OT: SNL's New Season Begins
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swanstep — 9 years ago(November 22, 2016 04:38 PM)
In case there isn't an EC majority, the Senate elects the vice president among only the top 2 candidates, with the current VP available to break a tie. So regardless of what happens in the House, a VP is assured, and that person would become acting president until the House produces a majority.
I didn't mention all the VP stuff because the separate vote for the VP in the EC is itself pretty bizarre (raising the spectre of all sorts of mischief if the contxt was an already chaotic election, or the third or fourth chaotic election in a row where the neither the popular vote not the vote on the EC has been decisive, or).
First, if the VP vote in the EC gets a majority winner when the EC vote for P doesn't then that that VP winner does become VP then acting-President (i.e., gets sworn in as VP in Jan then gets an immediate temporary promotion! meanwhile the House can stay in turmoil about the Pres forever even as the House itself gets refreshed in Jan. what a fricking mess honestly.
Anyhow, if the VP doesn't get a maj in the EC either (likely if the P doesn't) then, yes, the Senate steps in to choose between the top two VP vote-getters in the EC and that choice becomes first VP and then Acting-Pres as above. But will the Senate choose? They can't if they don't have a quorum, and in the horrific political hardball situation we're anticipating there's nothing to prevent a majority of senators (perhaps from several different parties) hightailing it rather than (as they see it) rewarding bad behavior by the opposition in the House. The Senate will change in Jan and maybe a different result will occur. Maybe.
My understanding is that if things break down the the 20th Amendment Section 3 procedure for non-qualification of either P or VP kicks in, which basically suggests that the whole House may declare Acting-president and vice-Presidents 'by law'. Congressional experts (e.g., Neale 2001, Contingent Election Congressional Research Service Report) assume that this means that the whole House would vote to follow the Presidential Succession Act (1947) and make the Speaker of the House Acting Pres. and President pro tempore of the Senate in Jan, Acting Vice-Pres. I agree that that's a pretty natural way to understand how things should play out but I'm not convinced that they would in the sorts of extraordinary crisis, consumed by partisan fury situations we're considering. The Amendment's 'may' doesn't force the House to do anything, and the purview of the Presidential succession act in electoral circumstances could be disputed (and codified by legislation rushed through with the out-going lame-duck president's signature if necessary), and would be if it was in anyone's interests to do so.
So, no, despite there being a few more steps once you bring in the VP I don't think there's much that's solid here. The EC college could fail to do its job in a lot of ways (and we haven't even got into the problems of strategizing by electors once they see what's likely to happen if things go to the special reduced House!), and those ways are going to become increasingly prominent if current trends continue (and esp. if the future for the US is more multi-party). There's a definite Legal and Political Hurricane Katrina (something that'll make Bush v. Gore look like a light breeze) coming to the US in future if it doesn't change its EC ways.
That said, the EC isn't the deep problem. Reliance on aggregating winners-that-take-all, first-past-the-post procedures which occur at every level of US Govt is. -
ecarle — 9 years ago(December 11, 2016 10:53 AM)
Since I started this cockamamie thread, I must say I've been catching episodes on DVR later and later after they air and I cant really fulfill any obligation to comment on this season episode by episode, with any regularity. Nor should I. Swanstep is much more on target about what's going on and how the musical guests are, etc.
But I'd say things can always be said about SNL..episode by episode, if something really cool occurs. So I may say more
A bit of danger for the show right now is that SNL now seems to have been enfolded into the "political fake news" sites or at least the "left rah rah" political sites like Salon and Slate so as to offer some sort of weekly proof of how badly Trump is doing ("Watch Alec Baldwin eviscerate Trump in this sketch"). There are roughly two to three SNL articles every week on these sites, and I think it is at once diluting the brand and sinking the show into the bitter morass of political hatreds. (I will certainly name Rush Limbaugh as equally rah-rah from the other side; but he doesn't, to my knowledge, spend as much time talking SNL as the lefty sites do, nor linking to SNL skits.)
For his part, Trump kept tweeting how awful SNL is every week. Maybe he's done now. Alec Baldwin tweeted back "I'll stop doing you on air if you release your tax returns." And that Davidson kid tweeted to Trump "F you, beyotch."
Ecch.
Its not that SNL hasn't always shined brightest as a political show. Its that now it seems to have been dragged into the never-ending political battles of our media age. If SNL and Trump are just going to fling insults at each other for four yearseh.
Last week, Emma Stone promoted the hell out of La La Land, and the non-political sketches were indeed, pretty unfunny. Stone was also asked as most pretty female hosts are - to enact a couple of sex-based sketches in scanty outfits. Her bit as Mary with the baby Jesus freaking out at all the uninvited wise man guests, was sort of funny.
This week, the host is pro wrestler John Cena, and I'll see it some time. I'm reminded that our most successful movie star of the moment isDwayne "The Rock" Johnsonso professional wrestling(well, the billion dollar WWE franchise) remains a training ground for Big Guy comedy charisma.
Speaking of WWE, Trump went and appointed the co-owner of the franchise, Linda McMahon, to run some federal agency.
Behold the power of Hulk Hogan! (And Trump's canny realization that wrestling fans are likely where a lot of his base are.) -
swanstep — 9 years ago(December 11, 2016 06:27 PM)
Eh, a pretty weak ep.. Best for me was a video insert piece modeled on Being John Malkovich called something like 'Through Trump's Eyes' (I won't spoil how Cena was used in that, but it was good).
Lots of Aidy Bryant and Keenan Thompson this week, too much I think.
Michael Che got in one or two good snipes about Trump's childishness on Update.
That's about it.
Last week, Emma Stone promoted the hell out of La La Land, and the non-political sketches were indeed, pretty unfunny. Stone was also asked as most pretty female hosts are - to enact a couple of sex-based sketches in scanty outfits.
I was kind of amazed at how tiny Emma Stone seemed on the show. Cecily Strong towered over her, and was literally twice as wide as her. I guess it was a reminder of the severe abnormality of supermodel/Hollywood actress/Taylor Swift-type bodies - they're truly reed thin in a way that (unless you live in the right neighborhoods in NYC or LA) you never in the real world past early teens. -
ecarle — 9 years ago(December 17, 2016 09:10 AM)
Eh, a pretty weak ep..
And thus again, Trumps tweets may have drawn unnecessary attention to the fact that when SNL is NOT in its political impressions modeits not that good anymore.
I can't really feel that the show has the big "catch phrase power" of its other years: Wild and Crazy Guy, Land Shark, Cheesbuga..all the way through Wayne's World and "that was greatNOT!" etc. etc. The non-political sketches just don't have that power.
But they do haveKate McKinnon. Who scores.
Best for me was a video insert piece modeled on Being John Malkovich called something like 'Through Trump's Eyes' (I won't spoil how Cena was used in that, but it was good).
It was pretty good. And John Cena was an interesting host. The continued influence of modern-day professional wrestling(which wears its fakery on its sleeve, but STILL delivers physically punishing action and acrobatics..rather like a Kung Fu movie) on our culture is worth considering.
In some ways, Arnold and Sly back in the 80's gave us the "muscleman hero" in a manner that naturally leads to wrestlers as movie stars. The Rock has been the only mainstream breakthrough, but Cena has had small cameos in "Train Wreck" and "Sisters" , underlining the role of the "big boy toy" in today's female-centered comedies.
But of courseand very, very seriouslypro wrestling culture invaded this year's election in a big way.
Lots of Aidy Bryant and Keenan Thompson this week, too much I think.
He's funny, she's notmaybe the others had Xmas season reasons for being off the show. They aren't using the new players very much, I note. Sometimes they show up in the last sketches only.
Michael Che got in one or two good snipes about Trump's childishness on Update.
I do think Update is where the show usually shines. (One NBC exec said that "the audience will always watch the show through Update" which is why it has moved later into the show!) The jokes are generally good, Che(especially) AND Jost(it took some time) are good joke readers, and it is here where guest movie stars turn up and some of the funniest character routines are.
In fact, in the Cena episode, I thought we got two character gems on Update: Kate MacKinnon doing Merkel(this is part of her "accent trilogy" she does Italian, Russian, and German women on Update.) And then Cecily Strong bringing out again a crazed female drunk character called "Cathy Anne" that really makes me laugh. I think Strong rather "paced" MacKinnon in the "comedy chops" department here; I tried to mimic Strong's voice patterns to see how she did it, but I could not (the closest I could connect was on the name "Michelle Ruhbama" as to how to do the drunk voice. Try it out loud.)
That's about it.
I guess I'm more easily amused. And SNL is that mediocre restaurant at that good location. And I figure I'll watch it or skim its taped DVR version til my last breaths.
Last week, Emma Stone promoted the hell out of La La Land, and the non-political sketches were indeed, pretty unfunny. Stone was also asked as most pretty female hosts are - to enact a couple of sex-based sketches in scanty outfits.
I was kind of amazed at how tiny Emma Stone seemed on the show. Cecily Strong towered over her, and was literally twice as wide as her. I guess it was a reminder of the severe abnormality of supermodel/Hollywood actress/Taylor Swift-type bodies - they're truly reed thin in a way that (unless you live in the right neighborhoods in NYC or LA) you never in the real world past early teens.
I've seen some of these actresses "for real" in my visits to LA over the years, and their reed thin tininess is, indeed, not right in some way. It is as if to photograph properly, they have to starve and do God knows what else to their bodies.
The famous J-Law (in the news again with "Passengers" to release and more movies on deck, including one for Spielberg) seems a bit curvier and meatier and I think that's working for the sex appeal part of her stardom. -
swanstep — 9 years ago(December 18, 2016 07:52 PM)
Good show this week I thought. No great sketches but no weak ones either. With his beard, Affleck was a natural for both Brooklyn Hipsters and South Boston numbskulls, both of which are comically potent groups. Xmas themes also allowed the show to steer away from the TV-show sketches that are so played out (even if they are occasionally funny). Lots of Vanessa Bayer made me happy - esp. likes the Putin's friend bit on update w/ Fred Armisenit was only one joke but it was very-well-performed. Also SNL's Putin is still an absolute winner. They're going to be hard=pressed to keep that to just one appearance per show. No Star Wars-themed sketches was a bit of a surprise.
John Goodman was looking healthier than he's been in a while - still a big guy but not carrying so much weight you fear he's not going to stick around. Good to see.
In general Affeck was outshone by the regulars, but he was still an appealing presence. It was great that he didn't do a song (that stuff's got way out of hand and should in my view be reserved just for those performers who are true triple-threat types) and it was great he addressed right off the bat that the movie's he's promoting is both really good but also a mega-downer/hard-sell. Nice. -
ecarle — 9 years ago(December 21, 2016 05:12 PM)
Good show this week I thought.
I liked it.
No great sketches but no weak ones either.
About par for the course.
With his beard, Affleck was a natural for both Brooklyn Hipsters and South Boston numbskulls, both of which are comically potent groups.
Yes, he caught those well. Also with the beard, he looked a lot more like his bigger brother Ben. Funny: we've had Casey in movies at least since 2001, but h he only feels like he's arriving this year.
Xmas themes also allowed the show to steer away from the TV-show sketches that are so played out (even if they are occasionally funny).
Are you thinking of the TV GAME show sketches? Using the game show as a template sure seems to be a way to get pretty easy(and legit) laughs for SNL. But indeed, a break is welcome sometime.
On the other hand, they also spoof local TV MORNING shows, so
Lots of Vanessa Bayer made me happy -
I don't know how these things work. Some weeks ago, she was barely on. Then this episode, all over the place. Look, Kate's getting all the press and Cecily is interestingly funny too butVanessa with that great smile(its like her ENTIRE act) and her way with female AND male(boy) characterspretty good.
I saw an interview recently for some Xmas movie(Christmas Office Party), which has Kate and Vanessa in the cast, where Kate was seated next to Vanessa. Poor Vanessa. Its not that Kate stopped her from talkingits just that all the questions went to Kate!
esp. likes the Putin's friend bit on update w/ Fred Armisenit was only one joke but it was very-well-performed.
Nice of Fred to drop by(and get gigantic "recognition applause" earlier on.) I thought the sketch was funny, low-key, and Vanessa was cute as a button.
Also SNL's Putin is still an absolute winner. They're going to be hard=pressed to keep that to just one appearance per show.
I just hope Beck Bennett can keep the weight off for as long as is necessary. The shirtless aspect makes things funny from the start.
No Star Wars-themed sketches was a bit of a surprise.
Ah, perhaps because the first host of 2017 is the star of Rogue Wars or whatever its called?
John Goodman was looking healthier than he's been in a while - still a big guy but not carrying so much weight you fear he's not going to stick around. Good to see.
Yes. Irony, though. Alec Baldwin lost some weight a few years back, but its back bigtime. I thought he was wearing a fake belly to play Trump , butno.
Consequently, here is John Goodman standing next to Alec Baldwin and he's the thin(ner) one. That would not have been the case in 1990.
In general Affeck was outshone by the regulars, but he was still an appealing presence. It was great that he didn't do a song (that stuff's got way out of hand and should in my view be reserved just for those performers who are true triple-threat types) and it was great he addressed right off the bat that the movie's he's promoting is both really good but also a mega-downer/hard-sell. Nice.
An OK host, to be sure. He held his own and he helped make his name. Yeah, I liked him being direct about his sad movie.
BUT WAIT: They've done it before, but that sketch where Kate sits, legs wide open in jeans, next to two "normal" people and gives her own rendition of what happened when three people had a "magical experience" is a great sketch. Before, the gag has been: the three people were taken aboard UFOs. This time: the three people met Santa. But Kate's story is always a lot more rough, raw, and sexually weird than the other two, and she plays the character to the max: smoking, legs apart, hard Midwest(?) biker-mama accent. Hilarious. "These two next to me sound like they're inna Disney movie" she intoned, "I didn't meet Santa, but I met his helper called Kringlemouse." Got funny from there.
SNL still sometimes has it, even if its a bit warmed over and predictable. A laugh is a laugh. Kate as the barroom hanger-on getting it on with some drunk guy is another great recurring sketch.
AND ALSO: Hillary returns in a spoof of a famous, rather oversweet scene in Love Actually(a scene that starred Keira Knightly AND the current male lead of The Walking Dead HE's a star now, a star in Love Actually.) Pretty funny andmanaged to make a fair amount of fun of Hillary(retroactively?) while still making fun of Trump. NOTE: SNL spoofed this very same scene some years ago, with Amy Adams in it. I think the scene was cut from the live show, filmed at dress, and then put out on Hulu. -
swanstep — 9 years ago(February 07, 2017 06:01 PM)
A final entry or two for this long-running thread:
Lots of Trump-related stuff this week beginning with T's terrifying but largely invisible advisor, Steve Bannon, imaged as The Grim Reaper (who's the real president). It worked.
MVP of the whole show, however, was a guesting Melissa McCarthy (so good at being very very angry) crushing it as T's press secretary/comms person Sean Spicer. Apparently has sent the White House up the wall. What a star McCarthy is when she's ON.
A couple of sketches anchored by Keenan Thompson including Big Papi again on Update. I don;t know what it is but that guy still makes me laugh even though there aren't any real jokes there.
None of the other sketches, including all those with Kristen Stewart, really took off but none were busts either. This cast and group of writers has found its feet in the second half of this season, and the basic level of sketches is now pretty decent.
Stewart's monologue detailing how pre-politics Trump had repeatedly tweeted about her in her Twilight/Tabloid days was quite fun. It's a reminder of how amazing it really is that Trump became president. Shoot, maybe Kanye West or Tom Hanks or Louis CK or Oprah really should run and could win next time, if that's how it's going to be from now on? -
ecarle — 9 years ago(February 07, 2017 06:27 PM)
A final entry or two for this long-running thread:
Tick tocktick tockbut maybe not?
Lots of Trump-related stuff this week beginning with T's terrifying but largely invisible advisor, Steve Bannon, imaged as The Grim Reaper (who's the real president). It worked.
They've used The Grim Reaper stand-in for Bannon for some weeks now, though once on the Update news segment, they showed a photo of the real Bannon(disheveled, overlong and messy haircut, a bit paunchy in the face) and Michael Che called him "fitness fanatic Steve Bannon."
The sketch ended funny with Kennan Thompson tearing Trump up after Kate's Merkel(long in "crush love" with Obama,) tried to make things work with the new guy.
MVP of the whole show, however, was a guesting Melissa McCarthy (so good at being very very angry) crushing it as T's press secretary/comms person Sean Spicer. Apparently has sent the White House up the wall. What a star McCarthy is when she's ON.
And she WAS on, there. This is the classic sketch of the year, it may be the one to beat ALL year. (And probably a "guest star" Emmy. And she wasn't even the host.) The White House is bugged and Spicer might get the axbut then, nothing about this election overcame DC's status as a gossipy, leaky, talking behind everybody's back all the time town. Even Trump's craziness can't beat that. In other wordmaybe Spicer stays.
I enjoyed MM immensely here, but what she was really doing was a "re-set" of a character she played a few years ago on SNL: a super-mean, physically abusive high school women's basketball coach who threw things at her scared teenage charges. Same character. She just added the man hair/suit, and did it again.
Which is OK, because this IS MM's talent, her ability to bully and explode with such precision this is the reason she's a movie star and she did not get to DO this character bit in Ghostbuster. She did get to do it in The Boss and The Heat and, oh, all her other movies. And she is funny when she's "on." (Seth MacFarlane tweeted of this performance, "(she is) the new Jackie Gleason." Maybe so, maybe so.
A couple of sketches anchored by Keenan Thompson including Big Papi again on Update. I don;t know what it is but that guy still makes me laugh even though there aren't any real jokes there.
Thompson is the "hidden talent" of the show, he's been on forever, and I don't think Lorne wants to let him go. He gets his laughs with line readings and facial takes and breaking the fourth wall and doing slow burns. Saves many a so-so sketch, makes good ones fly higher.
None of the other sketches, including all those with Kristen Stewart, really took off but none were busts either. This cast and group of writers has found its feet in the second half of this season, and the basic level of sketches is now pretty decent.
The usual. SNL without the political sketches isn't all that great anymore.
Kristen Stewart's all grown up. Playing Tom Brady's superstar model wife in a tight skirt and flowing wigva va voom. (Evidently, Ms. Stewart is proud of her legs, she showed them off all night.)
Stewart was also very good at reading the cue cards smoothly as if acting, not reading. I always note this as "talent."
Stewart's monologue detailing how pre-politics Trump had repeatedly tweeted about her in her Twilight/Tabloid days was quite fun. It's a reminder of how amazing it really is that Trump became president.
Yep. Trump was paying that kind of attention to pop culture "way back when" and I don't think DC ever figured out that that kind of attention to silly detail would deliver THIS. I mean, ever watched an episode of "The Bachelor?" Everything about it is fake, lies, acting the "romance" isn't real we've brought this on ourselves.
Shoot, maybe Kanye West or Tom Hanks or Louis CK or Oprah really should run and could win next time, if that's how it's going to be from now on?
This could be a real shift. The joke always used to be "Politics is show business for ugly people," but that became "politics is stardom for people who could never make it as show business stars." Once REAL stars started winning races(Arnold as California Governor,Al Franken, now Trump as President, once Jesse "The Body" Ventura as Minnesota Governor who was a wrestler, underlining one of my other themes) the die was cast. The issue is invariably: "Can this star give up their income to do THIS?" Yes, evidently. (Arnold ran for Cal Gov when his movies starting tanking and he got lower budgets for them.)
And yes, Ronald Reagan may have started it all. He WAS a movie star for a coupla of decades(second tier, not "B") and he was a 50s/60s TV star going into his winning races for Governor. "We should have seen it coming then."
And maybe Trump's gonna be a big ol' crash and burn, and maybe we're in mortal danger, but in the meantime, he seems to be making a lot of the same appointments Cruz or Rubio would have made. "The machinery keeps on cranking."
PS. Alec Baldwin full out hosts next week. Could be -
swanstep — 9 years ago(February 13, 2017 04:01 AM)
Ouch! After a pretty splendid ep. last week in which all sketches were good and several killed, this week's ep. was a complete bust in my view. All the Trump-related sketches felt played out and nothing else caught fire. Not even Keenan Thompson as a Beyonce baby could make me laugh.
The advertising-for-cheetos sketch was probably the best once, but it unfortunately rebounded slightly since so much of the show's humor right now is very message-driven. Guy-who-bought-a-boat on Update made me chuckle a little before they beat it into the ground. That's all I've got.
It's a repeat of this season's peak, the excellent Dave Chappelle ep., next week. That break may be what the shows writers and princpals need most right now. -
movieghoul — 9 years ago(December 12, 2016 10:13 AM)
Trump actually appeared on WWE several years back where he "feuded" with Vaince McMahon (a battle of the moguls). I'm surprised this wasn't brought up more during the campaign because his politically incorrect rulebreaker role for WWE was uncannily similar to his campaign persona.
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ecarle — 9 years ago(December 17, 2016 09:28 AM)
Trump actually appeared on WWE several years back where he "feuded" with Vaince McMahon (a battle of the moguls). I'm surprised this wasn't brought up more during the campaign because his politically incorrect rulebreaker role for WWE was uncannily similar to his campaign persona.
I saw a couple of articles on this but it didn't get the play necessary.
When John Cena appeared on SNL last week, his opening line was: "I'm John Cena. And if you voted for Hillary Clinton, you don't know who I am. Because I'm a WWE professional wrestler."
Some truth therea lot of political pundits and reporters likely didn't see how Trump incorporated WWE tactics into this campaign.
However, by the time we reached the debates, Hillary was doing it too(she had to) and even Obama was near the end of the campaign.
But here was the key WWE aspect of all this: everybody (Trump, Hilary, Obama) called each other the worst names in October and early November("most unfit for the Presidency" "should be locked up" ) and then, after the election was over, "took it all back." ("I wish him well," "She's a nice person") It wasn't for real. These were WWE staged insults.
As I've noted from time to time, I'll tune into WWE just because I find its world so fascinatingly bizarre in the middle of American culture. Its big business now at the WWE level, and everybody's in on the joke. And there's a little nostalgia for me, too.
Way back in the seventies and my youth, they had a local televised wrestling show, and my male friends and I would go down there to be on local TV (not many seats in the studio, so all spectators were on screen for the whole hour) and jokingly participate in the action as "screaming fans" or pointing at the villainous bad guy manager as he picked up a chair to hit the good guy and yelling out a warning, etc. It was fun for us, we took the wrestling for what it was a fake "action soap opera" in which the fans could take part and honestly, I think those who were exposed to the culture THAT way understand how it has effortlessly transferred to politics today.
Further in my corner on this: Jack Nicholson, who professed a real admiration for the acting showmanship of wrestlers like Rick Flair.
And there is a clip on YouTube that has gotten some fame, of an old-school, overweight wrestler named Dusty Rhodes giving an impassioned plea for empathy to financially-strapped working class fans who are going through "Hard Times." He's talking about losing jobs, losing homes, paying bills, trying to raise children. Its a great populist political speech about the "forgotten people," roared out in near-rhyme by, well, just an overweight old wrestler. But he connected.
If I linger on the WWE aspect of things here, I think it is because its dramatization and tactics have always "kind of" been in politics, too but not like this year. And the fact that Trump has given a key political position to the billionaire wife co-owner of WWE means this time, "wrestling is for real."