Buzzes and Clicks
SNL Recap
With Ariana Grande hosting this week, the episode was predictably music heavy. A bit more unexpected was how strong of a host she proved to be. In retrospect it should not have been all that surprising. Before achieving pop stardom she came up through the Disney Channel pipeline, so she has acting experience. I honestly remember very little from her initial hosting stint back in 2016; but she was so game for anything this week that I may need to take another look at that one.
But first we have to suffer through the required elements that begin the show. The group of ringers are clearly going to be heavily used up until the election, but each week the show has to figure how to shoehorn them all into one sketch. Rallies have been done; the VP debate has been done. How about.. Family Feud?!?! I happen to like Kenan’s take on Steve Harvey, but the structure of the Feud sketches is tedious. There is really only enough time for each participant to get one line in; there is no momentum to the sketch. Plus, it was obvious that they would go for the low hanging fruit and have Joe Biden asking if he could buy a vowel. You see, he’s old. Get it? I must admit, however, that when the members of Team Trump were being introduced & Melania’s name was brought up for a brief second I thought that we would see the return of Cecily Strong, but no such luck. The joke was that Melania was not there.
In Grande’s monologue she promised that she would low-key it and not sing, only to break out into song - which included strong impressions of Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, and Gwen Stefani. Her best impression would come later. The first sketch was subpar. It involved bridesmaids (Grande, Heidi, Ego, & Sarah) making a wedding toast in the form of a song sung to the tune of Espresso in which they reveal the bride’s (Chloe) indiscretions at the bachelorette party. Good: they sang intentionally out of tune. It checked that a group of women would have just sampled the wares at cocktail hour and therefore not have the pipes of, say, Ariana Grande. Bad: it was yet another example of the show’s lazy joke structure of having characters comment on the action by repeating the premise out loud.
Unpromising so far, but then it took off, beginning with my selection for Sketch Of the Week. It appears we have a new regular video segment - Saturday Night Live Midnight Matinee, with an end tag reading “A Dan Bulla Short.” Bulla has been a long time writer for the show, but this raises the question on the status of Please Don’t Destroy. The 3 are still on the writing staff, so it might just be happenstance that they have not contributed a video of their own yet this year, or it could be that Bulla is the new in house video dude. We’ll find out soon, but Bulla’s first contribution is a good one. Grande sings a song about she will always remember the smells of her best friend’s house. It was warm, nostalgic, and sincere, so we were all waiting for the pivot. When the payoff finally came it was worth it.
From there it was one strong sketch after another. In a non-musical role Grande portrayed a mother meeting her son Michael’s new boyfriend Bowen. When a game of charades begins Michael warns Bowen that Mom can get competitive, and an innocuous “in your face” comment from Bowen after a strong first round bursts that dam. Next, the show riffs off of Celine Dion’s recent NFL promo with a new one in which she promotes UFC. Grande’s Dion impersonation was impeccable.
Update continues to show why it’s well past time for Che & Jost to step aside for new blood, but the correspondent pieces went with two of their more reliable comedy sources: a frazzled Ego and a mischievous Sarah. With Prime Day having taken place this past week, Ego portrayed an overworked Amazon employee, complete with bug-eyed craziness that would have made Kate McKinnon proud. Then, JAJ and Sarah appeared as Noel & Liam Gallagher. Sometimes you don’t need a lot of prosthetics; all it takes is a good wig, a good pair of sunglasses, and a passable British accent. They played the Gallagher brothers as a pair of aging adolescent siblings complete with slap fights and wet willies. The “um, actually” part of me says that in 1993 Oasis would not have headlined Glastonbury, nor were the Spice Girls a thing yet, but the piece was funny enough that I’ll let it pass. As a bonus, it seems that the real life Liam hated it.
The problem with having the ringers make appearances is that it’s too tempting to not have them also show up in other sketches at the expense of the current cast. Newbie Ashley Padilla was nowhere to be seen this week, and Devon only showed up briefly in the Best Friend’s House video. Even Marcello had minimal stage time. But we got to see Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg try out their best over the top Italian accents in the Renaissance sketch, in which Grande portrays their son, a castrato singer. It was a funny sketch, and I will never question having more Maya Rudolph on my TV. She is such a treasure that her face should be on currency, but come on. The show has a huge cast. Use it. That issue was clearer with the Jennifer Coolidge Maybellene ad sketch. Chloe and Grande were mirror images of Coolidge, but then Dana Carvey joined in as a superfluous third Coolidge.
The show ended on a strong note with the hotel detective sketch. Impressive work by all (Grande, JAJ, & Andrew) to read that rat-tat-tat dialogue off of the cue cards. That cue card briefly showed up on screen in the technical flub of the week. That sketch helped JAJ earn my Employee Of the Week award. Really, though, Ariana Grande herself was the star of the episode.
It is always great to see a major legend such as Stevie Nicks as the musical guest. Unfortunately, there’s no delicate way to put this. Her voice is not what it was. She is a birthday twin of mine, so that is the extent of my criticism towards her. Overall, the episode did not match the heights of last week’s Nate Bargatze one, but it continues the strong momentum. I’d welcome a future hosting role for Grande. Next week is a rarity - a fourth consecutive new episode. Michael Keaton hosts for the fourth time with Billie Eilish as the musical guest.
The Voices In the Booth
Cool piece in The Athletic concerning a specific segment of the baseball infrastructure , the television play-by-play announcers who are sidelined once the postseason starts. Yes, there is a bit of self-pity involved, but it is an issue. As fans we spend six months with these voices as our daily companions throughout the journey of a season, but then once October comes it’s down to the network announcers. Dodgers fans still get to hear Joe Davis, but that’s the exception. (This only applies to the television teams; each team’s radio crews get to call the games all the way until the end.)
One option that is brought up in the article is that the networks could perhaps offer an alternate telecast with the home announcers. Years ago that used to be done for the NCAA Final Four, but I’ve heard no serious talk about that happening with baseball. Might I offer a throwback suggestion? Many of you might be old enough to remember the days when NBC’s World Series booth would consist of Curt Gowdy paired with the play-by-play announcer from the home team. That’s why it’s Dick Stockton’s voice that you hear on the clip of Carlton Fisk’s 1975 home run. That would mean tonight’s game would pair Joe Davis with Gary Cohen. The fact that it would sideline John Smoltz is a happy bonus. I realize there a multitude of reasons why this could never happen, but it is a disappointment for both the fans and for the broadcasters themselves that a stranger will be the person to make the call of the final out that will be reaired over and over.
The Most Coveted Awards Of Them All
Without further ado, here are my picks for the 3 major BBWAA awards. Most of this year’s choices are fairly obvious. The only real suspense for the MVP awards is waiting to see who will be the third finalist in each league. (As a reminder, when the league announces the finalists for each award that merely means who the top 3 vote getters were. The actual voting was completed the day after the regular season ended. The results are currently safely stored in a mason jar.)
Rookie Of the Year - There are many strong candidates in each league. In the National League, as spectacular as Paul Skenes has been, I’ll have to go with Jackson Merrill. It’s not Skenes’s fault that Pittsburgh took its sweet time in promoting him, but Merrill played an important role for San Diego, in a crucial defensive position that he had never played before. Shota Imanaga should be the third finalist, although Masyn Winn also had an excellent rookie season. In the American League I’ll take Mason Miller over Luis Gil and Wyatt Langford. Both races should be tight; I would not be surprised by any winner. Colton Cowser could very well sneak in there as well.
Cy Young - Each league had a triple crown winner, so the winners should be clear. Will both be unanimous selections? Emmanuel Clase had one of the best years that a closer has ever had, but you can’t go against Tarik Skubal. Clase should be a finalist, but I’ll go with Seth Lugo as my runner up pick. In the National League I’m almost tempted to say Zack Wheeler - his peripheral numbers were all great, but it has to be Chris Sale. I will make Dylan Cease my #3 choice.
MVP - OK, you know that I’m a die hard Mets fan, but Shohei Ohtani is the only reasonable choice. I don’t care that he didn’t play the field, his production was so historic that it dwarfs everyone else. Francisco Lindor has nothing to be ashamed of with a second place finish. Ketel Marte comes in at #3. Similar to Lindor, Bobby Witt Jr. had a season that could easily have won him an MVP award in most years. This wasn’t most years. It is going to be Aaron Judge in a landslide. There are plenty of strong contenders for third place. All due respect to Jose Ramirez (who is the likely third finalist in the actual balloting), Juan Soto, and Jarren Duran, but my pick for the third slot is Gunnar Henderson.
TV Of the 21st Century - Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Look, it’s Andy Samberg Day over here! But first, a shoutout to Michael Schur, who has been one of the most brilliant showrunners of this generation. His resume is overflowing with LOL shows filled with likable characters, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine is one of the best examples.
Comedy series coming out of the starting gate can be tricky. Because pilot episodes necessitate a lot of exposition, there often isn’t enough room for actual jokes. Plus, interaction among the characters is so crucial; it usually takes a few episodes for the ensemble to fully gel. As an exercise, take a look at the premiere episode of any long running sitcom. Chances are very good that you will be surprised to see how different it feels. Brooklyn Nine-Nine on the other hand felt fully formed from day 1. All of the main characters were fully recognizable from the get-go, which is why it’s also fitting that the opening credits never changed. 8 seasons in & we still saw Rosa pounding her monitor and Charles injuring himself in the break room and it still felt fresh.
The initial branding of the show was that it was a starring role for Samberg, and although it’s true that the universe revolved around his Jake Peralta, there was plenty of space for the rest of the team to shine. And shine they did. It’s impossible to choose the best character. Was it the stoic and borderline psychotic Rosa Diaz? Was it the excessively needy Charles Boyle? Was it the physically imposing yet insecure Terry Jeffords? Was it the ambitious and nerdy Amy Santiago? Was it the seemingly transplanted from an entirely different series Gina Linetti? Was it the has-beens Hitchcock and Scully?
Last but not least was Andre Braugher’s revelatory work as Raymond Holt. This wasn’t his first stab at comedy, but even so he was best known as an intense dramatic actor. He knew the secret, however. Don’t act as if you’re in a comedy. He read his lines with a superb amount of deadpan, which paid off in the later seasons. As the show went on, he was one of the guys just as much as he was the boss. Therefore the detectives of the 9-9 could never tell if he was being serious or not.
The characters were also increasingly well drawn with lots of wonderful little quirks. It was a perfect touch that Terry had twin daughters named Cagney & Lacey. And even though he was chiseled out of marble and could flex his pecs on demand, he was more than just a scowling physical presence. I loved his penchant for referring to himself in the third person and his paranoia that his colleagues were constantly stealing his yogurt from the fridge. There were also laughs to be had from everyone’s inability to correctly pronounce the name of Charles’s adopted son Nikolaj.
The show also had a magnificent back bench of recurring characters. Craig Robinson’s Doug Judy, who was Jake’s nemesis/foe whom he could not help but respect. Jason Mantzoukas’s Adrian Pemento, an undercover detective who had gotten so deep into his cover that his sense of reality was blurred. Holt’s husband Kevin and their pet corgi, fluffy boy Cheddar. The entire extended Boyle family. Most memorably, Kyra Sedgwick as Holt’s chief NYPD rival Madeline Wuntch. It did not dawn on me until a few seasons into the show that Braugher and Sedgwick were both famous for portraying police detectives who did their best work in the interrogation room. That was great meta casting to make them antagonists.
At heart it was a goofy office set sitcom in which the setting happened to be a police precinct. (The annual Halloween Heist episode was a great tradition.) When the show would pause to show them actually it work it took pains to show that beyond the comedy they were all exceptional at their jobs. Well, not Hitchcock and Scully but everyone else. That’s why it’s a little unfortunate that in its final season it got caught up in the backlash against television copaganda. Not that it didn’t delve into serious topics. There was an episode in which Terry was profiled while taking out the trash cans at his own home. And Holt frequently spoke of the hurdles he faced as an openly gay man trying to make his name in the force while also being black.
Still, this will go down as one of the great sitcoms of its time. Any random episode is certain to provide 22 minutes of solid laughs. As many accolades as Andre Braugher deservedly earned for his work as Frank Pembleton, I will say that he was just as brilliant as Raymond Holt. One last time in unison - “Nine Nine!”
Originally aired on: Fox, later NBC
Currently streaming on: Peacock (entire series), Netflix (first 4 seasons only)
Closing Laughs
That should be enough for today. Thanks to all for reading, and please be sure to use that “share” button. The more the merrier. See everyone once again on Friday.
