Its a little late (I was away over the weekend), but so begins another season of SNL, and with that, my reviews. Season 41 kicked off with Miley Cyrus....and well....it was something. Lets get to the review.
Cold Open: The opening saw the introduction of Taran Killam as Donald Trump (and Cecily Strong as his wife). Given how dated the past 2 debates are now, this was basically just a general intro to SNL's impersonation of the current GOP frontrunner. It was a little all over the place, but Killam's Trump looks like it should be pretty strong. (6.5)
Monologue: After Miley got her "I smoke pot, I'm so different" jokes out of the way, the monologue was actually decent, as Miley sang about the villains of the summer, from the Lion killing dentist, to Kim Davis and Jared Fogle. Its really a shame that this season started off so late. Hopefully we see more of Aidy Bryant as Davis. (6.9)
Abilify Ad: This mock commercial was a little predictable, but it had to be done. It was about all the fringe GOP presidential candidates, with their respective wives concerned about their campaigns. (8.0)
50s Dance: Time and time again, SNL decides to put up weak ideas as the first actual sketch, and this time it was no different. It started off with a sort of take-off from Grease, with different kinds of girls dancing...and then there was Miley being Miley. The big take-off here was that nobody knew what rap, or "twerking" was. Just an incredibly weak concept. (4.0)
Hillary Clinton Bar Talk: It may seem a bit early to get candidate cameos, but it was reported hours before the premiere that Hillary Clinton would make a cameo for the show. Here, we saw Kate McKinnon as Clinton at a bar, being tended by "Val" (Hillary). They discussed Hillary's campaign, including some good lines on how she was late to come around on positions (like the Keystone Pipeline and Gay Marriage). I'm a little surprised this wasn't the first post monologue sketch of the night. Hillary really seemed genuine and relaxed. (8.5)
Miley Cyrus (music - "Karen Don't be Sad") - (6.6)
Weekend Update: Colin Jost & Michael Che seemed to have a rapport about them, but something just seemed off for Update to open the season. They just lacked energy, and a lot of the lines sort of fell flat.
The 1st guest saw Kyle Mooney as Pope Francis....and it was incredibly weak to say the least. A wasted spot (that could have gone to Aidy Bryant's Kim Davis).
The 2nd guest saw Pete Davidson discussing the Trump campaign, and this brought Weekend Update up a bit. The general consensus here was Davidson talking about how the Trump phenomenon isn't funny anymore...and there was a lot of truth here.
The final guest saw Leslie Jones talking about texting etiquette. As far as Leslie segments go, this was fine...but it just lacked something, as Jost just didn't seem into it. (6.2)
Millenials: This seemed like it was trying to be the next "Californians" recurring sketch (time will tell if this really will be recurring). It had the same general idea, as it featured Miley and others on their phones, taking selfies and the like in Soap Opera situations. There's something here, but this particular sketch seemed tired. (5.0)
Katz' Deli: Here, Vanessa Bayer/Leslie Jones/Miley and Cecily played a group of friends eating at the famed Meg Ryan scene of "When Harry Met Sally". They took turns reenacting the scene....and then it got around to Leslie. She really was the MVP of this sketch and made this idea work. It was just so over-the top, yet took a few twists and turns to keep it interesting. (8.3)
The Squad (Trailer): A trailer where Aidy and Vanessa played a pair of friends that suddenly live in an apocalyptic world where Taylor Swift's squad rules the world. The pair try to resist as long as they can. As far as mock trailers go, this one was pretty good. (7.4)
Miley Cyrus (music - "The Twinkle Song") - Just a brief note....this was just abysmal. (3.5)
American Voices: This was supposed to be some behind the scenes look-back at an old talk show, but there were some major technical issues. From what we were able to see, this was nothing special. (2.0)
Miley Wedding: The ending of the show felt a little rough going from "American Voices" abruptly to this Kyle Mooney piece where he's marrying Miley. As far as Mooney shorts go, this was alright. (6.0)
Overall, this was just a bizarre premiere. If not for the Hillary Clinton cameo, this show would have been completely forgettable. Miley was just trying to be too edgy just for the sake of it, and other times it was like she was just in the background. Here's hoping the next 2 weeks see better shows with Amy Schumer & Tracy Morgan.
Overall Score - 6.07
Miley Cyrus - 6.07
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