Vintage Saturday Night Live Review: George Wendt and Francis Ford Coppola / Philip Glass (S11E13)

"I want you to react by laughing, but if you don't feel like laughing, I want you to go back and remember something from your childhood..."

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NOTE: Hey, everybody! I was planning on posting this on Christmas, but then I totally forgot about that like a complete idiot. But I'm posting it now, because while it's attached to my review coming out in a few days, it's such a substantive piece of writing that I'd like it to also exist on its own so that it can get more unique web traffic and serve as an independent writing sample.

(The full episode can be watched here.)

Desperate times call for desperate measures, but is that always a bad thing? Season 11 of Saturday Night Live, for the most part, would lead you to believe it, amidst the series of questionable decisions it's made up to this point... but sometimes, out of adversity, amazing things can happen. It's true that something as crazy as the George Wendt/Francis Ford Coppola episode could only happen in a season like Season 11, but it still feels so deeply improbable. With Lorne Michaels and SNL in general, any degree of self-analysis is a slippery slope that risks having its cake and eating it too, and there's a definite risk of this deeply meta night being a self-indulgent mess that pokes at the show's systemic problems without trying to rectify them—and perhaps it does, to some extent. But the audacity of this episode, and the willingness of the show to hold itself up to some healthy scrutiny, makes it a legendary success. This is perhaps the most unique evening of the show that you will ever see.

Saturday Night Live, Ranked and Reviewed: Season 10

"Hey, you! I know you! I know you!"

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With the loss of Eddie Murphy, Ebersol found himself in a nerve-wracking predicament. How could he maintain SNL as cool, appointment television without one of the greatest stars the show ever had? The solution: bring in some of the biggest names in comedy that he could and hoping for the best. Do the additions of Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Christopher Guest, Rich Hall, Harry Shearer, and Pamela Stephenson end Ebersol's era on a high note, or does the spirit of the show get lost in the shuffle? 

For my reviews of the previous season, Season 9, CLICK HERE! Otherwise, it's time to wrap up the Ebersol era—let's roll.

Patreon Announcement

Hi everybody!

My name is Matt, and I assume that if you're reading this, you know that I'm a freelance writer who's latest project has been working through every single SNL season systematically and writing reviews of every single episode along the way. 

What you might not know is that I have been writing online since at least 2011, and while I've historically been a bit uncomfortable with monetizing my work—it's a passion project!—I am now, officially, a young adult with many things they must do. I can't commit myself to my writing as easily as I used to. Writing my SNL reviews is something I greatly enjoy, but it's also a massive time investment; doing coverage for an entire season can take anywhere between 1-3 months depending on how busy I am, and it makes up some of the most lengthy and comprehensive writing that I have ever done.

That's where you can chime in! For only $3 a month, you can help support my writing endeavors and get exclusive, early access to my SNL coverage as it's written instead of having to wait for everything to come out at once! I'm also planning some fun, exclusive content for behind the paywall, starting with coverage of Lorne Michaels' doomed spiritual successor to SNL, The New Show! Even if I'm very biased... that sounds like a pretty good deal to me. I look forward to seeing you on the other side!

https://www.patreon.com/mattalamode

Saturday Night Live, Ranked and Reviewed: Season 9

 "Maybe we can turn off the lights and... see what develops!"

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And so, after a season that pushed the Ebersol era into an appreciative state of stability, the boat starts to rock again. With Eddie Murphy maintaining one foot out the door, missing shows and eventually leaving before the season's even concluded, the show's future is yet again thrown into question. How will it cope with the loss of its greatest star? And just how much will the hiring of our only new cast member, Jim Belushi, give the show an extra jolt?

For my reviews of the previous season, Season 8, CLICK HERE! Now, without further ado, here are my thoughts on every episode of Season 9!

Some Long Overdue Thoughts on Amphibia

 

"It's over. It's finally over."

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So... it's been a very long time since I've written about Amphibia, huh? I feel bad, perpetually, about it. I know the coverage I did for over fifty episodes of the show, spanning almost two years, was something that quite a few people really enjoyed, even people who actually worked on the show, and I still think about that. And that fed into a lot of guilt, because at a certain point... I didn't know what else I could say about the show anymore. And so I didn't. But now, having seen the full arc of the show, I thought I'd re-emerge from the shadows and share a few final thoughts about Season 3 and the series in general.

Saturday Night Live, Ranked and Reviewed: Season 8

 "Hey, Mr. Wheat!"

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Season 7 proved to be, for me, a rather tumultuous time. That's not because it was bad; it was a land of extremes, packed with forgotten gems but also ensured, interminable dead spots in every single episode. My expectations going into this season, then—touting some crucial new hires and losing Tony Rosato, Christine Ebersole, and Brian Doyle-Murray—were refinement and stability. Beyond that, Season 8 also boasts some of the more daring and intriguing offerings of the Ebersol era: comedy icons like Sid Caesar and the Smothers Brothers, an eight year-old Drew Barrymore, Chevy Chase emceeing the premiere through a television-screen, and of course Eddie Murphy hosting the show while a member of the cast, cementing his status as the show's in-house legend. 

For my reviews of the previous season, Season 7, CLICK HERE! Otherwise, without further ado (but my god, please pace yourself): here's my thoughts on Season 8!

Saturday Night Live, Ranked and Reviewed: Season 7

 "Oh, you girls have let yourselves go!"

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And so, following the tumultuous and critically-maligned Season 6, we enter the Ebersol era! It's a period that I've been looking forward to quite a bit, considering how hyped up it's been by a lot of other SNL diehards, and the fact that a so much of it seems to have been erased from the show's sense of lore makes it all the more intriguing. We've also got a promising new class of cast members, some of whom we met on the last episode of last season: Robin Duke, Tim Kazurinsky, Tony Rosato are joined by Second City alum Mary Gross and musical theater performer Christine Ebersole, while (relative) veterans Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo helm the pack. Will they be able to bring credibility and life back to the ailing sketch program? I guess I'll have to find out for myself!

For my reviews of the previous season, Season 6, CLICK HERE! Now, without further ado: Season 7!

Saturday Night Live, Ranked and Reviewed: Season 6

 "It just doesn't matter!"

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With the original era drawing to a close, I now approach some of the most infamously dangerous territory in SNL's history: the maligned Season 6. In the fall-out between Lorne Michaels and Fred Silverman, the show's talent coordinator, Jean Doumanian, was put in charge of helming the next era of the show and building an entirely new cast and writer's room. The results—seen at the time as a disastrous twelve-episode run that found the show in danger of cancellation—have since become the subject of legend, and in recent history, of significant re-evaluation. 

Of the infamous seasons of Saturday Night Live (6, 11, 20, 30), Season 6 has always been the one I'm most eager to explore because of the unique, nigh-impossible challenge the show has been tasked with: retool the hippest, most beloved comedy show on television without any precedent. No matter how good or bad Season 6 would end up, it was tasked with fighting an uphill battle all the way through. This is where I think the re-evaluation spearheaded by the likes of the That Week in SNL podcast, Bronwyn Douwsma, and Stooge are so invaluable; they've facilitated a broader discussion on the show, acknowledging the circumstances in which they were created but with the assistance of hindsight. Such people inspired me to begin chronicling my journey through SNL in the first place, and subsequently, I'm very excited to add to that ongoing dialogue! 

For my reviews of the preceding season, Season 5, CLICK HERE! Now, onwards, into one of the most fascinating periods in SNL's history, beginning with...

Summer Camp Island Review: A Barb is Born / Hot Milk and Careless Whispers / Nightcap (Barb and the Spotted Bears Chapters 1-3)

"I was born with the confidence of a thousand bears, but the wherewithal of a thousand blueberries."

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Welcome back, everybody! Today, I commence my coverage of Summer Camp Island's fifth season, starting with Barb's three-episode arc! As a bit of minor preamble, when the fifth season was announced, I was a bit shocked not just to see the show returning to its arc formatting from Season 3, but to feature Barb as the protagonist in its inaugural arc. It's true that she's a well-established member of the show's cast and one whose past hasn't been etched out prior, and if there's one thing I can say about SCI, it's that it'll never back down from the search for new and unexpected horizons... and yet, I was a bit skeptical of how it would shake out. Let's see how I ultimately felt about the way this season kicks off!

"A Barb is Born": And so, on the third day of life on planet Earth, Barb comes into existence. It's always a bit difficult for me to talk about these arc-starting episodes; they're an exercise in setting the stakes, as much about establishing their focal character as they are establishing the environment we'll explore. In this case, SCI cranks the clock back the furthest its ever been, exploring the island before it became a summer camp, or a witch destination, or even somewhere with the threat of inhabitation—it is merely a primordial landscape, bursting with talking ferns and miscellaneous vegetation, and on the second day, bears intent to eat them.