Saturday Night Live: SNL Season 43 Preview
May 21, 2017 11:05 AM - Season 43 (Full Season) - Subscribe

Vanessa Bayer is gone. Bobby Moynihan is gone. Rumor has it that the head writers are gone. Weekend Update has a summer gig.
posted by Etrigan (26 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I will miss Bobby and Vanessa, so PLEASE HIRE BROOKS WHEELAN BACK! Until then, we'll see what actual moves the manager and team owners make in the roster during the off-season. I am hoping for S43 having as much success, solid writing, and acting as S42 did. Because S42 was one of the most consistently funniest seasons I have seen, and I have been an avid fan since S07. That said, if I were Sasheer, I would walk in and demand the attention that she only got during the last few shows of the S42. She's been on for four years and she's still barely made it past "Sasheer reacts".

And if I were Lorne, I'd insist that Leslie take some improv and sketch classes and go out of her comfort zone so that she doesn't flub lines. Because she really seemed to be the spark that set this show back into explosion mode in S40. She is the Chris Farley and Will Ferrell and John Belushi that the show had been missing for decades but her True Funny has yet to be really utilized and tamed. The Mooney/Jones couple sketches, and the Inheriting Trump's Character sketch showed this.

(Holy shit did I just realize I have been watching this show for straight-on 35 years?)
posted by not_on_display at 11:51 AM on May 21, 2017 [2 favorites]


(Holy shit did I just realize I have been watching this show for straight-on 35 years?)

The 10 p.m. SNL rerun last night was Jim Carrey / Soundgarden, from May 18, 1996. That was David Spade's last episode, as well as the last episode of Will Ferrell and Darrell Hammond's first season. That episode is closer in time to the first episode of what was then called NBC's Saturday Night than to today.
posted by Etrigan at 12:15 PM on May 21, 2017 [2 favorites]


I'm disappointed to read that apparently Sasheer Zamata is also gone , with practically no notice or tribute given during the finale...
posted by TwoStride at 12:32 PM on May 21, 2017 [2 favorites]


I'm disappointed to read that apparently Sasheer Zamata is also gone , with practically no notice or tribute given during the finale...
But then why was Zamata also carried out by Colin Jost and The Rock?
Aw, Colin thinks he's helping. That's so adorable.

But to get to the substance, Zamata leaving sucks.Her hiring was linked directly to the show not being able to lampoon the First Lady for most of Michelle Obama's tenure, and she leaves at the first opportunity after Obama is out of the public eye. Add that to Jay Pharoah's departure -- which he explicitly blamed on being limited to impressions -- and it does not reflect well on how much SNL actually wants diversity vs. just needing people based on the ethnic composition of the nightly news.
posted by Etrigan at 12:40 PM on May 21, 2017 [8 favorites]


So I looked it up and of all the women in the Five-Timers Club, 40% were added this year.
posted by ckape at 12:54 PM on May 21, 2017 [3 favorites]


I'm sad that Sasheer Zamata is leaving, but maybe it will open a space for another player who might be as fun (in a different way) as Leslie Jones, Bobby Moynihan, Vanessa Bayer, or Kenan Thompson. Sasheer needs to do something that will give her own talent more of a chance to shine, too -- it had to have been hard on her the past few years with so little to do.
posted by amtho at 2:48 PM on May 21, 2017


So help me if they only bring on new guys. (Although I also wish they'd bring Brooks Whelan back.)
posted by Ruki at 4:19 PM on May 21, 2017 [1 favorite]


Awwww, I will miss Sasheer; I was always hoping THIS was the episode she'd get the recurring character. She almost had one with that "teenager with a webcam show," which she played alongside Mooney. But it had been a while since they aired that, and it petered out. She had a memorable desk piece – see this article, written last year at this time, hoping she could find a better showcase for her talents than SNL.
posted by not_on_display at 5:55 PM on May 21, 2017


A little OT, but if you're interested in improv and late-night shows and fictional behind-the-scenes of show biz, check out "Dont Think Twice." It's a little film centered on what happens to an improv troupe when one member lands on an SNL-like show. (I'd been reminded of the movie seeing a poster hanging at Planet Ant in Hamtramck MI, which Keegan-Michael Key -one of the movie's stars- has an association with.)

DontThink is a decently done little film, with some funny stuff and nice acting. The Lorne Michaels character, Timothy, is portrayed as eccentric and mind-fucking as he's rumored to be IRL.
posted by NorthernLite at 6:04 PM on May 21, 2017 [1 favorite]


Bummed to hear about Sasheer.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:01 PM on May 21, 2017


Jess and I watched Don't Think Twice. it was painful. Not so much funny as painful. The characters were more cringeworthy than likeable, and it had a hollow feel towards teh bizz, but whether the movie reflects teh bizz or Mike Birbiglia, Thaaaaaaaaank yoooooouuuu.
posted by not_on_display at 7:13 PM on May 21, 2017 [1 favorite]


Why does SNL even bother holding on to a regular cast these days? With so many roles being taken over by SNL alumni or Hollywood celebrities, the chances of a breakout star coming from the regular cast is getting slimmer every year.
posted by spoobnooble II: electric bugaboo at 3:58 AM on May 22, 2017 [2 favorites]


I would love to see someone run the numbers of how many cameos they do season by season. Even if you discount Baldwin's Trump, McCarthy's Spicer, and David's Sanders, as well as the 5-timers bits, this season still seems excessive compared to the SNL I grew up with.
posted by ckape at 10:18 AM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]


It's not just the cameos but also 95% of the sketches being dominated by one two or three of the same cast members. They had a good run for a few years where it seemed like the whole cast was getting in and they were all working together as a team and it was great and then it reverted back to being The Golden Child Show with Celebrity Guests. Why even have an enormous cast if they can't actually be on the show.
posted by bleep at 11:05 AM on May 22, 2017


Wish SNL would hire Chris Grace - gay, Asian-American, sketch comedian who played the lead in a parody version of 50 Shades of Grey. He's appeared (briefly) in Broad City and a couple episodes of Superstore.
posted by larrybob at 11:48 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


...The Golden Child Show with Celebrity Guests. Why even have an enormous cast if they can't actually be on the show.

I'm wondering who the Golden Child you are thinking of, is. I can think of a few candidates (Kate because she's hilarious, Kenan because like Phil Hartman he makes every sketch he's in funnier) – but everyone, even those two, seems like a specialist player. Kenan reacts. Kate is intense. Leslie is great in films, but given anything other than angry (which she rules and is lovable at, especially desk pieces), she will flub a line. Kyle & Beck together are wierd zombies, but each have exhibited their own wierdness depth over the years. Aidy is great at sincerity. Vanessa was great at awkward. Cecily's superb at supermodel or untreated personality disorder or mental illness, likeable or otherwise. Pete's Pete, he just belongs there for no reason but that he's Pete. Bobby was the happy off-putting clown. Che and Jost have their jobs to do and are honing their craft. Who else... The new guys are already showing why they were hired; it'll be interesting to watch them grow.

Melissa V hopefully will get more airtime next season; and she's the one I am cheering on the most. She's hilarious, and owned that "voice actors" sketch a few episodes near the end of 42.

But also I want to cast my vote for further diversity next season, if there's to be a new hire. I know that my opinion – especially in matters like these – is of utmost importance in a general sense, but specifically will fall upon the ears of those who can sway casting decisions considerably. THERE. IT IS WRITTEN AND SHALL BE DONE.

posted by not_on_display at 10:01 PM on May 23, 2017


I'm wondering who the Golden Child you are thinking of, is.

Is there any doubt that SNL has been the Kate McKinnon Show (feat. Kenan Reacting) for years now?
posted by Etrigan at 2:38 AM on May 24, 2017 [3 favorites]


"Is there any doubt that SNL has been the Kate McKinnon Show (feat. Kenan Reacting) for years now?"

Until this season that just ended, yeah. Suddenly it became the Why is Beck Bennett in Every Sketch? Show.

(to me, at least)
posted by komara at 6:37 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


Why is Beck Bennett in Every Sketch?

He's the only (main cast) average-size non-goofy-looking white guy in a season that took a sudden, sharp turn toward needing someone to fill those roles. Everything Taran and Beck did last season devolved to just Beck, with occasional uses of Mikey and Alex.
posted by Etrigan at 8:41 AM on May 24, 2017


While Melissa Villasenor was good in that voice actors skit, I generally found her really annoying. Kid is a mumbler, and it's crazy making, so every time MV talks, I just want to shake her by the shoulders and tell her to enunciate. I went through years of speech therapy, so I am understanding of impediments, but she's also shown herself to be capable of speaking clearly. The clenched jaw mumblespeak bugs me.

I liked Beck Bennett way more as the slow turtle commercial guy. Now he's like "handsome cast member Beck Bennett" and it's not as charming.
posted by Ruki at 1:46 PM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


The lack of Asian-American cast members (and hosts!) on SNL is really embarrassing.

Exactly, my Netflix queue is full of a lot of great Asian-American stand ups killing it and I can't figure out why SNL can't hire... any of them (other than possibly being a terrible place for PoC to work). I like Bennet though he's sort of Suedekis-light. I think Day and Moffat were better than I was expecting them to be, but they're all sort of Colin-Jost-ish button-up shirt guys and I felt like (finally!) the show was getting away from that but this season wrapped up sort of weakly without a lot of MacKinnon. Pete's been an erratic mess since he got sober and, yeah, I can't quite figure out what Villaseñor's deal is. Her stand-up is super funny but she doesn't seem to get to do much on the show.
posted by jessamyn at 7:09 PM on May 29, 2017 [1 favorite]


Vulture kicks off their retrospective of the season by discussing what might have been.
posted by ckape at 1:46 AM on May 30, 2017


I read the Vulture piece yesterday, and found it odd. Written as if Kate M. didn't become something of a breakout this year, despite the lack of Hillary. Or assuming that SNL actors always have a choice whether to go or stay, and that some left because it's been a rough year.

I think the dude just didn't like all the political humor.

(And I know I'm tired of what passes for journalism these days, in entertainment as well as hard news.)
posted by NorthernLite at 5:29 AM on May 30, 2017


Vanessa Bayer reports that on her way out the door she swiped the Totino's Women's Activity Pack and the Nuva Bling.
posted by ckape at 12:57 AM on August 9, 2017 [3 favorites]


Three new featured players, only one of whom is a white dude.
posted by Etrigan at 3:06 PM on September 26, 2017 [1 favorite]


Any questions?
posted by Room 641-A at 5:54 PM on September 26, 2017 [2 favorites]


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