“Saturday Night Live” Season 45 Premiere Review by Josh Davis
October 5, 2019 9:51 am |
Season 45 of “Saturday Night Live” started on a political note and went back to the Donald Trump impeachment well three more times, to varying results.
In the opening scene of the stalwart sketch comedy show, Alec Balwin returned as the embattled president and called on several friends, from Rudy Giuliani to Kanye West, to ask for help in dodging the Ukraine controversy. Liev Schreiber cameoed as himself, as Trump phoned looking for fictional fixer Ray Donovan. Schreiber quipped John Wick was also a fictional character, but that the actual Liam Neeson might be up for the task. The sketch, like much of the episode, was funny enough, if a little too predictable.
Host Woody Harrelson, there promoting “Zombieland: Double Tap,” gave an awkward opening monologue about suddenly being a fashionista. Woody was frequently wooden throughout the episode, although he didn’t really have much to work with.
The “Impeachment Town Hall” sketch was a highlight, featuring the cast playing the field of ten Democratic challengers hoping to face off against Trump in the General Election, next November. Kate McKinnon was a standout as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Maya Rudolph returned to the SNL stage as California Sen. Kamala Harris – constantly mugging to the camera for fake courtroom drama TV shows – and Larry David again played Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. David was a highlight of the episode and got perhaps the biggest laugh of the night when, commenting on being less out of touch than former Vice President Joe Biden, he said, “This guy makes me look like Drake!”
Other sketches were less successful, including a dud about the “World’s Biggest Cheeto Museum” and a bizarre scene of Kyle Mooney rapping about his dad in a 1980’s dream world that loosely resembled the opening of “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”
Musical guest Billie Eilish got two turns, singing “Bad Guy” inside a rotating box that made it look like she was literally dancing on the ceiling, and later cooing a gorgeous version of “I Love You” in a stark setting, accompanied only by an acoustic guitar player.
“Weekend Update,” generally one of the stronger parts of the show, was just OK during the premier. Kenan Thompson returned for a flat David Ortiz bit and co-anchor Colin Jost handled the best joke of the sketch, suggesting that singer Placido Domingo would be replaced in the Metropolitan Opera after stepping down because of sexual misconduct accusations with the far less threatening “Flaccido Domingo.”
A digital short about the new “Downton Abbey” film was hit and miss, flashing reviews on the screen that included, “‘I absolutely love this film,’ say all moms” and “Feels like watching the sun set on white people as a whole.”
Newcomer Bowen Yang, who did well in several roles throughout the night, summed it up during the night’s final sketch. Asked for his review of an apple-picking visit to the fictional Chickham’s Apple Farms he offered, “I had fun, I think.”
“Saturday Night Live” has been hit or miss for the last several years. Chalk this one up as “just OK.”
PCL Rating: Low Taste It
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: ROTTEN
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Tags: Josh Davis, pop culture leftovers, Saturday Night Live Season 44, SNL 44, SNL NBC, Television Reviews, TV Reviews
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