SNL: Cecily Strong MIA From Opening Credits While Doing Play in L.A.

For decades, I’ve been defending SNL through its various changes in casts, writers and even producers (i.e., the disastrous Ebersol years). Except for the first year after disbanding the Not Ready for Prime Time Players (and arguably, the first half of the 1985-6 season), the show has always adapted and grown into finding its rhythm & stride.

Until tonight. The cold open–Miles Teller & Andrew Dismukes as the Manning brothers analyzing the restructured cast as a “rebuilding year”–was distressingly prophetic. What was for all intents & purposes a “purge” also threw a hand grenade into the writers’ room, as the departed veterans’ creative contributions (not just characters & performances) were painfully and conspicuously absent. Once again, premises & concepts fizzled and sketches resolved abruptly & clumsily if at all (the Charmin Bears were reminiscent of the 1975 Killer Bees flops). Many of the premises were dead on arrival. Only a couple of sketches succeeded (sort of)–most of the others landed like dead carp thrown from a high-rise window. Even the usual highlight, Weekend Update, went nowhere (except for a really funny real-life-piece by newbie Michael Longfellow).

Elevating Dismukes and Punkie Johnson to repertory status merely by virtue of seniority was questionable. (In two years, the latter had little to distinguish herself on camera–or else, her best roles got cut before air time). Last year’s rookies James Austin Johnson (the show’s best political impressionist since Darrell Hammond, Dan Aykroyd, and the late Phil Hartman) and Sarah Sherman (not just a really versatile actor but an inventively edgy writer) should have been leapfrogged from “featured” status instead. The cream should rise to the top.

The audience’s wildly enthusiastic response can be explained by their joy at finally scoring the legendary & most coveted freebie ticket in town. (If you’d had to wait hours to get in and see the show instead of settling for dress rehearsal, you too would psych yourself up into making the most of the situation–that is, until Sunday morning’s ill-humor-hangover, when you realize you wasted an entire day, and possibly a long-planned vacation, on what was at best an anticlimax).

And yes, I’m an old f**t, but I don’t get Kendrick Lamar (his droning delivery stomps all over some insightful lyrics). And using B-list celebs as guest hosts in order to plug their supporting roles in movies (mostly action flicks) or streaming series is just plain tiresome.

I finally have an incentive to plow through everything I’d saved to my DVR in the past year, and maybe even go out for a late movie, instead of 90 minutes of alternating yawns & “WTF?s.” Now get off my lawn!

It’s beeen said previously. however SNL unsucessfully attempts to find something glaringly mentally or physically wrong with Joe Biden to make him the butt of unfunny jokes. Compared to the previous morons we have had mostly from one party, Joe is very co mpetent and doing a great job despite the brainwashed cult that hates Biden and Democracy. SO Biden makes a error in asking aboiut a dead representative. It’s 1000 times better than having some incomeptent sociopath who would bring us to the brink of nuclear deatruction ust to boost his own demented ego. Just remember that any mistake or misstep Joe Biden has made, the previous moron has made the same mistake 1ooo times and made it 1000 times worse.

Miles Teller is very likable but until you get to know the rest of the cast, it’s just the same old liberal crap from Lorne Michaels