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by Julian Spivey The eighth episode of the milestone 50th season of “Saturday Night Live” featured “Gladiator II” star Paul Mescal hosting with musical guest Shaboozey. It’s the first of three straight episodes to wrap up 2024. Here are the highlights and lowlights from an episode that was probably at a disadvantage with Mescal, one of today’s most gifted dramatic actors, at the helm of a comedy show.  Photo: NBC Best: One of my wishes for the 50th season of ‘SNL’ was for the show to bring back great cast members from the past and the show has done that to some extent, though with it mostly being just Dana Carvey, Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg. Another wish was for those cast members to bring some of their memorable characters or impressions with them, and while we’ve had two new Digital Shorts from Samberg and The Lonely Island bunch, there hadn’t yet been any others. That changed on Saturday night (Dec. 7) when the episode opened up with one of the greatest recurring ‘SNL’ characters in the show’s history in Carvey’s The Church Lady. In doing so, The Church Lady became the first character in the show’s history to appear in five different decades (Molly Shannon’s Sally O’Malley has appeared in four). In this go-around, The Church lady interviewed Matt Gaetz (Sarah Sherman), a recently pardoned Hunter Biden (David Spade, in his first appearance of season 50), and baseball superstar Juan Soto (Marcello Hernandez). My favorite part was Church Lady and Hunter Biden, seeing the two former cast members who collaborate on podcasts together, share the screen – it was … special. Worst: Weekend Update has been hit or miss this season, and this weekend’s version was likely the weakest of the season, lacking in both quality and quantity when it came to guests. There were few jokes from Colin Jost and Michael Che that stood out. The guest was a pro football player (Hernandez) and his mom (Heidi Gardner) and how the mom wanted to hook up with the show’s musical guest of the weak Shaboozey to make a “shababy.” The bit got too much mileage over the character’s last name being “Dookie.” Best: During a promo for a recent episode hosted by John Mulaney, James Austin Johnson revealed that he had a spot-on Bob Dylan impression that I immediately hoped the show would find a way to put into an episode. The best time for it is now, ahead of the Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” starring Timothee Chalamet. They brought Dylan out for a red carpet-event for the film, again giving Chloe Fineman a chance to showcase her fantastic Chalamet impression. But there was no doubt the star of the sketch, the final one of the night, was Johnson’s super accurate Dylan, which finds the aged rock star rambling poetically about nonsense. The runner-up for highlight of the spot was Andrew Dismukes and his surprisingly good Bruce Springsteen impression. Give me a Dylan and Springsteen impression playing off each other, and I’ll always be a happy man. Worst:
Between the Church Chat cold opening and the Bob Dylan impression that ended the show, almost nothing else was memorable about the entire episode. The pre-tape turning “Gladiator II” into a musical because it had gotten beaten at the box office by both “Wicked” and “Moana” was humorous and really the only moment Mescal shined all night. Other than that, it was a mess. Here’s looking up, though, as the next two episodes before the show takes a short winter break are former cast members Chris Rock and Martin Short, leading to hopes the show finishes out 2024 on a funny high note.
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by Tyler Glover  Photo: Hallmark Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s romance has taken the world by storm. In September 2023, Swift showed up unexpectedly at a Kansas City Chiefs NFL game to support Kelce and a Cinderella fairytale began. Their romance helped the NFL gain even more viewership; Swifties began tuning into Kansas City games, hoping to see the superstar. Five of the top 10 most-watched prime-time telecasts of 2023 were Chiefs games. It was wise of Hallmark to capitalize on the surge of KC female fans with their latest film, “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story.” To be clear, this film does not retell the love story of Swift and Kelce. That is done in a recent movie for Lifetime called “Christmas in the Spotlight.” I have seen both films and “Holiday Touchdown” is the more superior film. In “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story,” Alana Higman and her family are lifelong fans of the Kansas City Chiefs and have decided to try to win the team’s “Fan of the Year” contest. The winner gets front-row tickets to the action on the Christmas Day game. Alana (Hunter King) meets Derrick (Tyler Hynes), the Director of Fan Engagement and helps determine the contest's winner. While initially getting off on the wrong foot, they do start to fall for one another. The critical thing to note when reviewing this film is that it has an intended audience. If you are not a fan of Hallmark Christmas movies, the Chiefs or invested in the Tayvis love story, this movie is not for you. This film follows the formula used in so many Hallmark and Lifetime movies for years. There is nothing wrong with that at all. It can be really soothing and comforting to have a sense of what is coming next. Not everything we watch has to be groundbreaking cinema. With that said, this film is delightful to watch. It is elevated by its leading lady, King. King won two Daytime Emmys for starring on the CBS daytime drama, “The Young and the Restless.” I have seen King deliver powerhouse performances on the soap and felt she was perfectly cast. The leading man, Hynes, is very charming, and the chemistry between King and Hynes definitely helps the audience get more invested in their romance. The only issue I had with the story is that it never felt that the stakes were ever really high. It seemed extremely obvious that everything that was intended to happen would happen. That is fine because we know that is what we are getting in a film like this. However, it felt like there wasn’t enough drama over how everything would turn out. Even if we know how it will turn out, we want a little bit of a storm before we get there. It was so great to see cameos from coach Andy Reid and Donna Kelce. It would have been fantastic if they had gotten quarterback Patrick Mahomes to make a cameo. He is one of the team's biggest stars, but that may be why it wasn’t possible to get him. Overall, “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” was a delight. As a Swiftie and Chiefs fan, it is a film I will more than likely add to my Christmas movie playlist every year. If you have been a Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movie fan for years, this is a good film. by Aprille Hanson-Spivey  Photo: Hulu Watching a Jim Gaffigan standup special is like slipping into your favorite pair of jeans that have yet to go out of style — it’s comforting, fashionably funny and you’re shocked how well he still fits perfectly into the comedy cultural landscape.
His 11th standup comedy special, “The Skinny,” was recorded earlier this year at the Wilbur Theater in Boston and released on Hulu on Nov. 22. Gaffigan continues to make his fans laugh with food, family and religious humor that could quickly become bland at the hands of lesser comedians. But since the ’90s, Gaffigan has perfected his brand and continues to find new humor around the same topics. Though his weight has fluctuated throughout the years, he aptly leaned into his new, thin frame by not only naming his special “The Skinny” but addressing his significant weight loss right away. Getting healthy should never be a risk for a comedian, but when you have built your brand around eating and joking about your weight — similar to Gabriel Iglesias — suddenly appearing fit on stage doesn’t allow that comedy to work in the same way anymore. It’s why kicking the special off with how he lost weight with one of the popular weight loss drugs was perfectly timed. He isn’t about to go on stage and talk about how he’s sneaking pizzas in the middle of the night anymore while looking svelte. He’d lose his audience immediately. So instead, he addresses the non-elephant in the room, so to speak: “It is great to be here. I look good. I don’t know if you know, I’m normally a fat guy. But, since I’ve lost all this weight, now I’m just arrogant.” But I love that even though he lost weight, he can still joke and make it clear that he doesn’t have the mentality of a naturally skinny person. It was still his lovable food-adjacent humor. “All us fat people are gonna become thin. Then, we’re gonna mix in with you thin bastards. And when you’re not looking, we’re gonna eat you,” he joked. Gaffigan riffed about how people assumed he was deathly ill — because why would he ever be disciplined enough to be healthy? — or on Ozempic. He joked about how his drug of choice, Mounjaro, sounded more fun, like an Italian restaurant. He scoffed at the people who act like weight-loss medications like his are cheating. “I’m not playing Major League baseball. I’m just a fat guy trying to not die.” I do think the bit went on slightly too long, but it’s his reality. It didn’t go on way too long like some of his crazier bits in the past — like that one special he kept talking about diarrhea. I’ll gladly take him joking about his healthier road in life over the bathroom humor. He definitely cut back on his signature soft voice of what he assumes are offended audience members in this hour-long special, but busted it out in the best ways, including: “I need artificial intelligence. I was reading this article, ‘Will AI Take Over?’ I was halfway through before I realized it wasn’t about a guy named Al. ‘Will Al Take Over.’ I thought it was about Al Roker. And his love of A1,” and in his soft voice, “Jim, that’s a dumb joke.” And that’s exactly what makes Gaffigan so endearing. He knows when something might be a little absurd, but he’ll acknowledge and lean into it. Most of his special focused on his teenagers and wife, which was hilarious to someone without children, so I can’t imagine how much more fun it was for people with children. I even had to acknowledge his take on people my age, in their 30s, without kids, who are not real adults. “If you’re over the age of 30, and the biggest problem in your life is your Wi-Fi connection, you’re not an adult,” later saying, “There should be a whole other classification. Oh, you’re over 30, no kids? You’re a junior adult. How was brunch?” How could I ever be offended by that? Yes, one of my big stressors in life is my stupid Wi-Fi connection, and no, I’ve never been out in public, “discovered a stain and privately prayed that it was chocolate” on my pants. It was a delicious dig. He continued on with his woe that his children probably can’t handle taking care of him in old age, his disdain for mind-numbing children’s movies and his survival-mode mentality while his children have become teenagers. One of my favorite jokes was poking fun at alcohol commercials because it’s just so true: “Do you ever notice in commercials for alcohol, people are always laughing and having a good time? I’d just like to see one print ad that shows some expressionless dad sitting alone at a kitchen table with a bottle of booze. The tagline would be like, “Bourbon, ’cause you’re trapped and suicide’s off the table.” Yes, it’s dark. And yes, I laughed hard. Gaffigan, a fellow Catholic, always incorporates Christianity in his comedy. For this special, I loved the way he emphasized Christians and non-Christians have the same reaction when he explains he’s a Christian: “Oh, no.” Case in point, this joke: “Jesus was probably walking on water, looked down, saw his reflection, was like, ‘Jesus!’” Again, I thought it was hilarious. In his standup specials, Gaffigan generally stays away from politics but has occasionally drifted into what shouldn’t be controversial territory, like vaccines, in previous comedy tours. His only subtle dig in this special — filmed long before the election results — was about how his father used to pop into the theater with his family during the middle of movies, completely disregarding the start time. Once the film restarted, they’d catch up on the first part they missed and then exit the theater. Gaffigan shared, “I do wish we could’ve seen ‘The Sound of Music’ as a family with my father. You know, just halfway through ‘The Sound of Music,’ my father stands up, starts to leave, followed by his six blonde children. Everyone in the theater’s like, ‘Wow, that family didn’t like it when Captain von Trapp tore up that Nazi flag at all.’” And then, the perfect punchline: “That joke was even funnier when everyone hated Nazis.” Gaffigan’s “The Skinny” showed the one thing he hasn’t lost is his particular brand of clean comedy. It’s just the next milestone of a career that will keep building well into the future, much to the delight of his fans. NFL & Beyonce on Christmas, Nate Bargatze, New Netflix Series Among December Streaming Recs12/1/2024 by Julian Spivey  Photos: Netflix & Disney Pop Culture Jeopardy (Prime Video) – Wednesday, December 4 I’m a huge trivia buff, and my favorite type of trivia is (unsurprisingly) pop culture trivia. So, creating a “Jeopardy,” in which all categories and questions are related to pop culture is right up my alley. “Pop Culture Jeopardy,” hosted by “Saturday Night Live” star Colin Jost, premieres on Prime Video on Wednesday, December 4. Black Doves (Netflix) – Thursday, December 5 “Black Doves” is Netflix’s latest highly anticipated drama series. The spy thriller, created by Joe Barton, stars Keira Knightley as a woman who embarks on a passionate affair, which may threaten her secret identity as a spy. The show, which has already been renewed for a second season before its premiere, has a talented supporting cast that includes Ben Whishaw and Sarah Lancashire. No Good Deed (Netflix) – Thursday, December 12 Liz Feldman’s (“Dead to Me”) next venture with Netflix is the comedy series No Good Deed. The show stars Ray Romano and Lisa Kudrow as a couple attempting to sell a coveted Los Angeles area home with multiple families vying for it. It has a terrific supporting cast, including Linda Cardellini, Denis Leary, and Abbi Jacobson. I’m looking forward to “No Good Deed,” but I must admit the trailer wasn’t the most impressive one I’ve seen. Your Friend, Nate Bargatze (Netflix) – Tuesday, December 24 There might not be a stand-up comedian more popular now than Nate Bargatze, whose family-friendly comedy makes for the perfect special to watch with family over the holidays. His latest special, “Your Friend, Nate Bargatze,” drops on Netflix on Christmas Eve. This will be Bargatze’s third special for Netflix and a return to the streamer after his most recent one, “Nate Bargatze: Hello World,” appeared on Prime Video. NFL on Christmas (Netflix) – Wednesday, December 25 For those who had trouble streaming the farce that was the boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson in November, the prospect of the NFL streaming two Christmas Day games exclusively on Netflix might not be a great proposition. These games were made even bigger and more enticing to an atypical NFL fan base by the announcement that Beyonce would perform a halftime show during the Baltimore Ravens/Houston Texans game in her hometown of Houston. The Ravens/Texans game is the second of a doubleheader beginning at 3:30 pm (CST). The first game of the doubleheader features America’s new favorite team, the Kansas City Chiefs, traveling to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers at Noon (CST). Doctor Who Christmas Special (Disney+) – Wednesday, December 25 The return of the “Doctor Who” Christmas Special is one of my favorite things about Russell T. Davies returning as showrunner on the long-running British sci-fi series. Ncuti Gatwa officially debuted as The Doctor in last year’s Christmas episode. This year’s episode, “Joy to the World,” will see The Doctor stuck in a “time hotel” that allows him to visit various past and future places throughout the episode. He won’t be alone, though, as he’ll be joined on this adventure by the eponymous Joy, played by “Bridgerton” star Nicola Coughlan. by Julian Spivey Charli XCX, one of the biggest pop stars of 2024, played double duty on “Saturday Night Live” on Saturday, November 16, for the show’s seventh episode of its milestone 50th season. Typically, musicians serving double duty on the show don’t excite me, as they’re not as well experienced in the acting and comedy aspect as I’d like from a host of a sketch comedy show. But Charli XCX seemed capable of holding her own with the ‘SNL’ cast on Saturday. The show wasn’t great – but that’s all in the writing – but she was charming and game for anything. Here are the highlights and lowlights from the episode:  Photo: NBC Best: The single funniest moment of this week’s ‘SNL’ was Sarah Sherman on Weekend Update as Peanut the Squirrel’s Widow. It’s the perfect Update character for the wacky Sherman, who always gets laughs playing against Update anchor Colin Jost. Her impression of a squirrel crossing the road and seeing a car is among the heaviest I’ve laughed at the show so far this season. Worst: I understand that ‘SNL’ is trying to get into the mindset as to how the country has once again elected Donald Trump as President and, while doing it it’s sufficiently showing the Trump Bros as the imbeciles they are, but it’s also something many of us simply do not want to see right now. Case in point, the Banger Boyz podcast, poking fun at the Nelk Boys (who I, thankfully, had never heard of before Trump recently appeared on their podcast). We see this type of person too often in the real world, and I really don’t want to spend part of my ‘SNL’ experience with them. Best: I enjoyed some of Colin Jost’s pokes at President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet choices, particularly that of Matt Gaetz for Attorney General in which he said: “On Wednesday, Trump nominated Matt Gaetz for Attorney General and Gaetz said the same thing he does when he sees a teenage girl, ‘I’ll do it!’” and “Gaetz, who was created when Frankenstein raped Dracula, was chosen for Attorney General after Trump remembered that his original pick was found dead in a jail cell (picture of Jeffrey Epstein on screen).” Worst: ‘SNL’ stumbled into a viral hit during the Ariana Grande-hosted episode with the “Domingo” sketch featuring bridesmaids singing about a bachelorette trip to the tune of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” telling the story about how the bride-to-be cheated on her fiancé with the suave Domingo. The sketch wasn’t all that great, but it blew up on TikTok, and when something gets that much traction, you know ‘SNL’ will beat it into the ground. And, four weeks later, they’ve done so again with the bride being pregnant and not knowing who’s baby it is set to the music off Chappell Roan’s “Hot to Go.” I’m sure we’ll be seeing this crew again. Best: Viewers were shocked earlier this season when a new Digital Short featuring The Lonely Island boys led by Andy Samberg appeared on the show. While the Sushi Glory Hole song was certainly more shocking and delighted fans of the show, I think the second Digital Short this season, which aired this weekend, was better. Samberg and Charli XCX teamed up for “Here I Go,” a humorous song about a couple who will call the cops on anybody who gets near their property, from Girl Scouts to dogs being walked. by Tyler Glover  Photo: Disney “Agatha All Along” premiered on Disney+ on September 18th and concluded its run on October 30th. The show continues where Disney+’s critically acclaimed and Emmy-nominated 2021 series “WandaVision” left off. For three years, Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) has been trapped under a magical spell in Westview, N.J.. It begins with Agatha trying to solve the murder of an unidentified woman in the woods. She starts investigating the town until she stumbles across a goth teen named Teen (“Heartstopper” heartthrob Joe Locke). He helps her to realize who she is. Realizing she has lost her magical powers; she immediately becomes obsessed with regaining them. The way for her to do this is to travel down the Witches’ Road. At the end of the road, awaits whatever your heart desires. To do this, though, she must assemble one of every kind of witch since the road will have an obstacle for every kind of witchcraft. Agatha assembles a potions expert, Jen (Sasheer Zamata), a witch of divination, Lilia (Patti LuPone), a protector witch, Alice (Ali Ahn), and a green witch, Sharon (Debra Jo Rupp). They join forces to each gain their heart’s desire that lies at the end of the Witches Road. “Agatha All Along” has so many things going for it. It has such a cast that delivers truly outstanding performances. Hahn, the show's star, shows us why the Emmy she lost to Julianne Nicholson for “Mare of Easttown” years ago should have her name engraved. We get to see so much more of her comedic villain. She provides so many laughs with her sarcastic wit and unwillingness to hold back anything she thinks. As a fan of the Netflix series, “Heartstopper,” I was so thrilled to see Locke here as Teen. Locke is someone who is going to have a long career in the business. He finds a way to make Teen charming, mysterious, sweet and potentially dangerous simultaneously. LuPone, as Lilia, is the central standout from the other witches in the cast. Anytime LuPone is on the screen, she finds a way to draw you in. She leaves you intrigued with what is to come next for her character even when she is not the main or central focus in the episode. One thing that makes “Agatha All Along” intriguing is how it continues to find ways to continue the trend “WandaVision” set of telling stories in different time periods with varying production designs. We get to visit a house by the beach that looks like a house that almost made the cut to be in HBO’s “Big Little Lies,” we get a castle where Hahn becomes the iconic Wicked Witch of the West and Teen becomes Maleficent. We get a ‘70s recording studio and the writers make it all fit into the obstacles that the witches must face as they travel down the road. While the acting and production are top-notch, I find some issues in the writing. It is difficult not to compare it to “WandaVision” since it’s a spin-off of that series. While “WandaVision” was very accessible to all viewers, “Agatha All Along” appears to require fans to be somewhat immersed in the Marvel universe to fully follow everything going on. Nothing is wrong with that because this is a show set up in that universe. The problem is that the writers try to bridge that gap, but sometimes, they answer the questions much later than they should have, leaving viewers with questions and potentially taking them out of what is happening. The show also has so many mysteries that the writers set up. It definitely makes for a very dramatic and thought-provoking show. However, the show seems to focus on so many mysteries so close together, leaving the viewer feeling they might have missed something. At one point, I looked to see if I had missed an episode. It would have benefitted the show for some of these plot points to be given more attention when it was closer to their payoff. You can provide some breadcrumbs without giving half of the piece of toast. The show lacks the sophisticated storytelling of its predecessor, “WandaVision.” The show also leaves you questioning the relationship between Agatha and a witch who occasionally shows up named Rio (Aubrey Plaza). The show just revealed it will be submitted as a Comedy Series at the Emmys, signaling more seasons to come. Now that the writers know they have more time to tell the story, I hope they find ways to flesh things out more rather than pack what felt like too much into nine episodes. “Agatha All Along” was an entertaining show full of terrific performances and lavish production design, but it failed to be a true success due to some unfortunate writing issues. by Julian Spivey The post-election episode of “Saturday Night Live,” hosted by comedian Bill Burr, was a disappointment of the highest level. Many viewers had a hard week and are uncertain about where this country and the world are headed, and we needed some laughs. I was dreading the episode but I thought there would be enough laughs to outweigh the obvious election-related portions of the show. What I saw instead was a cast and writing staff that likely phoned it in as much as many of us did at our jobs this week and a host who made things worse with a tone-deaf monologue. There wasn’t much to discuss regarding the best of the week in SNL. Here’s the worst of the worst.  Photo: NBC The cold open featured much of the cast jokingly sucking up to the former and future President of the United States, saying they’ve been on his side the entire time and they didn’t mean any harm with their past jokes. The cast did yeoman’s work, but it felt almost like they were lined up for a firing squad, begging for their lives. Much of the talk in America this week has been about the treatment of women in this country, so to see Bill Burr on the stage saying misogynistic bullshit about how women need to whore it up next time they run for President was the exact opposite of what many of us wanted and needed to hear. I understand that Burr is a comedian who gets a lot of laughs offensively poking fun at serious topics, and that’s all well and good most of the time - but read the room this week. It was dreadful. Bowen Yang seemed to have fun as a douchebag who talks about inane issues in his life while complaining about the boring important issues in other’s lives during a trauma support group. That’s going to be America in the next half-decade or longer. Ashley Padilla as a woman among friends at dinner trying to tell a funny joke and bombing and then attempting to repeat the joke was a huge waste of time. The show barely featured Padilla in the first quarter of the season, and based on what I’ve seen, I’m not sure I want to see any more from her. What exactly was the bald guy musical? Maybe bald guys would dig it? Season 50 of ‘SNL’ might be a celebration of the show, but the show is going to do what it always does – have good episodes and bad episodes. That should be expected. But I didn’t quite expect one of the worst episodes in the show’s history. I sincerely hope ‘SNL’ puts more effort into next week’s episode, which will be hosted by pop singer Charli XCX, who also serves as musical guest. I usually worry about the quality of episodes hosted by the week’s musical guest. by Julian Spivey The fifth episode of the milestone 50th season of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” saw comedian John Mulaney return for his sixth hosting stint on the show he wrote for from 2008 to 2013. Mulaney has returned to host an episode in almost every season since his debut in April 2018, and it seems like he’ll give the likes of Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin a run for their money in terms of most hosting appearances. While Mulaney is the most frequent host of this era of ‘SNL’ and one of the funniest comedians alive, his episodes of the show seem to seldom live up to my expectations because I know how funny he is. Saturday night’s (November 2) episode was no different. Here are the highs and lows of the episode:  Photo: NBC Best This may have been a return for John Mulaney and the final episode of ‘SNL’ before the Presidential Election featuring the show’s highest-profile cameo in years, but my favorite thing about the episode was the debut of new Weekend Update characters played by Marcello Hernandez and Jane Wickline as “The Couple You Cannot Believe Are Together.” Hernandez plays the loud, obnoxious frat boy type, which he’s so great at, and Wickline, in her second WU piece in only five episodes on the show, is the quiet and shy nerdy girl. I’m not sure this couple would work in the real world, but it made for some fun laughs on Saturday night. I’ve been impressed by Wickline’s WU work thus far, which showcases what seems to be a type of Gen-Z nervousness that comes off as quirky and humorous to me as an outsider of that generation. I wonder how people of the generation feel about it. Worst ‘SNL’ has done mostly an excellent job at political cold opens this election season. I’d say the show is a solid 3/5 on them but the final political cold open before the election on Tuesday had few highlights for me, even if many people were thrilled to see Democratic candidate Kamala Harris make a cameo face-to-face with Maya Rudolph, who portrays her on the show. I thought there were some laughs in this sketch, mostly coming from James Austin Johnson as an exasperated Donald Trump and Dana Carvey doing his same old Joe Biden schtick that always gets me but felt the “Kamala, palmala, rom-comala, etc.” rhyming to be too easy for my taste. Sometimes, I wonder if it’s just better to let the show mimic and poke fun at the politicians than invite them on the air. Best John Mulaney is one of the top five stand-up comedians in the business right now, and if you wanted to say he was No. 1 on the list, I wouldn’t gripe about it. So, when he returns to host SNL, you know you’re at least going to get a funny monologue, even if, for some reason, his sketches are often disappointing. I particularly enjoyed the bit about having 12 kids in the old days because half of them probably wouldn’t survive childhood. Worst How did they even come up with putting rock & roll pioneer Little Richard into a ‘90s family sitcom in 2024? It would seem like a bad idea from the start, and despite some of Kenan Thompson’s best efforts, it didn’t work for me. Best Chappell Roan has been the biggest surprise in pop music in 2024, coming essentially out of nowhere to be one of the biggest acts in the music business. While I would’ve liked to have heard “Good Luck, Babe” on her ‘SNL’ debut, it was terrific seeing her inclusive anthem “Pink Pony Club” performed live with all of its theatrics and, especially getting the live Studio 8H audience to sing back to her (which I hope wasn’t rehearsed – and I don’t think it was). Worst
‘SNL’ has a huge cast, and most of them are talented as hell, but the show is doing a horrible job at the moment of using and distributing them throughout the episodes. Some of this is certainly due to all of the political sketches in the first quarter of the season featuring so many cameos and being longer than the average sketch, but when you have an episode like this one that barely features some of the show’s MVPs like Ego Nwodim and Andrew Dismukes, it makes the problem stand out more than your average show. Hopefully, with the election over, the show can focus on letting its cast cook for the remainder of the season. by Julian Spivey  Photos: Paramount & Netflix Emilia Perez (Netflix) – Wednesday, November 13 “Emilia Perez,” directed by Jacques Audiard, is being heralded as one of the best films of 2024. The musical-comedy stars Oscar front-runner Karla Sofia Gascon as a Mexican cartel leader who enlists a lawyer (Zoe Saldana) to help her disappear from cartel life and transition to a woman. Karla Sofia Gascon won the Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival this summer. Saldana and Selena Gomez are also garnering potential Oscar buzz. Landman (Paramount+) – Sunday, November 17 Taylor Sheridan’s latest drama of the many he has for Paramount+ is “Landman,” premiering Sunday, Nov. 17. Based on the popular podcast “Boomtown,” it’s a story set within the world of West Texas oil rigs and the money and politics involved in it. I’m generally not the biggest fan of Sheridan’s worldview, but it’ll be impossible not to give a cast led by Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Hamm a chance. A Man on the Inside (Netflix) – Thursday, November 21 Ted Danson is one of the greatest comedic actors in television history, and I’ll follow him to any new series he stars in. His latest is Netflix’s “A Man on the Inside,” in which he portrays a retired man who answers an ad to become a private investigator going undercover at a nursing home seeking out mistreatment of the residents. The series, based on the 2020 Chilean documentary “The Mole Agent,” was created by Michael Schur, who had such great luck with Danson on NBC’s “The Good Place.” The Piano Lesson (Netflix) – Friday, November 22 After being mesmerized by “Fences” (2016) and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (2020), two other films based on plays by August Wilson, I’m entirely in on any film adaptations based on his work. The latest is “The Piano Lesson,” directed by Malcolm Washington, about a Pittsburgh family and their heirloom piano in the aftermath of the Great Depression. The film stars Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher and Danielle Deadwyler. The Madness (Netflix) – Thursday, November 28 Colman Domingo is having quite the moment in 2024. He will almost certainly receive an Oscar Best Actor nomination for his performance in “Sing Sing,” now comes the starring role in Stephen Belber’s Netflix limited series conspiracy thriller “The Madness.” In the series, Domingo stars as a media pundit who must clear his name after accidentally stumbling upon a murder. The eight-episode series drops on Netflix on Thanksgiving. The Agency (Paramount+ with Showtime) – Friday, November 29 "The Agency," from George Clooney and Grant Heslov's producing team, is an espionage thriller about the department in charge of training and handing out undercover agents. The incredibly talented cast stars Michael Fassbender as the lead and Jodie Turner-Smith, Jeffrey Wright, Richard Gere, John Magaro and Hugh Bonneville in supporting roles. "The Agency" is based on the 2015-2020 French series "Le Bureau des Legendes." Senna (Netflix) – Friday, November 29 Ayrton Senna was one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers ever to live and one of the great tragedies in the sport’s history, as the most recent champion to die in competition. His life was featured in the terrific 2010 documentary “Senna. " Now, from his home country of Brazil, comes a biographical drama of his life and career. “Senna” stars Gabriel Leone as the three-time F1 champion. by Julian Spivey The fourth episode of the milestone 50th season of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” saw “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” star Michael Keaton return to host the show for the first time in 10 years and his fourth hosting stint overall (1982 & 1992). At 73 years old, Keaton is the sixth oldest host in ‘SNL’ history (interestingly, he barely surpasses Jean Smart, who just hosted the season premiere a few weeks ago). The show didn’t give Keaton much to do in his appearance. He appeared in nearly every sketch but rarely in the lead role. Nothing during this episode thoroughly disappointed me, but much like the Ariana Grande-hosted episode the week before, there weren’t many highs.  Photo: NBC Best The show had another strong political cold opening this week, thanks to the contentious Fox News interview between Vice President Kamala Harris and Fox News anchor Brett Baier earlier in the week. The big surprise of the sketch was Alec Baldwin, the show’s all-time leader in host appearances, cameoing as Baier and properly mocking Baier’s ridiculous attempts at talking over Harris and being an all-around doofus of an interviewer. The real highlight was seeing ‘SNL’ legends Baldwin and Maya Rudolph as Harris playing off each other for the bulk of the sketch. The sketch also found a way to shoehorn James Austin Johnson’s former President Donald Trump and Dana Carvey’s President Joe Biden into the sketch in comical ways, like mocking Trump’s awkward dance party from a town hall appearance earlier in the week. Worst I’ve been clamoring for an appearance from Please Don’t Destroy all season after they curiously didn’t appear in the show’s first three episodes after being in nearly every episode of season 49. After appearances from The Lonely Island in a Digital Short two weeks ago and the debut of a Dan Bulla short last week, I wondered if PDD shorts were a thing of the past. I was happy to see the return of PDD this week, but it wasn’t quite the same, with the group opting to play it more like a short film than their in-office bits that are often among their best work. John Higgins and Martin Herlihy played friends about to skydive, and Ben Marshall and Keaton portrayed depressed professional skydivers scaring the duo. There were certainly some laughs, but I expected better from the first PDD moment of the season. Best I didn’t know what to expect when the “Forbidden Romance” sketch opened with an image telling us it was 1955. There was an obvious “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” situation between a white man (Andrew Dismukes) and a black woman (Ego Nwodim) and their respective families (Keaton, Heidi Gardner, Kenan Thompson, and Devon Walker). But I just about lost it when Dismukes’s character said he had a song that explained how love between a white man/black woman could work, despite the worries of their families and broke into Train’s 2009 song “Hey Soul Sister.” Yes, poking fun at a 15-year-old song might not be the timeliest thing one can do comedy-wise, but it’s about time somebody hammered that horrible, horrible song, and this was the perfect way to showcase its idiocy. Dismukes has become a legend among this cast for these outlandish scenario sketches. Worst TikTok bits were more prevalent on ‘SNL’ a few years ago when the video social media app was newer and becoming popular. So, it was a little surprising on Saturday night when the show returned to the idea with a mix-match of TikTok video parodies. Some moments were funny, though not really laugh-out-loud funny, but it just seemed too easy of a bit and rehashing old territory. Best There aren’t many recurring characters from this iteration of ‘SNL,’ so who knows if this particular one will be a one-and-done one, but Ego Nwodim’s conspiracy theorist game show host Uber driver would make a perfect recurring bit. Nwodim has proven adept at creating these funny, out-of-the-box characters – most of whom usually appear as Weekend Update guests – who always crack me up. |