Boy, this movie coming out on HBO couldn't be timelier, could it? In light of the upcoming battle to replace Scalia on the Supreme Court, it couldn't be a better time to look back on the infamous Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas scandal. Kerry Washington takes on Hill while Wendell Pierce embodies Thomas, and it's airing April 16th. I'm so there.
The Punisher Appears in Trailer for 'Daredevil' Season 2
This is cool- a two and a half minute trailer for the new season of Daredevil showcases The Punisher in all his glory, and the upcoming battle between him and our protagonist. The Punisher, as all comics fans know, is a dark, violent, extreme antihero, so this new season promises to be every bit as hardcore as the first, perhaps even more so. The best part is that this trailer is only Part 1, with Part 2 set to premiere in 10 days, showcasing the other highly anticipated new character this year- DD's most iconic love, Elektra, who shows up for one second at the end of this one. Can't wait.
RECAP: SNL 2/13 "Melissa McCarthy"
Melissa McCarthy comes back to host SNL and it's for sure one of the better episodes of the season. She's such a pro, she would have easily been a breakout cast member had she gotten her start on this show.
COLD OPEN: A different kind of political open tonight, with some of the cast at a restaurant debating Hillary vs. Bernie, and agreeing that Hillary's most qualified, but they just like Bernie better, which causes Kate to come in and do a musical number as Hillary, begging to be allowed to make them love her. It's a bit more clever than the norm at least, and with appearances by Darrell's Bill Clinton and Beck's sad Jeb Bush, it mostly works.
MONOLOGUE: Melissa comes onstage and does a big number about being a member of the 5 timer's club, only to have Kenan come out and interrupt her to say she's only hosted four times, and gives her a tiny 5 timer's jacket on a banana (to show scale, lol). It's alright, but nothing much to write home about.
THE DAY BEYONCE TURNED BLACK: A recorded bit about white people freaking out over Beyonce's Super Bowl performance- it's fine, but all I think when they do sketches like this now is how they themselves were under the biggest firestorm about diversity until very recently and now all the smug "we're the best" attitude over the whole thing is quite a a lot of braggadocio on their part, don't you think?
CUL-DE-SAC: A movie studio does a test screening where they record people's reactions to a scary movie in the night vision, and Melissa's freakouts are way over the top compared to everyone else. This one made me crack up from start to finish, all because of Melissa's hysterical, Chris Farley-esque ability to really throw herself into these physical comedy bits.
TERMINATOR: Melissa, Pete and Bobby are a family watching Terminator together when the sex scene comes on and they all start thinking about how to break the awkward silence. This seems like a very Pete-type skit, but there's a couple of pretty good lines in here from all three of them. It goes on a little too long, but still funny enough to work.
UPDATE: Another surprisingly solid Update this week, with some good GOP and Democratic debate jokes, but then Vanessa comes out as "Rachel" from Friends and does a absolutely dead on, eerily accurate Jennifer Aniston impersonation, and the audience kinda freaks out over it it's so good. Where has she been keeping that impression??? Why have we not seen it before now? Man, it practically steals the whole episode. Super Bowl MVP Von Miller comes out to brag about beating Cam Newton, and then Leslie comes on to do her regular stand-up bit for Valentine's Day that I can't stand. I'm sorry, but her humor is obviously love it or hate it and I have never been able to warm to her style here. It's not my thing and they do it way too much.
PICK-UP BAR: Another Melissa showcase, as she practices tips for picking up guys in a bar and seems to ad-lib 90% of her routine as she harasses Kyle and Kenan in ever more inexplicable ways. It's so funny that Leslie can't keep a straight face throughout this whole thing, but Melissa doesn't crack once in spite of it. God, she's awesome.
KANYE RAP BATTLE: A Kyle pre-taped parody of a Behind the Music style story of him wanting to become the greatest rapper of all time by challenging Kanye to a battle. This goes on a little too long, but the punchline is pretty good, as when Kyle finally comes face to face with Kanye backstage, he is predictably destroyed and humiliated. Takes too long to get to that, but at least it was decent.
BUS LADY: Leslie is trapped on a bus with Melissa as an old, casually racist white lady who keeps talking her ear off about Roots and black movies, while Leslie increasingly wants to jump out the window. The whole thing ends in a Speed joke, mostly because it has nowhere to go, but again, Melissa is so completely in natural character that she never even looks at the cue cards! How was she never a cast member?
WHISKERS R WE: Kate brings back the old lady cat sketch with Melissa as her new paramour, and it's good as always with a couple of great lines about one of the cats being called OJ because he's a murderer, hee. Nice one to end on.
So that was it, guys. Melissa rocked it and I continue to be in awe of her effortless hosting abilities, even if they might have actually underused her, if anything, this time. I give it a B+. On March 5th, the show comes back with Jonah Hill, so I'll see you guys then!
Bloody Teaser for 'Silicon Valley' Season 3
Lots of new promos today, including one for one of my other favorite shows, Silicon Valley, coming back April 24th, along with the usual HBO Sunday lineup of Game of Thrones and Veep. The underrated Thomas Middleditch shows off his physical comedy chops here.
Betrayal Mounts in the First Promo for 'The Americans' Season 4
The Americans was delayed slightly this year- instead of starting in January it comes back March 16th. Still, I can't wait, since the identity of the spies is now revealed and the action is going to ratchet up big time. This was my number one show of last year and I anticipate it coming in high on my list this year as well.
Official Trailer for The History Channel's 'Roots' Remake
I guess it's a good thing that this iconic miniseries is being remade for a new generation, but I actually think the original has held up pretty well. Still, I suppose it's true that few people now have ever seen it, which is a shame. The new one looks "grittier," as you might expect, but the story of Kunta Kinte remains intact. The show is being produced by the original Kunta, LeVar Burton, and it starts Memorial Day, when it will air over four nights.
New Trailer and Premiere Date for 'Outlander' Season 2
It's finally here- the premiere of Outlander's second season is Saturday, April 9th on Starz. Mark your calendars everyone. The new trailer includes a pretty massive spoiler for non-book fans, so be warned:
RECAP: SNL 2/06 "Larry David"
Larry David hosts SNL, guys! How cool is this? Pretty, pretty, pretty cool, I'd say. Still, it is SNL, so the skits were hit and miss as always, but there were some definite real hits, and for some reason just seeing him there doing it was fun and exciting in a way most hosts aren't.
COLD OPEN: It opens with Taran as Ted Cruz, delivering a message to us following his Iowa caucus victory. It's a pretty savage slam on the rat-faced senator everyone hates, even his own daughter according to the video that went viral this week. It's not hilarious though, even though I agree with the jabs at Cruz in general.
MONOLOGUE: Larry's here! And we are treated to some old school Larry David stand-up, which is funnier than 90% of what they do on SNL every season. He's pure Larry David all the way, from the constant self-deprecating to the promising of an "okay" show at best.
KEVIN ROGERS: A weird skit with FBI trainees being taught to shoot and getting confused at whether they should target Larry's "Kevin Rogers," an 80's dressed cliche with a portable phone in his hand. This is a very random skit that gets slightly more amusing as it goes on, with the inexplicable joke becoming kinda funny just for that reason due to Larry's efforts. But it's mostly a dud.
BERN YOUR ENTHUSIASM: Okay, here's the one everyone will be talking about. Yep, it's a spoof of Curb with Larry as Bernie Sanders trying and failing to procure enough votes in Iowa. It's awesome, and of course it's a dead on parody of Curb, as it should be, considering Larry's involvement. A+ for this one.
SINKING SHIP: Some kind of Titanic-esque sinking in the 1900's is happening, with Larry mocking the "women and children first" requirement and yelling at the people in the boats. It's kinda ok, but then the real Bernie Sanders cameos to lecture about not just saving the 1% and it's what everyone's been waiting for, of course. People just like Bernie, but I think I prefer Larry's version of him, to be honest.
PIZZA ROLLS: Vanessa's Super Bowl housewife is back to talk about making food for her "hungry guys" watching the game again, but then they become like alien pod people and it turns into some kind of X-Files ad. Um, ok? Weird. At least it was short.
UPDATE: For the first time in a long time, I feel like Update more or less works tonight, but mostly thanks to the can't-make-this-up comic fodder provided once more by Republican candidates in their last debate. Seriously, all Colin has to do is show the real life footage to get laughs here. Then Kate comes on as her new character of "Barb," the butch Barbie not put on the shelf this week, while new guy John comes out to do a Dirty Dancing spoof of Patrick Swayze (not that funny but he does seriously commit to a lengthy dance/mime number). Finally, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson show up as Derek Zoolander and Hansel to talk politics, and pretty much nail the whole thing, because those guys were always basically an SNL skit unto themselves. Love it.
SONGWRITING: This one's a flop, with Pete trying to teach songwriting lessons to a class and Larry keeps screwing up the words- not funny, but Larry gives it his all anyway. I love him, you guys.
SUPER BOWL GREETING: Kenan and Taran play "Ebony & Ivory" on the piano together as quarterbacks Cam Newton and Peyton Manning, while they mock the media's very different coverage of the two of them and wonder what the reasons could be. Premise is solid and the skit is short, so I'd say it works.
SHEILA: Kate's late night bar sketch is back, with her this time trying to hook up with Larry as they gross out Kenan the ever present bartender trying to kick them out. These have gotten progressively less funny the more they do them, until it gets to the makeout portion, which is always amusing as Kate goes for it with each and every guy who's willing. But my favorite of these remains the Louis CK one.
So that was it, guys- we got Larry, Bernie Sanders, and at least a couple good skits, so I give this one a B. I don't know what made Larry David have this sudden turnaround on the idea of doing SNL after thirty years, but I'm sure glad he's had this change of heart. It was very cool to see him here. Next week we got Melissa McCarthy for what I think is her third hosting stint (or maybe fourth?), so we'll see how that goes. Until then, go Broncos!
'Empire' and 'Black-ish' Win Big at NAACP Image Awards
The Image Awards honored Black-ish and Empire with the most awards for television last night, with most of each show's actors receiving recognition as well in top categories.
2016 NAACP Image Awards for TV
- Best Comedy Series: Black-ish
- Best Actor in Comedy Series: Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
- Best Actress in a Comedy Series: Tracee Ellis-Ross, Black-ish
- Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Mike Epps, Survivor's Remorse
- Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Marsai Martin, Black-ish
- Best Directing in a Comedy Series: House of Lies
- Best Writing in a Comedy Series: Black-ish
- Best Drama Series: Empire
- Best Actor in a Drama Series: Terence Howard, Empire
- Best Actress in a Drama Series: Taraji P. Henson, Empire
- Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Joe Morton, Scandal
- Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Regina King, American Crime
- Best Directing in a Drama Series: American Crime
- Best Writing in a Drama Series: Being Mary Jane
- Best TV Movie/Miniseries/Special: The Wiz Live
- Best Actor in a TV Movie/Mini/Special: David Alan Grier, The Wiz Live
- Best Actress in a TV Movie/Mini/Special: Queen Latifah, Bessie
- Best Directing in a TV Movie: Bessie
- Best Writing in a Movie/Mini/Special: The Book of Negroes
- Best News/Information: Unsung
- Best Talk Series: The Talk
- Best Variety Series: Family Feud
- Best Host: Steve Harvey
- Best Reality Program: Welcome to Sweetie Pie's
- Best Children's Program: Doc McStuffins
- Best Performance by a Youth: Marcus Scribner, Black-ish
Repeat Winners Dominate SAG on the TV Side
The big story on the TV side was that quite a few of the wins went to actors of color, including Elba, who went 2 for 2 in nominations, Latifah, Davis and Aduba, while Orange is the New Black repeated as ensemble winner, and unbelievably, Downton Abbey did for the third time as well. I have NO idea what's going on with that award for Downton or how on earth they keep winning it. It's the only thing they win over and over again, and I'm at a total loss to explain it. They have a huge cast, but not the biggest, that's Game of Thrones, so that's not it. It's a mystery. The only person to win tonight for series was Tambor, who feels like he's won before, because he's won so many other awards. I didn't fare too well with my picks though- just three right, with three of my alternates winning.
- BEST DRAMA SERIES ENSEMBLE: Downton Abbey
- BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA: Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
- BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA: Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
- BEST COMEDY SERIES ENSEMBLE: Orange is the New Black
- BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
- BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY: Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black
- BEST ACTOR IN A MOVIE/MINISERIES: Idris Elba, Luther
- BEST ACTRESS IN A MOVIE/MINISERIES: Queen Latifah, Bessie
