore, sadly. Still nice to see them though.
CELEBRITY JEOPARDY: Okay, so when I said earlier they did some of the funniest stuff they've done in years? I was mainly referring to this, which was AWESOME. Will Ferrell is back as Trebek of course, but along with Darrell Hammond's Sean Connery, Norm MacDonald's Burt Reynolds and Kate McKinnon's Justin Bieber- loved ever second of it! I found out later it was actually written by Norm and some of the original writers of the skit, and boy could the new crew learn a few lessons from the pros about what makes sketch comedy funny. This was an A+.
THE CALIFORNIANS: Nooooo! Just like SNL to go from a classic high to a rapid low, as they inexplicably bring back one of the worst sketches in the show's history, right after revisiting one of the best. Ugh. My theory about this now is that everyone who actually acts in this sketch enjoys doing it so much more than anyone actually likes watching it. We of course get Bill Hader, Kristin Wiig and Fred Armisen, but also Lorraine Newman, Taylor Swift (who really, really sucked in this and got no laughs from the audience, lol), and then for the big punchline, Bradley Cooper comes in and makes out with Betty White. Yeah, ok. The best part was Betty White's flat out refusal to do the stupid Californian voice. A final bit is tossed in when David Spade's flight attendant "buh-bye" guy comes on to shoo everybody out of the room, with Cecily along as his new partner, but they get about four seconds of airtime, so...short and sweet for David Spade fans.
WEEKEND UPDATE: This is pretty good- Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Jane Curtin (!) anchor an all female Update desk and do a pretty great job as former hosts come on to pay tribute to some of the deceased cast member's classic characters. So, we get Emma Stone as Gilda Radner's Roseanne Roseannadanna, Melissa McCarthy as Chris Farley's Matt Foley, and Edward Norton as Stefon, who's quickly joined by the real Stefon, as he had to be, since Hader is there and all. We also get the old Jaws shark at the door. Probably my favorite Update segment all year long.
CHEVY CHASE: We're still not done with the Update tribute, as former male hosts Seth Meyers, Kevin Nealon, Norm MacDonald and Colin Quinn do a bit of an awkward introduction to original Update anchor Chevy Chase, who comes out and just kinda basks in the spotlight, I guess, although there's a quick shout out from his old cohort Garrett Morris.
MUSICAL MEDLEY: This isn't really a medley- what it is is a long segment that sees single season champ Martin Short come out and together with Maya Rudolph's Beyonce, intro famous SNL musical characters, who all redo a brief bit onstage, so look out for your faves here. We see Kristen and Fred's Garth & Kat, Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer's The Culps (yay!), Joe Piscopo's Frank Sinatra (who's now clearly morphed into the real guy), Dana Carvey's Derek Stevens, Adam Sandler's Opera Man, Kenan's DeAndre Cole, Steve Martin's King Tut, Bill Murray's Nick the Lounge Singer, and Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi as of course, The Blues Brothers. Best part of this seemingly interminable segment is Bill Murray, who sings the theme from Jaws, and it's the best, as is he (still got it, unlike Chase and Aykroyd, sorry to say).
AUDIENCE QUESTIONS: Jerry Seinfeld comes out and fields questions from the audience, which is mostly made up of celebrities and various crew members tonight and not fans (which is kinda weird, actually). The questions are all staged of course, and come from Michael Douglas, John Goodman, James Franco, Tim Meadows, Sarah Palin (wtf is she doing there?) and Larry David, who has by far the funniest exchange with him in what's also a really long and unnecessary bit here.
EDDIE MURPHY: Chris Rock does an epic, fawning (but totally accurate) introduction to the savior of the show in the early 1980's, Eddie Murphy, describing all his classic sketches and characters and how important he was to the institution during the non-Lorne Michaels era, and then Murphy comes out to an immediate standing ovation as he graces the SNL stage for the first time in thirty years and does...nothing. Seriously, he goes on about how glad he is to be back and how great everyone's been, and then there's a tech glitch as they don't cut to a commercial on time and that's it. Um, Eddie, if you didn't want to do anything, not even tell a joke, why show up at all? Trust me, all anybody wanted to see here was for him to do one call back of anything to his years on the show, but clearly he's not into it enough to even try, so maybe he just shouldn't have even shown up.
DIGITAL SHORT: Andy Samberg teams up with Adam Sandler for a new song called "That's When You Break" about all the times people broke on the air (as you can imagine, lots of Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz in this).
IN MEMORIAM: Billy Murray intros the montage of cast and crew members no longer there, and daringly, at the end of it there's an actual joke to the passing of Jon Lovitz (who is not dead, is actually in the audience, and who Steve Martin joked about as being dead in the monologue too). Ha! Bill ends it with an awesome "Generalissimo Franco is still dead" joke.
WAYNE'S WORLD: At this point the show is really starting to feel long, but it does end on a high note, as Mike Myers and Dana Carvey reprise Wayne and Garth to do an SNL Top 10 list that's pretty damn funny and sweet, as they list all the best things about the show...and manage to continually get in some repeated jabs at Kanye West for being the interrupting, stage storming asshole that he is. What's even better is that he's in the audience to be mocked to his face. Love it.
I have to admit, seeing all these guys together for an all star episode like this is pretty cool, especially because you have to imagine some of them may not be around for a 50th anniversary in ten years. It wasn't a perfect show, and it was filled with extraneous musical performances that did NOT need to be there (Miley Cyrus and Kanye West randomly performing was totally unnecessary), but then tonight was a chance to see almost as many stars as will grace the Oscar stage next week. Jack Nicholson came on apropos of nothing, Mick Jagger introduced Paul McCartney singing "Maybe I'm Amazed" (is it me or has Macca been at every single live event/awards show recently?), and then Paul Simon singing "Still Crazy After All These Years" was maybe the one song that could have stayed in. But all in all, clip montages included, it was a heartfelt tribute to the legacy of the show that's been on for so long now, and given us the careers of so many legendary comedians and stars. That's quite a thing to behold. I'll abstain from grading the episode itself- for SNL fans of any kind, of any era, you know this was worth checking out. See you guys next time!
TEASER: "Mad Men" Season 7
Mad Men's coming back!! I don't care what anyone says, it's still my favorite show and I'm excited and sad that this is the end, for good this time (although it should have ended last year instead of the ridiculous splitting the season in two parts). Check out everybody's horrendous and hilarious late 1969 fashion- and it looks like we're not quite done with Megan yet, even though she and Don finally broke up at the end of last season. Mad Men is starting the second half of its final season on April 5th.
