I admit I initially had no interest in “The Chosen,” an independent drama series by creator Dallas Jenkins that follows Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples. It was a favor to my wife, and throughout the first few seasons, I somewhat half-watched the show. But every time Kirk Woller was on the screen as Roman centurion Gaius I couldn’t help but be intrigued. Granted, the character fits one of my ideal models of an interesting character – one who stands up for what he believes in, even when those around him don’t. Woller plays this role perfectly and has one of his shining moments in the series when he asks Jesus for a miracle in “Calm Before.”  

Dana Carvey is a “Saturday Night Live” legend and one of the show’s five greatest cast members, so it’s been lovely seeing him featured in its milestone 50th season since it debuted in late September. Carvey’s most significant focus on the show was portraying President Joe Biden in the lead-up to the Presidential Election. The show has memorably portrayed Biden before, most famously by Jason Sudeikis, as a more rapscallion figure during the Obama administration, but Carvey’s impression playfully and accurately pokes fun at the older, current President in a way that is funny but also respectful. His recent return as The Church Lady was also one of the show's shining moments.  

Ted McGinley’s Derek is probably the eighth most important character on AppleTV’s hilarious and heartwarming comedy “Shrinking,” and yet it’s such a standout that it’s the one that makes this list this year. Derek isn’t Jewish, but the word that would properly explain him the most is “mensch.” The show has built him up as almost the perfect man and he’s pretty damn close, even if we see in season two how he could be more intuitive in his relationship. It’s such a joyful performance by McGinley, a TV veteran who may end up being most well-known for this role, that’s always good for some of the biggest laughs of each episode. It was a minor role in season one that I’m happy the showrunners/writers have fleshed out more in season two.  

This certainly isn’t the first time a “Doctor Who” performance has found its way onto my favorite characters of the year list. The Doctor, being an alien who can regenerate into different looks, allowing multiple actors to play the part and put their spin on the character, allows for it. There’s never been a Doctor like Ncuti Gatwa before. Sure, there have been charismatic, attractive young men who’ve played The Doctor, and Gatwa is undoubtedly that, but he’s both the first person of color and the first non-heterosexual actor to portray the role, and it’s brought some things to the role, that we’ve never had the pleasure of seeing before.  

​Andrew Scott gets the naturalistic acting award of the year in television for his ability to do so much without saying anything at all. His performance as the shark-eyed conman Ripley in the Netflix limited series of the same name is one of the steeliest, sleekest, and outright scary performances of the year, as Scott portrays a man who will stop at nothing to take on the identity of his latest target. 

The first season of the U.K. Channel 4 and Peacock collaboration “We Are Lady Parts,” about an all-Muslim, all-female British punk band, was mostly told through the point-of-view of Amina, a brainy microbiology student whose lifestyle doesn’t fit the punk mode. But I became more interested in the band’s leader, Saira, played by Sarah Kameela Impey. Saira became the P.O.V. for the excellent second season, which sees the band grow in appeal and potential and the ups and downs that come with trying to be true to oneself as an artist while also being successful. It was a beautiful performance. 

I don’t often go with a duo on this list, but Kristen Bell and Adam Brody’s chemistry on the Netflix romance-comedy “Nobody Wants This” was easily the best I saw on TV in 2024. Bell plays a sex-life podcaster, and Brody plays a rabbi. Neither character seems to have anything in common except for the fact that they fall for each other almost immediately, and every time they’re together on screen, you can’t help but smile at them. It’s the kind of chemistry that makes you want the episodes to go on longer after they end. 

Richard Gadd became an all-in-one wunderkind with his Netflix limited series “Baby Reindeer” this year, in which he created, wrote and starred – reminding me of a male version of Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Gadd based the series, which sees a struggling comedian dealing with a stalker and past sexual assault, on incidents that happened in his own life. It’s clear how lived-in Gadd’s performance is. There probably wasn’t anybody who could portray these moments the way he did, which brilliantly all comes to a head in a moment on stage during a comedy competition that may have been 2024’s single best acting moment. 

As a fan of the film noir classic “The Maltese Falcon” and Humphrey Bogart, I never could have imagined any other actor portraying the role of author Dashiell Hammett’s private eye Sam Spade as well as Bogart did. However, Clive Owen didn’t take long to assuage my fears in “Monsieur Spade,” a collaboration between AMC and France’s Canal+. Owen seemed like the perfect actor to play Spade, a brash American detective living out his retirement in France, with the brashness coming through when necessary but also finding this quiet contentment in his new life. It’s a performance and show that I feel went unheralded and unnoticed this year, but it is now streaming on Netflix, and hopefully, it will find more viewers. 

This is the second time in three years (and consecutive seasons) that Hannah Einbinder’s character of Ava Daniels on Max’s comedy “Hacks” has topped this list – and I don’t even like to honor the same character multiple times on these things. Einbinder’s performance and the writing of the character are just that good. Einbinder’s performance as a Gen Z comedy writer having to collaborate with and continue a professional relationship that bleeds into friendship with a boomer comedy legend in Jean Smart’s Emmy-winning Deborah Vance is side-splittingly funny while also probably being TV’s best performance of a twentysomething. Ava’s character took a significant step forward in confidence and dominance in the excellent season three finale of “Hacks.” I can’t wait to see how it impacts the relationship between her and Vance in season four. How has Einbinder not won an Emmy for this show yet? 

10. Evil (Paramount+)
“Evil” was possibly the wildest show on television, and I’m going to miss the hell out of it. Paramount+ did us viewers both a great service and a disservice with the fourth and final season of the horror-drama, which unbelievably originated on CBS before transitioning to streaming, by canceling the show ahead of its time (obviously the disservice) but also tacking on an extra four episodes to wrap it (something most streamers/networks won’t do). The additional episodes did give the finish of one of TV’s most exciting and interesting shows of the last half-decade - where a priest (believer), scientist (nonbeliever) and psychiatrist (skeptic) try to determine whether strange cases are religious in nature or not – a disjointed, rushed feeling but at least gave us a finished story and allowed us to say goodbye to characters we loved.  

9. Ripley (Netflix) 
Netflix’s thriller limited series “Ripley,” based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel, which has been adapted many times, may have been the most beautifully filmed show of 2024 (creator Steve Zaillian won an Emmy for directing) with its rich black and white photography and lush Italian landscapes. It also offered up one of the year's best acting performances, with Andrew Scott in the titular role as the shark-eyed con man who continuously digs deeper into a hole, committing one crime after another. Scott does so much of his acting with his eyes and facial features, giving viewers a textbook example of perfect acting without saying a word. 

​8. A Man on the Inside (Netflix) 
Michael Schur certainly has a sweet spot when it comes to sitcoms with a charming, lovely vibe to them – even if one of his most famous took place in Hell. One of 2024’s biggest surprises was Netflix’s eight-episode “A Man on the Inside,” which is loosely based on the 2020 Chilean documentary “The Mole Agent,” in which a private investigator hires an elderly person to infiltrate an assisted-living facility in search of a thief. Ted Danson, a first-ballot television Hall of Famer if there ever was one, takes on the titular role and gives one of the finest performances of his career in a show that is more heartwarming than funny but more than makes up for fewer laughs with plenty of heart fuzzy moments.  

7. SEAL Team (Paramount+)
Few shows go out at a high level of entertainment and storytelling, especially after undergoing many changes, as Paramount+’s military drama “SEAL Team” did with cast changes and a network change. However, “SEAL Team” and its focus on the lives of Navy Seals, both on and off the battlefield, was operating at a high level in its seventh and final season, continuing to tell the valiant story of Jason Hayes and his men with episodes that could thrill you with gun battles and make you think and emotional with the ongoing war that is the mind of a fighting hero. 

6. Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
Netflix’s “Baby Reindeer” was one of the most courageous achievements of the year in television, and it was also potentially a star-maker for its creator, Richard Gadd. Gadd, who created, wrote and starred in the show, based it on experiences that happened in his real life as both the victim of stalking and sexual assault, as well as his career as a struggling comedian. What came out of it was an enthralling and harrowing portrayal of a man at the end of his rope, culminating in an incredible scene in which all comes pouring out of Gadd’s character while on stage at a comedy contest. Gadd won three Emmy Awards for “Baby Reindeer” for Outstanding Limited Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series, and Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series. 

​5. Nobody Wants This (Netflix) 
Netflix’s “Nobody Wants This” is proof that TV can do a rom-com better than most movies are doing them these days. The show stars Kristen Bell and Adam Brody in incredibly charismatic and charming performances as two individuals who have this great meet-cute and fall for each other despite coming from completely different worlds. Bell’s Joanne is a non-religious relationship podcaster who is open about everything, especially her sex life. Brody’s Noah is a rabbi with a great future ahead of him in his synagogue. It’s one of the funniest and most charming shows that debuted in 2024. 

​4. We Are Lady Parts (Peacock)
“We Are Lady Parts,” a collaboration between Channel 4 in the U.K. and Peacock in America, continues to be one of television’s best-hidden gems. The show focuses on a group of British Muslim women and the punk band they have formed. The second season shows the band – Lady Parts – struggling with newfound success, including changing managers and having a record label dictate their sound. The second season came three years after the show’s first, and there hasn’t been any news on a third season yet. Hopefully, this show will continue because I’m not ready to say goodbye to its fantastic cast of characters and incredibly witty original songs. 

3. Monsieur Spade (AMC/Canal+)
“Monsieur Spade,” a co-production between AMC and France’s Canal+, sees Dashiell Hammett’s hero Det. Sam Spade, 20 years following the events of “The Maltese Falcon,” in a small town in Southern France, where he’s retired and living the good life until the return of an old adversary throws him back into the game. Having been a big fan of director John Huston’s film noir classic “The Maltese Falcon,” from 1941, I had a hard time believing anyone could portray Sam Spade but Humphrey Bogart, but I tell you, Clive Owen absolutely inhabits the character in one of TV’s best performances of the year. “Monsieur Spade” is a slow burn of a show that won’t be for everyone, but if you stick with it, I think you’ll be entertained. Now that it’s streaming on Netflix, more people will hopefully have a chance to check it out. 

​2. Shrinking (AppleTV+)
AppleTV+’s “Shrinking” was TV’s best new show of 2023 and is still firing on all cylinders in its hilarious second season. The show has the best ensemble cast on TV, with every character providing belly laughs and emotional moments throughout the season. Harrison Ford and Jason Segel have been revelations, especially in the second season, with emotionally dramatic storylines that wring the humor out of life’s dark moments. 

1. Hacks (Max)
All three seasons of Max’s comedy series “Hacks” have been perfect. The third season, two years after season two, sees Ava (Hannah Einbinder) working as a staff writer on a ‘Daily Show’ type series after being let go by Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) at the end of the second season. She quickly finds herself back in Deborah’s orbit when Deborah needs help formulating material for a shot at a late-night TV show. The relationship between Deborah and Ava is always riveting, half out of love, half out of necessity. It’s a relationship Ava has always found herself on the low end of the totem pole until the fascinating season finale, in which the dynamics of their relationship change drastically. Einbinder and Smart are giving two of television’s finest performances.  

I’ll be honest — comedian Nate Bargatze could read the phonebook, and his dry delivery would make me laugh. So, it’s an understatement to say I had extremely high hopes for Bargatze’s fifth standup special, “Your Friend, Nate Bargatze,” which premiered on Netflix on Christmas Eve. It’s his third standup special with the streaming service since 2019’s “The Tennessee Kid.” 
​
I have been a fan of Bargatze for years. I believe I saw him on some late-night show, which led to us watching his ‘Tennessee Kid’ special, where I almost lost my life laughing so hard at his dead horse joke and Starbucks ordering snafu. I was hooked. 

And, as of late, the rest of the world seems hooked to Bargatze’s every man, clean humor. His first hosting stint on “Saturday Night Live” on Oct. 28, 2023, seemed to catapult him into a new stratosphere of fame, particularly his now classic George Washington sketch. He hosted again this past October (reprising Washington), hosted his own Christmas variety show, “Nate Bargatze’s Nashville Christmas” on CBS and premiered his ‘Your Friend’ special on Christmas Eve. This success has been a long time coming for Bargatze, stretching back to his first comedy album, “Yelled At By a Clown,” in 2012. My husband and I are seeing his “Big Dumb Eyes” tour next year, the second time we’ll see him live. 

He was truly the best-kept secret in comedy. He’s too funny to keep those big dumb eyes — also the title of his debut comedy book out in May — away from the masses forever. 

This fame also slightly killed the surprises of his ‘Your Friend’ special through no fault of his own. His jokes were on point, as they always are. He talked about his relationship with his wife and his work before comedy, insulted his intelligence and discussed the absurdity of growing up in the 1900s. It was all gold, but between his ‘SNL’ monologues, his previous standup jokes, late-night show appearances and the countless reels teased on social media from this special, I had already heard many of the jokes. It didn’t make the special any less funny, but I miss the days of going into a Bargatze special and hearing the jokes for the first time. I think that will continue to be a problem for comedians, but it’s a problem I don’t believe they can control. 

All of that said, the special is worth watching. Bargatze is a veteran comedian, and despite his jokes about how dumb he is, he is a complete genius at his craft. He kicked it off by bringing new life to former jokes, like how his job as a water meter reader in Wilson County, Mt. Juliet, Tenn., tasked with guarding the town’s water supply with just a lantern following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. 

He explained, “I mean, I think, like, to this day, I’ve always said, what did they want us to do? Call the Mt. Juliet Police? ‘Osama is here.’ ‘He got past our lanterns.’ ‘He’s in the water tank. He knew how to open that. ‘We were surprised by that, but he knew what he was doing.’” 

I always appreciate his humor about his relationship with his wife because it reminds me so much of my relationship with my husband. One of Bargatze’s stand-out moments was talking about how he does his own laundry and how he was waiting to bring that up during a fight to win the argument: “So just out of nowhere, I just go, ‘I do my own laundry!’ And I said it like, ‘They don’t make them like this no more.’ I was shocked that it started a second fight I never saw coming.” 

His new material truly stood out, like his wife’s frugality. Bargatze admitted he is wasteful but also practical: “Toothpaste. I will use it to what I think the average person uses it to. I don’t think I should feel muscles trying to get it out. I’m not going to have an iron on top of it. But she’ll do it more. So I know when I’m done with it, I give it to the hobo I married.” 

It’s also the difference between my husband and me because, by God, I will squeeze that last bit out, too.

Even the jokes I’d seen previously from social media reels, like how noon is so far away when you get up at 5:45 a.m., had me in stitches. I can’t say I’ve ever loved his donkey jumping/falling off a high dive story, but it certainly worked in this special to revive it, admitting he has more in common with a pilgrim than his daughter’s futuristic personality. 

“I don’t know technology. I don’t know what AI is. I don’t think you get to know what AI is and also see a donkey jump off a high dive. I think it was one or the other, and I saw the donkey, so I’m out.” 

The one thing I know going into every Bargatze special is I will laugh until I’m crying and can’t breathe. That moment came when he talked about how his parents are getting older and their risk of falling. He explained that he’ll trip, but his upper body will realize it and catch himself. His parents don’t have that luck: “And they hit the ground so hard. It’s like they got thrown off a roof. Everybody hears it, they’re like, ‘What’s going on?’ I’m like, ‘My parents are down! I got to get ’em up.’ My mom’s got a bruise that won’t go away for two years. I just walk ahead of them now. I’m like a Sherpa. Just let them know the terrain that we’re about to hit. ‘Got a little carpet coming up. Got a little carpet. When we go outside, a little brighter than inside. Yeah, and cobblestone. You ain’t gonna make that. So, lay down. Lay down on the carpet. I’m gonna back the car up in the building.’”

How he could tap into this reality that everyone goes through with older parents or grandparents and make it hysterical rather than cringy is beyond me. But I know exactly what he’s talking about, and it’s tapping into those life moments that make Bargatze one of the best comedians ever. 

“Your Friend, Nate Bargatze” is tough to rank among his other specials because they all fit perfectly into the moment they premiere. His ability to “read the room” of the culture and make people laugh in an inoffensive way is what people are craving these days, and he did it flawlessly with this special. As I do with his other specials, I have no doubt that I’ll go back and watch it repeatedly. 

by Julian Spivey

The final episode of the first half of the milestone 50th season of “Saturday Night Live,” hosted by Martin Short, was fun for multiple reasons. Not only was it the show’s “holiday” episode – although there were more holiday sketches in the previous week’s episode -  but it also marked Short’s entry into the “Five-Timers Club.”
​
It was also the best episode of the season thus far, probably due to all the fantastic cameos, recurring bits throughout the evening and Short’s exuberant personality.  
​

Here are the highlights and lowlights from the episode:

Best
I’m a sucker for ‘SNL’ nostalgia – so anytime they have a new member of the “Five-Timers Club” and do a sketch involving other members of the club returning to celebrate the “new guy,” I’m giddy. Short’s entry into the “Five-Timers Club” likely included the most returning “Five-Timers” of any of the previous sketches, with Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Scarlett Johansson, Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Emma Stone and John Mulaney all appearing – not to mention Jimmy Fallon as “jacket boy” to bestow Short with his “Five-Timers” jacket. 

Worst
There was only one sketch the entire night that I didn’t enjoy – the only thing keeping this from a rare perfect episode. That was the return of Marcello Hernandez’s Sabado Gigante sketch from the Nate Bargatze episode earlier this season. The bit was funny in the Bargatze episode but relies on one joke – a non-Spanish speaking audience member being chosen to compete in games on the show – for its humor. This makes it a poor choice for a recurring bit. 

Best
One of the funniest sketches from season 48 of ‘SNL’ came in the Quinta Brunson episode when she and Mikey Day played drivers arguing in a traffic jam with exaggerated pantomimes to hit home their point. It makes for a good recurring bit but you’d have to find the right host to be game for it and that’s undoubtedly Martin Short. Short and Day portray drivers fighting over a parking spot, and their exaggerated gestures make for hilarity – but once again, it’s Chloe Fineman who steals the sketch with her overly sexualized gestures right in front of her father. Well, she would’ve stolen the sketch had it not been for the amazing cameo that you’ll have to see to believe. 

Best
The tradition of Michael Che and Colin Jost making each other tell obscene and racist jokes during Weekend Update for Christmas and the end of the season has become a favorite for many show viewers. However, like everything else, the ante must be upped to remain fresh. And since Jost’s wife Johansson was already in Studio 8H for the episode, they found the perfect way to up the ante with her watching on a monitor backstage as her husband was forced to read whatever Che prepared for him, including a wild joke involving roast beef. 

Best
Hozier was the musical guest for the holiday episode and a fine choice – potentially my favorite musical guest of the season thus far. For his first performance, he performed his latest hit, “Too Sweet,” one of the best hits of 2024. However, his second performance had me in my feels for the holiday season when he covered “Fairytale of New York,” the great Pogues and Kristy MacColl collaboration that has become a must-have addition to Christmas playlists. The performance was made sweeter because Shane MacGowan, the frontman of The Pogues, died late last year and, as an Irish band, must’ve been a musical hero for Hozier.   

FX’s “What We Do In The Shadows” closed its coffin lid for the last time on Monday, Dec. 16, after six excellent seasons of hilarious vampire hijinks.

“The Finale,” written by Sam Johnson, Sarah Naftalis and Paul Simms, began with the season-long storyline of Laszlo’s (Matt Berry) Monster, in a spoof on Frankenstein, before revealing a few minutes in that the documentary crew that had been following our favorite Staten Island vampires around for six years had gotten enough footage to call it quits.

This immediately sets Guillermo (Harvey Guillen), Nandor’s long-time familiar and friend, into a tizzy as the end of the documentary immediately sets off a bomb of sorts in his head that maybe this should be the end of the road for him in this aspect of his life, as well.

In typical ‘WWDITS’ fashion, while Guillermo is all up in his feels, the vampire crew is up to their usual bullshit of not taking much at all seriously, which is perfectly surmised in Laszlo’s monster, now reached his horny teenage years, having sex with a taxidermized bear in the background while Guillermo gives a heartfelt speech as to what his time with the vampires has meant to him.

It’s hard to end any TV series. Still, I can’t imagine how doing so with a mockumentary of vampires that rarely, if ever, took itself seriously could be while trying to stay true to itself while also paying service to the fans.

I think ‘WWDITS’ did about as well as it could with this – poking fun at things like a large swath of the fan base wanting Guillermo and Nandor (Kayvan Novak) to be a couple in the end and giving Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) a great monologue about how they’d been doing this for so long and never grew as people in a nod to “Seinfeld.”

One of the finale’s highlights was Guillermo wanting the documentary to have a good ending and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) hypnotizing the audience into imaging the perfect ending for the show, which saw Nandor and Guillermo spoofing the memorable ending to “Newhart” (and the fans wanting the two together) in a dream sequence where Nandor memorably explains all the other vampires that were in his dream.

The show shot two other scenes for this sequence in the episode. It aired the alternate scenes – spoofs of the endings to “The Usual Suspects” and “Rosemary’s Baby” – in re-runs of the episode later that night (which can also be seen in the extras section of the show’s Hulu page). It was the right decision for the showrunners to go with the “Newhart” seen in the actual episode, as the other two are movie endings, and it seems right to mock TV in a TV show.

Despite the fact that ‘WWDITS’ is a show that doesn’t get deep and doesn’t feature mushiness I did, in fact, tear up with the ending where Guillermo tucks Nandor into his coffin for the final time and tells him he’ll be moving on with his life. However, that’s quickly preceded by the realization that it’s just Guillermo’s way of giving the documentary a good ending.

Among other things I enjoyed about the finale were some quick Easter eggs, like Laszlo breaking out the old toothpick for Jackie Daytona in a previous decade’s documentary—apparently, being filmed is old hat for these guys.

“What We Do In The Shadows” always provided hilarity and the most insane storylines, gags and jokes, and unlike many shows, I can honestly say it was still clicking on all cylinders at its end. This group of blood-suckers is going to be missed. BAT!

Paramount Network’s hit “Yellowstone” came to an end on Sunday, Dec. 15, after five seasons of often thrilling, often eye-roll-inducing drama with the series finale, “Life Is A Promise,” which provided both, as well as some predictability and excess in a bloated nearly two-hour episode (NOTE: I've been told it was 83 minutes without commercials but it felt longer, which isn't great).

This was never how "Yellowstone” was supposed to end, with showrunner Taylor Sheridan's massive ego and “my way or the highway” stubbornness having run off the show’s star, Kevin Costner, during a layoff between two parts of season five. This resulted in a rushed final six episodes of the series that served as a way to figure out who killed John Dutton and what would happen to the Dutton Ranch as a result.

Working with what they had, the show came up with a finale that was mostly satisfying for all the remaining characters. Beth (Kelly Reilly) avenged John Dutton's death in a moment with her adopted brother Jamie (Wes Bentley) that we’ve known has been coming for years now. This moment served as the most predictable moment of the series finale, putting an end to one of the most cringeworthy relationships on television of the last decade, one that was always far too weighted toward Beth. That moment came about halfway into the finale, and the show went on far too long after the big moment.

I can’t speak for all “Yellowstone” viewers, as I know most still feel more highly about the series than I do after five seasons, but I didn’t need the extended farewells for some of the cowboys/cowgirls who worked at the ranch, like Ryan (Ian Bohen), who got his dream girl in return guest Lainey Wilson, or Teeter (Jen Landon) showing up at Travis’s ranch in Texas, the character had already told us she’d be leaving for that job, so we didn’t need to see it. I guess it served to let us see Travis one more time and get more asshole quips into the episode.

Speaking of Travis, played by the show’s auteur Sheridan, I didn’t need to see him at all, especially after seeing so much of him in mostly pointless scenes in the penultimate episode the week before. Again, the ego on that guy.

The most satisfying storyline of the finale was the ending for Kayce (Luke Grimes) and his family. If there was one good person in the Dutton family (because, let’s face it, no matter how much folks want to heroize the rest of the family, they’re shitty people), it was Kayce. The character spent a lot of the series trying to do his own thing while being pulled back into the family drama time and time again, and in some ways – as horrible as it might be – the murder of his father allowed him to do what was best for him, his wife and son.

Kayce is the only character I’ll genuinely miss.

I don’t think “Yellowstone” was ever going to end the way it did before Sheridan’s hubris got in the way and ran off Costner, but the idea of one of the most conservative-friendly shows on TV ending with the white man having to give land they took from the natives back to the natives turned out to be the best possible ending for me.  

by Julian Spivey
Former cast member and stand-up comedy royalty Chris Rock returned to Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center in New York City to host Saturday Night Live on Saturday, Dec. 15. Ridiculously, he’s the first former cast member of the show to host an episode in the milestone 50th season – former writer John Mulaney has hosted. It’s actually the furthest into a season the show has gone without a former cast member hosting since season 43 (2017-2018). The episode marked Rock’s fourth hosting stint and his first since the 46th season premiere in 2020.

Here are the highlights and lowlights of the episode:   

Best:
You always expect a great monologue when the show brings in a stand-up comedian to host, but we’ve seen some weak ones thus far this year, from Nate Bargatze bringing a rare less-than-A+ performance to the absolute abomination that was Bill Burr’s post-election monologue. Chris Rock, thankfully, didn’t disappoint with an eight-minute set that covered CEO killer Luigi Mangione (I particularly enjoyed the “you know, sometimes drug dealers get shot” line), how it’s been a bad year for “his people – blacks” and how maybe the best way to combat immigration is not to give Latin baseball players $700 million.     

Best:
The 50th season has been one filled with cameos, which has been one of the season’s highlights, seeing so many legendary faces of the past (while also feeling like we haven’t seen enough – which is strange, I admit), but this particular episode felt like one that might not have any cameos as it was past 2/3 mark of the episode before maybe the most surprising one of the season occurred. Rock, Ego Nwodim, Bowen Yang, and Emil Wakim were playing medical professionals who thought they were supposed to remove a gallbladder, and it turned out they were supposed to remove the appendix. The mistake was made by Sarah Sherman’s inept nurse, Lizley, who worried everybody would hate her for her mistake and compounding mistakes we’d soon realize. It felt like the beginning of what will become a recurring character for Sherman – and it might – but the sketch would soon be hijacked (not in a bad way) when the patient awoke, and we realized it was ‘SNL’ legend Adam Sandler who began spraying everybody wildly with blood (an often used ‘SNL’ joke) and seemed to get a lot of glee in dousing his old buddy Rock. Sure, it kind of “broke” the sketch, but in a good way. I wanted Sandler to host an episode this season, and I hope this isn’t all we’ll see of him in season 50, outside of the multi-hour special in early 2025.     

Best: 
There were so many great punchlines in Rock’s monologue on Saturday night, but the award for best joke of the night belonged to Weekend Update co-host Colin Jost with the simple and astute: “Donald Trump has been named TIME’s Person of the Year because no person on Earth has taken up more of our goddamn time.”

Worst:
The worst part of this week’s ‘SNL’ episode is that it was merely average, a bit ho-hum. That’s the type of thing that doesn’t draw my ire, as you’d rather have an average episode than an outright bad one, which we’ve seen on a few occasions this season. It just might stand out more than an episode is of average quality when it’s a milestone season, and you’ve expected more from it. There wasn’t a bad sketch the entire evening, but there weren’t any sketches I’d expect to make my season-end list of the 10 best ‘SNL’ sketches of the season. It’s just an episode that was. 

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. 

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. 

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.