Well, you can't say that Saturday Night Live doesn't have guts. Perhaps, though, they could use a lesson or two in comedy.

In a season where Saturday Night Live is emerging as a cultural powerhouse in an election year, tonight's special was a chance to further the show's cause with some politically topical humour that captures the things that have made SNL work this season.

That thing, though, is Tina Fey's Sarah Palin. And the one thing absent from tonight's episode of SNL Weekend Update: Special Edition?

Tina Fey's Sarah Palin.

I'm baffled at what Lorne Michaels was thinking here: yes, the debate was the most recent political event, but it was also categorically considered a boring debate, and the sketch had only one real joke: that Tom Brokaw interrupted them a lot. Otherwise, it featured one weak Obama impression, a fair amount of weak jokes that didn't amount to anything, and an entertaining if unfunny Bill Murray cameo. None of that felt special, but rather what the Obama/McCain sketches have been all season: mid-show filler compared to Fey's opening show magic.

It didn't help that Weekend Update didn't feel relevant: my good friend Angie said it best when she noted that this isn't The Daily Show, and as much as I personally enjoy "Seth and Amy's "Really?!"" segment the rest of it just didn't feel like anything different than otherwise. It wasn't an awful Weekend Update, but without a real reason to watch (And two throwaway characters in Hall/Oates and Keenan's character).

And we really do need a reason to watch, Saturday Night Live: there's a lot of competition in the time slot, and next week my time might be better spent catching up on the night's earlier programming than sitting around waiting to see if Tina Fey is going to show up.

Oh well - at least they closed the hour with an extended pimp spot for 30 Rock - if that show can manage a few hundred thousand more viewers as a result of this, perhaps all is not wasted.

And we're starting off tonight with Chris Parnell, so GOOD. GOOD GOOD GOOD. Chris Parnell is drunky Tom Brokaw. He's going to sass the pants off of Fred Armisen and Darrell Hammond. Casey Wilson is asking a question. So it's the whole cast tonight, is it? I don't know if I was expecting that.

Times up! Obama has no answer. McCain already got his "This one" off. That was quick, SNL. I'm counting the "My friends" in this sketch. He did rename the question asker, though. That was a subtle knock. Nice one.

Hadersville! He's asking about Russia. Because everyone hates Russia. I lost count of the "my friends," so we're going to add one. And there's another one. And another wrong name by McCain. Wrong name McCain. Heh. That rhymes.

Bobby Moynihan, Andy Samberg, Kenan Thompson. All in the audience. So is the thirty minute special all going to be the debate?

McCain doddering around the stage around Obama is one of the funniest sight gags I've seen in awhile.

Bill Murray! AMAZING. And he's asking about baseball. Now that's the William Murray I know and love. John McCain knows what's up. The Cubs ARE hopeless.

Susan Calkins was so afraid. The simultaneous question and answers are good. I don't know who to pay attention to. But McCain called himself a maverick twice.

That was six "my friends" in a ten minute sketch. Not good enough, guys. But they managed to fit in the majority of the cast, just like Tom Brokaw wrangled everyone to get through on time. Nice.

Weekend Update! Huzzah! In case you were wondering, the Sarah Palin Starbucks thing is totally true. I wish America did run on Dunkin. This is the best that I've seen Kenan in awhile -- I hope we see more Oscar Rogers in the weeks to come. Here comes the AIG joke. Make it a good one, Seth. Make.it.a.good.one. Oh sweet, it's the "Really?" segment. "Really? Did you sell your office furniture on Craigslist? Really?" I want to see an investor sack race. Make it happen. Seth Meyers could not look more concerned right now. "Oh my god!" "Seriously, are you serious?" "Really?" "Huh!" Golden, guys. Golden.

It seems so bizarre to see Weekend Update between commercials. In unrelated news, the Anne Hathaway anal sex story? Not true. And a nation is disappointed.

Nairuti (9:52:46 PM): haha that whale made me want cake
Kim (9:53:34 PM): its like the debates, when john mccain made me want candy

Hall and Oates! OMG! That is an excellent mullet on Will Forte. Back in the day, Will Forte and Fred Armisen singing segments used to be my favorite. Who can forget the "YAAAAAAAAAH" song?

When did 30 Rock become so big on the guest stars? Sometime last season, I know. They really want ratings.

Aw, it's over already? That was so quick and I want more. More jokes, more! Give me more jokes! Not ER! No! Jokes! No!

Don Draper reminds me, what should I be for Halloween? Awesome 60s housewife? Flapper? Awesome 60s housewife who moonlights as a flapper? The possibilities are endless.

So to get back to tonight. Anna Faris is hosting. Duffy is the musical guest. This is the first of the three episodes where I don't really care about either the host or the musical guest. The only thing I know about Anna Faris is that she is often in movies that I could not care any less about, but she's a funny gal, and as a gal, I find it necessary to root for the funny gals to maybe one day make movies I would want to see. And Duffy? Well. She's kind of cute. And she doesn't seem to like to wear pants.

Pants are overrated. I'm hoping she sounds halfway decent, because I'm seeing her sometime in October. Does this mean she's just going to be hanging around NYC pantsless for like a month?

It seems expectations for this show are not overwhelmingly high, besides the potential for a Tina Fey or Sarah Palin cameo. Also, I am sleepy and in a deep cold medicine haze which could end the reviewing quite promptly and unexpectedly.

Cold Open -- Tina Fey is back in the house! Amy Poehler looks nothing like Katie Couric, but she has the head tilting and concerned blinking down. I feel like I can see the Tina Fey in her impression now, as opposed to just being a straight awesome Sarah Palin impersonation. But that's okay, because Tina Fey is my hero. I love the thought of a league of Alaskans waking up to kick the Russians out. SNL knows that it needs Tina and Amy in these cold opens. What are they going to do when Amy is gone? There is a light constantly reflecting off of Sarah Palin's glasses which is really irritating me. Sarah Palin does a good Willem Dafoe impression (Callback to last week! Yes!)

Monologue -- Anna Faris has some of the straightest bangs ever. She also kind of looks like Britney Spears? Who knew? This was a really short monologue. I fear a quick cold medicine pass out.

Drive Home -- Okay, this is funny, but I have nothing to say about it. A simple dinner with friends turns into the discovery that they cursed and were obscene and a million other things. The car blowing up at the end was pointless, though. Completely pointless. I liked where it was going, and then it went nowhere.

Debates -- OMG IT'S CHRIS PARNELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think that I can accentuate enough how much I love Parns. He is so precious and tiny. Fred Armisen's Barack Obama impersonation is lacking in Barack Noise. It also needs to be a million times better in general. Armisen is almost as much of a master in impersonation as Darrell Hammond is, but no, this is just bad. Oh wait! There was Barack noise! They're nailing all of the McCain points from last night: spending, spending, something I said 25 years ago, spending, campaign suspension, "Senator Obama" does not understand/is not aware of..." I'm not entirely sure what they're having Barack do here, because there was plenty of humor to take from his fairly poor debate performance. This is lacking in Parns.

"McCain: I don't care anymore."
And Hillary! Dazzling, as always, Amy.

Fantastic. The last few moments saved it.

First Date -- Kenan is in a sketch! You can see the lines around Anna Faris' wig, and it's throwing me off. And why is she singing? Is it because she looks like Britney Spears? Kenan's singing! This is acceptable. Acceptably weird. I'm just happy to see Kenan do things.

Duffy - "Mercy" -- She has some pretty bad choreography, and holy hell, her voice is higher than anyone's ever should be. I don't care if she's all cute and Welsh and hates pants, she's wearing a weird jumper thing and and this is just bad. Maybe I should be Duffy for Halloween. I can do these dance moves in my sleep, sing badly and not wear pants. Oh, she's doing her little move with the other arm now. The right one must have gotten tired. Save me.

Weekend Update -- The one thing on SNL that can never disappoint me. Smelt it v. Dealt it. Bill Clinton! He loves parties. Like the Democratic one. John McCain is "A Republican, a war hero, a great friend and hilarious and cool." The thing about Darrell Hammond is that he completely disappears into his impersonations. You don't see the Darrell in his portrayal. He doesn't crack. Tonight, he almost cracked. Awesome. The Emmys joke is true. They made me hate television. The only thing that didn't make me hate television?

Well, that and the Ricky Gervais thing.

Is this the first appearance of Kristen in this episode? Oh, Kristen. That was some fast talking amazingness on par with Mr. Subliminal. I have no idea what Amy/Seth were saying at the end of Update. Anyone?

Scores -- Two sketches with Kenan?! Hoorah! Bill Hader is so sleazy. Where is Anna Faris? Oh, there she is. I expected the sketch to end with Scores going out of business. It doesn't matter. This sketch was a tragic misuse of all involved.

Deephouse Dish -- Wow, haven't seen this sketch in awhile. And wow, Kenan is in three sketches so far. And hey, Andy Samberg still exists! They don't like using him anymore, do they? Remember when he was the next big thing? Then Bill Hader proved to everyone that he was hilariousness in a bottle. I hope they show pregnant Amy Poehler singing something in spandex. Aw, first use of Forte. There are officially too many men on SNL, because boy are Forte, Meyers, etc not being used at all.

Googie & Renee's Wedding Dresses -- Kenan AGAIN! Why do I get the feeling that Kenan is now not going to be in the next like, 7 episodes? Casey Wilson is so pretty. This is the second reference to Facebook in one episode. Is Kenan obsessed?

Duffy "Stepping Stone" -- More simplex dance moves. More high-pitched singing. Duffy really wants to be sultry. I can tell. Maybe if she stops the Wax On/Wax Off moves and lowers her voice an octave or two. She sounds better here, though. I guess. The lighting is neat. I feel like I am at a speakeasy.

German restaurant -- Hm. Now that was a camera that was accidentally in the shot. I wish Will Forte dressed like a German boy every week. Poor Bill Hader, you are not as good as Anna Faris' exboyfriend. "Hurricanes are great! I love them!" This was short, to the point and funny as has been the case for last sketch this season, but it was no Michael Phelps diet or Willem Dafoe trying to get James Franco to kill Andy Samberg. Still, funny. And a good way to end an otherwise droll ending.

Closing -- Meh. Expectations weren't high for a reason. Nothing really held my interest. Even the debate sketch missed the mark, in my opinion, though fortunately there was some Chris Parnell to make it better. With such strong, funny women on the show, I would wish that they would be able to write some strong, funny roles for female hosts, but that really didn't seem to be the case this episode. I wonder how much of that blame lies on Anna Faris and her staff cooperation. who knows? I sure don't. I'm disappointed. But again, Tina Fey and Chris Parns to the rescue! Amy Poehler is wearing a Clay Aiken shirt! Will Forte is wearing his full German garb still! Great.

Until next Saturday.

We showed up around 6:30pm and ended up being standby numbers 29-31 for dress rehearsal. I've been to both dress rehearsal and the live show, and I'm a fan of dress. It's longer, you see things that are cut out, and you can still be home in time to watch it on tv.

I spent a decent amount of the 11.5 hours in line speaking with a friend about the Jonas Brothers. She writes for M Magazine.

Things I learned about the JoBros:

Anyways. SNL/NBC run such a well-oiled machine. A well-oiled chaotic machine. So even though we went through the metal detector, I still had some pretty serious doubts about whether we would get in. And they only let 20 people up, which was depressing... until they asked for 12 more. We were in!

As we walked to our seats (which were very far in the back and up in the corner), Sudeikis was in the process of warming up the crowd. He mentioned that everybody was going to enjoy themselves, except for us, because we were heading to the worst seats in the house and wouldn't see anything. But hey! At least we'd get to hear it! When you walk in and Jason Sudeikis makes a joke about you, you know you've made it. Kristen Wiig and Fred Armisen came out and played "Hanging on the Telephone" by Blondie, which is a song I was randomly obsessed with in college for no reason.

It's pretty impressive to watch them move around the sets and scenery, to watch the host and cast members have to start running after every sketch for the next costume change because THERE'S NO TIME AHHH.

It's great.

The other thing that I should note is that SNL is much, much funnier in person. There are scenes that I thought were funnier in person that I thought were a little flatter on TV. And there were scenes that I didn't think were that funny in person that ended up being even less funny on TV, so.. keep that in mind as you read this. I'm biased from the live experience.

Cold Open -- SNL had A LOT of buzz after the Clinton/Palin sketch next week, and unfortunately I think this somewhat missed the mark. They did actually manage to tackle several campaign issues (the dirtiness of the campaign, Palin's experience level, McCain's lack of knowledge about technology), and it was packaged well. I'm sure they're all truly upset that next week's debates are on Friday. That will be a long night for the crew -- you know they're going to have to be there until around 3am writing sketches and Update jokes based on that. Oh, the life and times of political comedians.

Monologue -- James Franco looks like the happiest person ever to be hosting SNL, so I think that this will be a good show. I don't know why, but his giant smile is telling me so. If he is smiling so huge right before he plunged into a not funny show, I will be disappointed.. I love Kevin Wo.

Cougar Den -- They are really good at hiding Amy Poehler's belly. It's impressive, actually. I have no idea why Cameron Diaz is there. It's so random and unexpected. Like, hey, we only have three chicks on the show, so we need another! Emo James Franco is still beautiful. And that is all I will say about his looks, scouts honor. The more sketches I see her in, the more I'm really starting to like Casey Wilson. Which is good, because there will be only two girls on SNL soon. I'm suprised they didn't start the season with another featured girl.

Agent 420 -- Bill Hader and Jason Sudeikis are pretty much my two favorite castmembers. I enjoy seeing the two of them together, especially when they're interrupted by Saul--er Agent 420. Kristen Wiig is the show's new singer now that Maya is gone. In dress rehearsal, this sketch was about an hour later than it was used here. And it ended with them all collapsed on the floor.

OJ Simpson Jury -- I was about 90% certain this sketch would be cut, and not only is it still here, they moved it up. The only part I really like is James Franco's flip out. "SERIOUSLY! AM I HIM?!" Bobby Moynihan should stick to anthropology sketches like this character. I love Andy Samberg's alien makeup, it distracts me from Kenan's bad OJ Simpson make-up. Before this sketch, Bill Hader (who just seems all around jolly and likes to wave at people in the crowd) caught us looking at him and made faces and waved to us. Hooray! Thank you for acknowledging us in the back in our one random three person section (there are no rows in front of us, and our view was pretty blocked by cameras, as Jason Sudeikis apparently knows all to well).

Digital Short -- This really is every CW show ever. The short was edited, which is sad, because we miss the great teen show exchange of "What's your name?" "What does it matter?" The older people trying to act like they're 15. The Blake Lively. Sometimes I wonder where Andy Samberg thinks of these things. Late night dreams?

TNT Shows - The Looker -- I don't know what it is about this, but I find it hysterical. Maybe it's James Franco's greasy ponytail. Maybe it's Fred Armisen's ability to stare creepily and expressionlessly for so long. Maybe it's Sudeikis' delivery of "Sonuvabitch!" Too bad the camera guy turned away as Franco delivered the, "WHY ARE YOUR GLASSES SO SMALL?" yell. Why are her glasses so small? And so creepy?

Kings of Leon "Sex on Fire" -- Let's be honest. I came into this not liking Kings of Leon. Though in a close-minded, I heard a few songs of theirs a couple of years ago and saw them live and just could care less. I thought they were gross and untalented. They've cleaned up a bit and started writing better songs, and I really like this, actually. Thank you, SNL for converting my opinion. And now I need to buy this album. I am kind of in love with Caleb Followill's voice. Even if he looks pretty nervous. People on TV should avoid chewing gum. I'm talking to you, Nathan Followill.

Weekend Update -- Seth Meyers doesn't really do much as a cast member on SNL anymore, so I live for seeing him and Amy on Weekend Update. They have always worked well together, and it's sad to think that those days are numbered. I find Seth Meyers to be a completely underrated straight man (in comedy, yo), but I suppose he's busy doing the writing thing. Jason Sudeikis' chest hair! Yes! Below that barrel he is wearing black dress socks and black shoes. It's pretty hilarious to watch someone walk across a set in a barrel with long dress socks. It's even weirder to see someone walking around in their green underwear. Thank you, Jason Sudeikis and Fred Armisen. After both were done, Seth remaked that "It's interesting when the best dressed guest was a guy in a barrel." Weekend Update is probably my favorite part of dress rehearsal, because Amy and Seth clearly have so much fun with it and are not afraid to screw around at dress. Before the George Takei joke, Seth actually stopped and started cracking up. He asked Amy for some Rosie Perez inspiration, which is great, because she does the best Rosie Perez impression ever, seriously. It can be so bad and so good at once. Amy also had a joke that she messed up on, which sadly ended up being cut. "Brad Pitt donated money to support gay marriage. He wants to be ready when Clooney finally proposes." She said "Cloonily" the first time, which turned into a little segment.

AMY: That's what I'll say when I meet him. "Cloonily I've met you!"
SETH: And he will say, "SECURITY!"
AMY: How'd you get into my trailer?

The Paw & Order joke was originally what closed out Weekend Update, but they moved it up earlier on because it didn't get too many laughs. Until they started playing the sound over and over. Seth wants you all to know that him and Amy watch a lot of L&O because they are "hip and cool."

NY Times -- I am not the hugest fan of this sketch. Though Will Forte being obsessed with polar bears is fantastic. This sketch was originally much earlier in the show, I'm glad it was rearranged. And sad it wasn't cut all together, actually. So many polar bear deaths just lead me to believe that Sarah Palin is right in being a polar bear hater. Only not, because I love polar bears.

Of Mice & Men alternate ending -- So, seriously, of the three sketches I thought would get cut, all three have been in the live show. This is weird. Though I do find this hilarious. I'm also confused by the amount to which Bobby Moynihan has been used. It's only been two episodes, of course, but they usually don't use the new guys too much straight away. James Franco should always dress like he is in this sketch, though, because it's fantastic. This one really appeals to the lit geek in me.

Yankee Stadium Stories -- I love this. Amy Poehler Is Rosie Perez. "Throw me the meatball!" Man, Yankee Stadium. I'm going to miss you. It's nice to be at SNL this weekend and sit in the Yankee Stadium seats. The seats in the balcony of the SNL studio are on-loan from George Steinbrenner. He told Lorne that he wanted the chairs back when the show was cancelled. Oh, useless information that you learn on the NBC Experience tour (very fun tour by the way. I'd recommend taking it before Conan leaves for California). There actually were three shown at dress, one with Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, and another with Russell Simmons and .. I'm not really sure who Amy Poehler was supposed to be. Courtney Love? I missed the caption.

Kings of Leon "Use Somebody" -- I am in love with this song. Unfortunately for Lil Wayne last week, the SNL set isn't a great place for hip-hop performances, but the hollow space is fairly perfect for a haunting rock song. And Nathan is still chewing gum. He was chewing gum at dress, too, so we're running on like five hours of gum chewing. Nice.

Willem Dafoe -- This was my favorite sketch hands down. I love that they make fun of James Franco's squintiness. Bill Hader looks nothing like Willem Dafoe, but this is still hilarious. Andy Samberg's impression of Willem Dafoe is amazing, and spot on, clearly. And making fun of the mirror scenes from Spider-Man are great. It's the Michael Phelps Diet way of ending a show. End it with a great sketch so you can forget that they put some duds in there.

Closing -- Good times. I like that James Franco pointed Blake Lively out, because she's not on stage, but I've been informed that the whole Gossip Girl cast was at the show tonight. Chace Crawford actually showed up for dress, as well, because he knows as well as we do that the SNL experience is totally worth it. Also, he's beautiful, and wanted to make sure that I could see his beauty and stare at him with my head cocked to the side. Sigh. I am still curious as to why Cameron Diaz was there. It makes little sense to me. Have James Franco and Cameron Diaz even ever been in a movie together? According to IMDB, they were in The Holiday together. ..Ok.

The photos before/after commercials were stunningly good this episode, both for James Franco and Kings of Leon. Of course, James Franco is stunningly photographic, so that probably helps.

What WAS Cut is sad, because there were some really good ones in there:
A sketch in which James Dean and Liberace are in a movie together was a little too long, and only had a few funny moments, but it was worth it to see James Franco do his James Dean some more (if you haven't seen the James Dean movie that aired on TNT a few years ago, it's worth a rental) and Fred Armisen as Liberace was fun. I can understand why they cut it, but I'm disappointed. And since they did cut it, and we all sometimes need our James Franco as James Dean fix, I present to you, acting lessons with James Franco. James and his brother Dave(y) recreate a scene from Rebel Without a Cause. Brilliance.

The Suze Orman Show, which is always great, though, yes, too long. Kristen needed to review all of the cue cards before feeling ready to sit at Suze's desk. Then she nailed everything. Kristen Wiig, you are amazing.

Lovematchconnect.com. A website which is already fully functional, so I have no doubt that they will be airing this commercial at some point in the future.

And perhaps one of my favorite sketches of the night involved James Franco as the manipulative boyfriend that Kristen Wiig wants to break up with. Only she can't, because he manipulates people by crying hysterically and telling them what he wants them to do. By the end of the scene, he tries to get Amy Poehler and Casey Wilson to take off their shirts and kiss each other while Kristen is in the kitchen making the pasta (and garlic bread, etc, etc) that he bought to make for her. This was sold on James Franco's amazing ability to cry hysterically and speak at the same time. But I guess not to Lorne. Boo.

There was also an awful sketch involving old men trying to schedule a meeting but having to many other weird appointments, including one involving a glory hole.

Thank you, Urban Dictionary, for all of your help through the years.

Rest in Peace

It is no secret that I am/was a fan of Saturday Night Live, and its slow decline has left a great big chunk of empty where my heart used to be. Back before the zany Rachel Dracht and the genius Tina Fey left, I wouldn’t have missed an episode. I never even had the network that the show aired on in South Africa, but I made a plan to see it, I needed my weekly SNL fix. My need to make a plan became less and less important when those hysterically intuitive comedians left for greener pastures. However, there was always Amy Poehler, and to a lesser extent Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph to pick up the slack. That’s right, the ladies brought the funny to that show like no man ever could – or did, or ever will. Can you imagine Weekend Update with just Seth Meyers and his idiotic grin sans Amy?

Now with Ms. Poehler spreading her wings and flapping off to her new NBC show after the November election, pulling a Tina “30 Rock” Fey on us I hope, is there any reason left to watch? I think not. And it is heartbreaking. For her too, “"It's gonna be really hard — Boyz II Men hard — to say goodbye to yesterday," she told Men’s Vogue. "'SNL' was dangerous, late-night, last-minute and star-studded, but like any good drug, you need to know when to put it down." I guess that’s it then. I’m putting it down, or at least when her last episode airs in SA sometime in 2009, not even going to bother checking into rehab, it’s all cold turkey from this point onwards. Goodbye yesterday, and all the tremendously years of funny before then.

If I would have known that like, 600 of you would have read my review of the Michael Phelps SNL, I would've put more effort into it. It would've been more review and less minute by minute typing out of my thoughts. There might have been an intro, maybe more of a closing.

So just to make things right with the world, I'm going to make this a regular feature. I will write an SNL review every week that I am able to see the show. I will suffer through every bad episode and laugh my way through every good one. And you will benefit.

What brought this on? Earlier today, a friend of mine sent me a message notifying me about an event with Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers at the Times Square location of the Museum of the Moving Image. I had to respectfully decline as a) it was sold out and b) I was supposed to go to a birthday dinner. Though I was tempted to try my luck, I decided not to.

So imagine my Gawker Stalker surprise when I see (pregnant!) Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers walk into the restaurant where we were having the birthday dinner. And just so I can say it for the 3284th time in this blog, SHE IS SO PREGNANT, OMG. And Seth Meyers is still as amazing as every Asssscat I've ever seen him in has made him out to be. Seriously, if you live in NYC and have never been to the UCB Theatre, what the hell are you waiting for? You could've seen Bobby Moynihan like every week before he became an SNL cast member! (Or, you know, Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Jack McBrayer, the Human Giant folk, Rob Riggle, Horatio Sanz, etc... man, 2004-2006ish, those were the golden days of NYC improv... for me). And if you take classes there, YOU TOO CAN BE THE NEXT BOBBY MOYNIHAN.

Anyways, while walking to the subway we also spotted Rachel Dratch. So, since 3 former + current SNL castmembers entered my purview today, and since 600+ of you looked at my Michael Phelps review, AND since I'm planning on doing standby for SNL this week and might get into dress rehearsal to see Jimmy Franks + Kings of Leon, I will continue this reviewing thing.

It could get interesting.

I am predicting the following things:

Either way, it should be mildly entertaining in a total trainwreck sort of way. I just hope that Amy Poehler is there all pregnant like. Though it's doubtful. Barack Obama will no longer be there, and that's sad yet understandable. And I spent most of today watching the third season of Arrested Development, so fortunately I've had plenty of funny.

And if you were hoping for some Ravens/Texans fun, Reliant Stadium suffered some structural damage from Hurricane Ike. There are about 2 million people without power in Houston (including my fam), but fortunately for all, the storm came in weaker than predicted. Still very strong, still very big, but there was no 25' storm surge. We'll see what happens, but remain safe, my Texans.

 No filme, Brendan Fraser é Trevor, um geólogo que encontra anotações de seu irmão Max em uma edição do livro Viagem ao Centro da Terra de Julio Verne.

Trevor percebe que as anotações no livro batem com sua pesquisa sobre abalos sísmicos, e desconfia que Max, desaparecido há 10 anos na Islândia, descobriu um caminho para o núcleo do planeta.

Na companhia de seu sobrinho Sean (Josh Hutcherson) e uma guia islandesa (Anita Briem), Trevor tem a oportunidade de conhecer um mundo maravilhoso e desconhecido a 6.000 quilômetros abaixo da superfície.

Viagem ao Centro da Terra é uma aventura para toda família, que vale a pena ser conferida nos cinemas ou em DVD. Mas também é bom lembrar que os livros costumam ser melhores que os filmes! Então, também leia Viagem ao Centro da Terra.

Título Original: Journey to the Center of the Earth
Elenco: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, Anita Briem, Seth Meyers
Duração: 94 minutos
Gênero: Aventura
País: EUA
Ano: 2008
Diretor: Eric Brevig
Roterista: Michael Weiss, Jennifer Flackett e Mark Levin

Para assistir o trailer do filme clique aqui

Today, the NY Times has an article about an online series that Bill Hader stars in called "The Line". "The Line" is a series of four or five minutes bits about a guy waiting in line to see the new sci-fi flick called "FutureSpace". Apparently, Hader wrote it during the writer's strike with another SNL writer & it is based on Hader's experience of waiting in line for 20 hours to see "The Phantom Menace". Check out "The Line" over here.

Cinematically Correct note: I wonder if Bill Hader was as disappointed with "The Phantom Menace" as the rest of the world.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, OK. The Line is Saturday Night Live's first major foray into web production, created by cast member Bill Hader and writer Simon Rich and directed by Seth Meyers. The seven-episode web series is either a celebration of the fanboy spirit or a cruel mockery of those who would spend 11 days of their life waiting in line to see a movie -- but either way you interpret it, it's a great-looking series, with flawless production values and some top-notch acting, especially from Hader and SNL/30 Rock cast member Jason Sudeikis.

However, while the comedy is solid and reasonably character-based, the series as a whole lacks structure and dramatic momentum. While each episode has a bit of a through line (such as episode 4, in which one man juggles spending time with his son and upholding his commitment to line-waiting), the connections between them are tentative. Given what other web series have been able to do with approximately 28 minutes of screen time, it's a little disappointing when the same material gets rehashed for the first four episodes. Episode 5, in which a trivia contest gives the series its first real conflict, offers a glimmer of hope that the series might acquire a real adversary -- but those hopes are dashed moments later. It's clearly a series written by sketch writers, more interested in stringing together funny scenes than developing a full narrative.

The Line does a solid job of capturing the peculiar status of the aging fanboys trapped between their adolescent passions and the pressures of adulthood, but its most glaring flaw is that there's no countdown, no building excitement, and little reference to the fictional Future Space franchise. There's a lot of material left unexplored here -- especially since the story ends just when we're about to find out whether or not the Future Space devotees are subjected to the same trauma experienced by those who waited for a new Star Wars movie -- and got The Phantom Menace instead.

Hader is a self-professed fanboy who, in 1999, waited 15 to 20 hours to see Phantom Menace in the theaters; it's difficult to understand why he chose to end this story before what feels, dramatically, like its real end. Will the fans grow up after finally achieving their dream of seeing the movie? We'll never know, and after investing my time in the series, it's a little disappointing.

But you know what? Perhaps that's my fault. Perhaps I was wrong to expect that much. Because what I learned from Star Wars is that the greater the expectations, the greater the likelihood of disappointment.

DICK IN A BOX

PEOPLE GETTING PUNCHED

]]> http://howardspot.wordpress.com/?p=31 Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:47:54 +0000 hlevenson http://howardspot.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/howard-the-webby-awards/ Thanks (again) to my friend Madelyn Hammond at Variety Magazine - I was graciously comped 2 tix at Variety's table to last night's Webby Awards Gala at the famous Cipriani Wall St. in Lower Manhattan.

We were hosted at our table, most stylishly I might add, by Ed Meisner from Variety. Also at the table with us was William O'Donnell from Gorilla Spots; as well as the beautiful ladies from Embassy Row. Great conversation, good food & drink, an excellent time.

Seth Meyers of SNL fame was the host, with a night full of one-liners. Present at the awards were Stephen Colbert, Will.i.am, Ludacris and David Byrne. There was also a performance by DJ Mike Relm of Blue Man Group fame - among other things.

For those in "the know", the Webbys only allow a five (5) word acceptance speech. This of course leads to all kinds of antics. I only regret not being able to stream video.Here's a small collection of my Tweets from the event (ending at midnight yesterday - in reverse chrono order)...

• and so endeth my #webby stream... | about 1 hour ago from web
  
• colbert's webby speech - "me me me me me" | about 1 hour ago from web
• colbert labelled "the democrats balls" by seth meyers at #webbys | about 1 hour ago from web
• tribal webby speech - "we're hiring, send us resumes" | about 1 hour ago from web
• "please help me monetize this" most excellent webby speech | about 1 hour ago from web
• "fuck corp design, hire me" webby speech | about 1 hour ago from web
• "one time at band camp..." goodby webby speech | about 2 hours ago from web
• worst webby speech so far - "i admit i voted twice" by tribalddb | about 2 hours ago from web
• will.i.am - "now, we know we can" webby speech | about 3 hours ago from web
• "gov spitzer, we thank you" - webby speech from ny times | about 3 hours ago from web
• flock said "no shit, we beat facebook?", then FB won the Peops Choice... | about 3 hours ago from web
• "who let the blogs out" - kewl webby speech | about 3 hours ago from web
• "not bad for an atheist" - best Webby speech yet! | about 4 hours ago from web
• lovin the 5 word acceptance speeches. ms. huffington said "president obama, sounds good right?" | about 4 hours ago from web

Cheers - Hjl

MSNBC Covers Fallon News

This heated story naturally became fodder for all comics and late-night TV show hosts, including Saturday Night Live. There's a segment on SNL called Weekend Update, with news anchors Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler.  And sometimes within that segment is a segment called Really, With Seth and Amy, in which the two poke fun at a particular newsworthy story or person.

On the March 15th show, they ran the Really segment and the topic was Eliot Spitzer.  Seth mentioned that Spitzer didn't wear a condom while engaged in his activities with his call girls. Seth said it would one thing if Spitzer was the first guy in line to make it with a particular girl, but he was the ninth guy, and still thought nothing (apparently) of not wearing a condom!

Aghast at this, Seth commented, "Really!", and that he (Seth) wears a condom even if he's ninth in line at the deli!

Too funny!

Of course, if Spitzer did not in fact wear a condom while "practicing" his infidelities, shame on him big time. This was another point (in a long line of points) in which he set a very bad example.

Wear a condom for heaven sakes.  Don't take stupid risks.  And yes, as Seth Meyers put it, it may very well be a great idea to wear a condom while standing in the deli line!

Jon Stewart is reportedly spending his time away from Comedy Central's world news headquarters doing some old-fashioned good guy stuff. The Washington Post's "Reliable Source" reports that Stewart has quietly been visiting wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans at Bethesda and Walter Reed hospitals. Stewart received the USO Merit Award for his frequent visits, which WaPo reports began in 2004.

Stewart reportedly does it to get out of the theoretical and into the reality of the war in Iraq. "If anything, it's made me angrier. . . . You can be for the war, against the war, but you can't be uninformed about it. To see the human cost is part of the equation," he said.

Stewart has not actually gone to visit the troops in Iraq because, he said, "I'm chickenshit."

I wonder how many "real" journalists and pundits have spent time with the people whose lives they speak so cavalierly about on television and radio and in print. Has William Kristol cast a shadow on the floor of a burn ward? Has Brian Williams or Soledad O'Brien spent time in the physical therapy room with soldiers learning to walk on prosthetic legs? I'd actually like to know.

Good for Jon Stewart, I say.

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Saturday Night Live is bathing in the rich glow of media attention since its return from the Writers Guild strike. The media-love-Obama/hate-Hillary sketches, Sen. Clinton's appearance, Tina Fey's pronouncement that "bitches get stuff done," and Clinton's post-SNL wins in Ohio and Texas have led to some serious hand-wringing about whether the old guard of TV satire has surrendered its street cred to back Clinton.

SNL honcho Lorne Michaels has defended his product on both coasts, telling the New York Times' Bill Carter, “I’m sensitive to the suggestion that we’re in the service of Hillary Clinton this year.... That obviously is not the case. We don’t lay down for anybody.”

Matea Gold writes in the Los Angeles Times, "[T]he show's writers were divided when Clinton's campaign called and said that the candidate was interested in making an appearance on the show March 2, right before the Ohio and Texas primaries. 'Some people thought it wasn't a good idea,' Michaels said. 'Would it appear partisan?'"

I can answer that: Yes.

Satire is dicey business, and the satirist always risks looking like a partisan. The vast weight of seemingly pro-Clinton material in those first weeks back from the strike, when comedy-loving Americans were aching to see how SNL would re-enter the fray of the campaign, gave a strong impression that it was, in fact, giving her a hand.

Writes Gold: "'The show happens too quickly for any of us to have an agenda,' added [co-head writer Seth] Meyers, who donated $1,000 to Obama in January. 'And our egos as comedy writers are too big to ever let our own political loyalties get in the way of a joke. So we aim for whatever is the richest to be satirized on any given week.'"

Choosing what's ripe for satire is an editorial choice, inherently laden with value judgments borne of one's biases, conscious or otherwise. As a veteran of TV news, I can tell you that the work of simply getting a show on the air every night makes partisanship difficult. But not impossible. When you've got a week to do it, I'm guessing it's a bit easier. Still, Michaels told Entertainment Weekly, "We can reflect something, but I don't think we affect the course of human events.''

I think Michaels is being willfully naive there, as Jon Stewart and his colleagues are when they say they're just doing a little comedy show. Too many studies have shown that young people in particular turn to comedy shows as a source for news. The simple act of satirizing something affects the course of human events. That's the whole purpose of satire.

To quote Mark Twain, "No god and no religion can survive ridicule. No church, no nobility, no royalty or other fraud, can face ridicule in a fair field and live."

___________________

In case you missed it, the New York Times had a very good profile of Eddie Izzard last week. Check it out.

___________________

Maria Bamford is really, really funny. Silly, weird and so, so funny.

___________________

Barry Crimmins has been under the weather for the last while, and when you live in northwestern New York "under the weather" takes on a whole new meaning. But Barry Crimmins on a bad day is funnier and smarter than you and I could hope to be. Read the last several posts. From his sickbed... check it out.

Cracked me up. The news has always been the best part of that show, ahead of the fake commercials.

Casting your favorite celebrities into the pits of Hades since 2007

It is a fairly well-known fact that all celebrities will be cast into the flames of eternal damnation when they die. As a bouncer to the 7th Circle of Hades, I have my work cut out for me--deciding who gets through the gates and who does not can be a tough call at times. To make my job easier, I created a blog. Now, for the first time in history, readers can help determine which celebrities are worthy of entrance into the 7th Circle.

_________________________________

NOTE: This blog vows to remain a Paris Hilton free zone.

That’s cool. I get it and so will most people, but I think whoever currently managing the show right needs to seriously consider which episode to air.  

Last Saturday it aired Alec Baldwin along with musical guest Christina Aguilera.  

Still doing good, no big deal. But as you know the devil is always in the details.  

The opening sketch showed “Rep. Nancy Pelosi” (Kristen Wiig) making a speech to the nation thanking voters in last (“Tuesday’s”) November’s election. Clue #1. So now I know it’s a little more than a year old.  

During it, she mentioned that she was looking forward to becoming Speaker of the House then about two months away.  

I could forgive SNL for this; it seems to happen a lot when they show reruns, but what happened next almost floored me.  

The second sketch parodied Saddam Hussein (played by Baldwin) meeting his two lawyers for the last time before his scheduled December hanging. (Yeah, it was a year ago. Hard to believe huh?)  

At the time, sure it would be funny, but now – I don’t know even how to describe it. Knowing the media frenzy that followed and cell phone camera debacle kind of cheapens this supposed slice of funniness.  

The show’s TV Funhouse cartoon featured Nathan’s Famous hot dog champion Takeru Kobayashi as a super hero. Too bad he lost to San Jose’s Joey Chestnut this year.  

And Seth Myers interviewed “Donald Rumsfeld” (Darrell Hammond) on his sudden departure from the Defense Department during the Weekend Update. Even Hammond doesn’t work on the show anymore!  

One delightful surprise came when Alec Baldwin imitated Tony Bennett for the “Tony Bennett Show.” He did a great job; who knew he had this hidden talent? (Ok, all of America who watched it the first time the show aired!)  

But then my excitement quickly dwindled when “Tony Bennett” mentioned to the real Tony Bennett (a guest on the show) he was going to meet or see Pavarotti perform. Pavarotti, of course died in September at the age 71.  

Then of course you have Christina Aguilera – pre-pregnancy. Minor I know. 

Maybe I have ingrown horns on my head, but all I’m asking is to find a more recent episode where nothing catastrophic happened since it originally aired. Be creative – air one episode from each decade, or highlight individual cast members, or guest hosts. I know these are not original ideas I am pitching. I’m saying just be more creative with what you have or currently don’t have.  

I did my duty.  I went and stood with my fellow writers.    It is literally, the very least I can do.  I had a lovely conversation with David Duchovney.  A wink and a nod with Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins.  A few words of encouragement to Seth Myers from SNL.  The guy from Law and Order: SVU.

If you know me, you know that I would like nothing more than to kick a celebrity's ass.  But this was not the time for that.  It is a time for solidarity.  So Seth Meyers, you're off the hook.  You too, Duchovney.  (Tim Robbins is a big guy and can probably scrap, but he's older, so I think I have a good chance of taking him.)  But after everyone is back at work, don't let me catch you outside Bungalow 8 and you've had a few drinks.