Saturday Night Live – Power Rankings 02/18/2012

There was an episode this week? I already forgot.

SNL POWER RANKINGS: Maya Rudolph/Sleigh Bells 02/28/2012

1) Kenan Thompson (Up 9) - I know. I wouldn’t have believed it myself if I hadn’t seen it. But somehow, a week after near-invisibility and a season of relative indifference, the SNL writers gave Kenan Thompson a huge part of last night’s episode. He was supporting in many sketches, including the Cold Open and his brief appearance as LL Cool J, but leads in “What Up With That?” (in which he clearly gave it his all) and “How’s He Doing?” and a hilarious appearance in “Maya Angelou Prank Show” gave him the edge needed to come out ahead in an abnormally even-spread episode.

2) Fred Armisen (Up 8) - Again, I KNOW. Two surprise leaps in the standings, and from the actors I would have thought least likely to mount such a climb. It’s most easily attributed to last night’s extreme focus on racial sketches. Armisen had a great opportunity to showcase (80s) black cultural icons like Prince, Cornel West, and Bill Cosby (the latter as Barack Obama, a double impression). His sketch volume was relatively high, and his contribution to those sketches was strong. All season people have tired of his schtick. Now that he’s found a way to do something fresh, he’s surely given himself plenty more screen time in weeks to come.

3) Bill Hader(Down 1) - If Armisen and Thompson (and one other actor I’ll be discussing shortly) benefitted from a fairly racially charged episode, Hader was relegated to either the straight man or the talk/game show host, roles he should be used to by now. But while Lindsay Buckingham and Game Show Host are characters he’s trotted out numerous times, it’s a sign that the show still believes in him that he was given so many lead or supporting roles. A high sketch volume with decent contributions lands him in the third position, though it’s likely he won’t stay there long.

4) Jay Pharoh (Up 7) – The third member of the cast to benefit from this week’s race focus (notice a pattern here?) was the one person everyone thought would be this high a lot sooner. Jay Pharoh did his usual impressioneering, with great turns as Morgan Freeman and Jay-Z, but for the first time, what impressed wasn’t just his mimickry but his comedic chops. In “How’s He Doing” and the Cold Open, he played a character rather than a real person, and did very well with it. His facial expressions and dynamics were solid, and he was in a large portion of the production. If he keeps this up, Jay Pharoh might just be the breakout star everyone’s predicted he would be in the years to come.

5) Jason Sudekis (-) – Who can take the world on with his smile? That guy. Jason Sudekis can work a stale bit like dancing in an Adidas track suit or poorly impersonating Joe Biden and make it funny just by grinning the right way. From the Cold Open to ”What Up With That,” Sudekis had screen time and charm, which is all he really needs to coast into the 5 spot.

6) Kristen Wiig (Down 3) - Wiig had the only funny moment in the monologue and her infectious cracking up saved the Game Show sketch from surefire mediocrity. Her screen time was slight, but her chemistry with her Bridesmaids co-star Maya Rudolph gave us all something to smirk about. It’s just unfortunate that the writers don’t seem to think she can handle the average-Jane women roles, bringing in Amy Poehler to do work with Rudolph and giving Wiig goofy gags that require her to break character to make her seem human.

7) Nasim Pedrad (Down 1) – Pedrad was one of several cast members to get spiraled down the bill this week because of guest stars and sensitive sketches. But her Nicki Minaj was the second best impression of the “Jay-Z and Beyonce” sketch (behind Justin Timberlake’s Justin Vernon), and sparky stand-out moments are the best she gets these days, which is a shame.

8) Andy Samberg (Down 7) -What did Andy do this week? Not a lot. After being practically handed last week’s episode, he found himself dancing in a George Washington outfit and playing second-fiddle to his friend JT, who he likely coerced into being on the show in the first place. Behind the scenes connections are a plus with this cast, but without screen time, it doesn’t take you anywhere.

9) Vanessa Bayer (Up 3) - Don’t let the improved placement fool you: The writers clearly have nothing to offer Vanessa Bayer right now, which is a shame. She was the straight woman in the Game Show sketch (barely a player), and a backup singer in “What Up With That” when you couldn’t really see her face. I can’t tell you why she’s been given so little to work with, as I think she’s adorable and pretty talented. But clearly someone isn’t liking what she’s doing.

10) Bobby Moynihan (Down 2) – Bobby Moynihan in a Teddy Roosevelt costume: Hilarious, right? All ten seconds of it were amusing. Shame that’s all he did this week. Seriously: This guy is dynamite! Give him a bigger part, and your show could be gangbusters. But then, who listens to me, or the fans, or to laughter?

11/12 [tie]) Taran Killam/Abby Elliot (Down 7/Down 5) -Where were these two? Lorne only knows.

HOST GRADE: A  -  Maya Rudolph is a former cast member, and like all former cast members who’ve hosted the show in the last three seasons, she has grown immensely since leaving SNL behind. It wasn’t the most stellar episode, and didn’t have the “water cooler” factor of Jimmy Fallon’s hosting stint, but Rudolph is a gem of a performer, and if it takes a mixed race host to get the writers to think about racial issues in their sketches, I’m all for it.

MUSICAL GUEST GRADE: B - I’m familiar with Sleigh Bells’ bombastic live shows already and know that they’re not just talented, they’re balls-out awesome most of the time. But SNL’s sound engineering is THE WORST on television, and somehow the band came across as limp and forgettable instead of brash and interesting.

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SEASON 37 EPISODE RANKING

1) Jimmy Fallon / Michael Buble

2) Jason Segal / Florence and the Machine

3) Zooey Deschanel / Karmin

4) Melissa McCarthy / Lady Antebellum

5) Danielle Radcliffe / Lana Del Rey

6) Maya Rudolph / Sleigh Bells

-A smart week is great; the writers actually thought through the issues they were satirizing (and for once, it actually rose to the lofty title of satire!). But when it came down to it, it just wasn’t that funny. A few really funny sketches (Maya Angelou, Bronx Beat, Jay-Z and Beyonce) made it watchable, but I had forgotten the vast majority of what I’d watched by the time I switched off the TV and went to bed.

7) Alec Baldwin / Radiohead

8) Charlie Day / Maroon 5

9) Emma Stone / Coldplay

10) Anna Faris / Drake

11) Ben Stiller / Foster the People

12) Channing Tatum / Bon Iver

13) Steve Buscemi / The Black Keys

14) Charles Barkley / Kelly Clarkson

15) Katy Perry / Robyn

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COMING UP

Next week is a re-run (Eli Manning is off the hosting schedule, and the universe can breathe a sigh of relief).

3/3 – Lindsay Lohan / Jack White: WTF ARE YOU DOING TO ME, LORNE?!?! God damn it.

3/10 – Jonah Hill / TBA: Academy Award Nominee Jonah Hill. Swirl that around in your brain.

Rumored - Justin Bieber: ……..F**k this.

Saturday Night Live – Power Rankings 02/11/2012

I don’t know where I read this online, but soomeone suggested that someone should do a weekly power ranking for SNL; who’s up, who’s down, who’s working, who’s not. So I thought, “Hey, I can co-opt that idea and pretend I came up with it!”

My typical (read: pathetic) Saturday night involves my wife, some booze, and SNL. I have a tendency to live-tweet the show every week, which, in my drunken state, can be both difficult and frustrating. But somehow, I enjoy it.

So now, each week, I’ll be re-capping the previous night’s episode by grading the performers based on 1) Their sketch volume, 2) Their sketch quality, 3) Intangibles (the ability to save/kill the quality of a sketch, quantity of flubs, ability to make mistakes funny, etc.). I’ll also grade the hosts and musical guests, and rank the best sketches. Then, each week, I’ll update a ranking of the season’s episodes.

ENOUGH EXPOSITION, NOLAN! Let’s do this thing:

SNL POWER RANKINGS: Zooey Deschanel/Karmin, 02/11/2012

1) Andy Samberg – The boy has his off moments from time to time, but Samberg was on fire last night. He was in a moderately high volume of sketches (five total) and was arguably the best part of almost all of them. His “Get in the Cage” is the funniest recurring sketch of the year, he was the only even remotely decent part of “Patio Party” (aka the ungodly Crab sketch), and he played well with the host in “Technology Hump.” Others may have more flash right now, but consistency wins this game.

2) Bill Hader – His usual spate of repetitive impressions/game show hosts was broken last night by an amazing series of ads parodying the Clint Eastwood Super Bowl commercial. His sketch volume low as a result, which is pretty much the only reason he’s not #1.

3) Kristen Wiig – Wiig finally broke out some fresh characters this week. Her “Victorian Lady” wasn’t amazingly funny, but it was refreshing. Her Madonna was also a lot better because she didn’t attempt to sing (I don’t know why the writers always try to make her sing, because she can’t impersonate singing voices to save her life). And the “Newspaper” sketch was all her; she embodied that classic film woman so perfectly it was uncanny. But perhaps her best moment of the night was her Bjork impression in “Bein’ Qurky,” saving a relatively dull sketch and shooting her up to this spot.

4) Taran Killam – His Piers Morgan and Michael Cera impressions sounded nothing like the real thing. But Killam sold his bits so well that he mined gold from the dirt. Plus his dancing in “Les Jeunes Des Paris” is always delightful. Killam is fast becoming a major star on this show.

5) Jason Sudekis – Sudekis was finally given a week to show off his skills. Unfortunately, for all the sketches they threw at him, including yet another Mitt Romney Cold Open, either he fell flat or the material never fully landed. The Cold Open in particular was rough because it seemed aimless until a dog (of all things) saved the material from itself. As one half of LMFAO, he didn’t get much to work with. His only real success came in the “Newspaper” sketch, though he did mess up a few lines. He’s finally getting the screen time his fans have been clamoring for, but it’s just not catching right now.

6) Nasim Pedrad - Her contributions were mostly minor, including voice-only work in “Technology Hump” that was fairly amusing. But they included two relatively strong impressions (M.I.A. and Arianna Huffington) that shined, even though the jokes they gave her weren’t the strongest.

7) Abby Elliott – Her Zooey Deschanel impression made up the main bulk of her contribution to the show, and though it was essentially the lead role in the sketch, it was a fairly one-note routine.

8) Bobby Moynihan – Moynihan is possibly the most under-utilized actor on the show. Watching him in the background of any sketch can make it better, including his dancing in Les Jeunes Des Paris and his typing in the “Newspaper” sketch. I just wish they’d give him more screen time. A few feature spots on Weekend Update aren’t enough; he needs a few real sketches of his own.

9) Fred Armisen – He was barely in this episode, which is surprising given his ubiquity the rest of the year, but his absence was, honestly, welcome. He showed up as one half of LMFAO and in the Verizon ad parody, but he was pretty underwhelming in both (he even seemed to be coasting a bit).

10) Keenan Thompson – Thompson was given no opportunities this week. They even squandered a chance for him to play Cee-Lo in the Piers Morgan/Madonna sketch. But his status is safer on the list than others.

11) Jay Pharoah – Pharoah was all but shut out of this week’s sketches, showing up briefly in “Victorian Ladies” and almost nowhere else. He seemed almost despondant during the “Jay Pharoah Show” sketch two weeks ago, as though he wasn’t happy with his material. Are the writers taking it out on him by writing him out of the show?

12) Vanessa Bayer – Bayer is sweet and adorable. But was she even in this episode? I don’t remember seeing her face once, which is a shame, as she was starting to showcase some solid comedy skills. We’ll see next week whether she can keep her head above water and stick it out to come back next season.

Host Grade: A-  –  With SNL hosts, comedic timing is a crapshoot. To find someone who can hit the right beats when they need to be hit is rare, and even if the host plays variations of herself for most of the episode, she still needs to be able to find the meat on the jokes. Thankfully, Zooey Deschanel made the material work for her, and worked more like a regular cast member than a star slumming it on late night comedy shows.

Musical Guest Grade: B-  – Karmin has “Top 40 One-Hit Wonders” written all over them, but their performance was inoffensive and actually fairly tight, even if the music was unimpressive.

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SEASON 37 EPISODE RANKING

1) Jimmy Fallon / Michael Buble

2) Jason Segal / Florence and the Machine

3) Zooey Deschanel / Karmin

4) Melissa McCarthy / Lady Antebellum

5) Danielle Radcliffe / Lana Del Rey

6) Alec Baldwin / Radiohead

7) Charlie Day / Maroon 5

8) Emma Stone / Coldplay

9) Anna Faris / Drake

10) Ben Stiller / Foster the People

11) Channing Tatum / Bon Iver

12) Steve Buscemi / The Black Keys

13) Charles Barkley / Kelly Clarkson

14) Katy Perry / Robyn

COMING UP

02/18 – Maya Rudolph / Sleigh Bells – Another SNL alum gets a hosting gig, and just in time to do a great Whitney Houston tribute. Although I dread the Twitter anti-hipster backlash against Sleigh Bells, who are absolutely intense live but are anything but populist fare.

02/25 – Eli Manning / J. Cole – Oh f*** my c***.