A VERY SOMBER CHRISTMAS WITH SAM SMITH/DR. EVIL: First of all, Taran Killam’s Sam Smith impression is pitch perfect. Second of all, we get a huge surprise here with Mike Meyers’s Dr. Evil, and although the jabs at North Korea and Sony are pretty generic, it’s enjoyable watching the character yet again. GRADE: B-
MONOLOGUE: Okay, so as some of you may know, I love Amy Adams and will watch her in any movie…yes, even Man of Steel; she and Jessica Chastain are neck and neck for my favorite working actress today, with Marion Cotillard close behind. As for the monologue, she’s perfectly charming and all, but man, we seriously do not need Kristen Wiig back on the show. In addition, musical monologues are rarely good. GRADE: C+
ASIAN-AMERICAN DOLL: This is another sketch about political correctness, and there are some excellent jokes in here delivered through some great dynamics between the parents and kids. Funny concept executed well. GRADE: B+
TENDERFIELD CHRISTMAS 2014: Kate McKinnon’s “In my Christmas sweatpants!” is comedy gold, and the bits about the kids are hilarious. The sketch isn’t the most polished one in the world, but it’s funny enough nonetheless, and bringing in Kenan Thompson to shut everything down is always going to be great. GRADE: B-
SERIAL: THE CHRISTMAS SURPRISE: It’s kind of hard for me to judge a parody of a podcast that I haven’t listened to yet, but there are definitely quite a few things I laughed at here; I just find it kind of interesting that we’re seeing a podcast in non-podcast form, but admittedly, that’s the only way it would work out here. I enjoyed those phone calls, I guess? And Cecily Strong was amazing, I can recognize. GRADE: B (but if I knew “Serial”, it would most likely be an A)
GIRLFRIENDS TALK SHOW: I’ve never liked this sketch at all, but I do enjoy the energy Aidy Bryant always brings to it. My favorite part of this segment, however, is probably Cecily Strong going on about her crazy boyfriend. GRADE: C+
OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY: This doesn’t end up being as funny as I was hoping from the start, but it’s a solid musical pre-taped bit; it’s kind of a wannabe “Lonely Island” segment, though. Anyway, this essentially just rests on a bunch of physical comedy, so if that works for you, then you probably liked the sketch. GRADE: B
ONE DIRECTION UPDATE: Jeez, these crowd folk are annoying.
WEEKEND UPDATE: The bit with Bobby Moynihan is only fairly amusing, but the sniper lasers make it a bit better. Thompson as Che’s neighbor Willie, though, is great, and I really enjoyed all his “You know what they say!”s. Garth and Kat come back and have a blast, and although I’m not the biggest fan of Armisen or Wiig, those two characters still make me smile. Also: I liked Che calling Kim Jon-Un “Kimberly”. GRADE: B
A VERY CUBAN CHRISTMAS: Kate McKinnon as Diana Nyad is the best part of this sketch. Aside from that, the segment isn’t all that funny; the reveals of who all the people are are definitely funny, but after that, it all fizzles out. GRADE: C+
ONE DIRECTION: Remove the screaming fans, and you have some pretty good live singers here. They harmonize well, and although their music is pretty bland to me, I can recognize their talent. GRADE: B
A MAGICAL CHRISTMAS: This is out of nowhere, and I know a lot of people will hate it; I however, think it’s delightful. Adams, Strong, and McKinnon have impeccable chemistry here, and the concept is unique and strange and hilarious. The beginning is already fantastic with the whole garbage exchange, but by the time they’re all singing raccoons, it’s awesome. GRADE: SINGING RACCOONS
WHISKERS R’WE: This is just an excuse for McKinnon and Adams to handle some adorable cats, and I’m all for it. The two are excellent together, and the sketch has one of my favorite quotes of the night: “Prices as low as ‘we’ll give you $20’!” GRADE: B+
OVERALL: B/B-
A bit disappointing for a Christmas episode, especially one with Amy Adams (looking forward to Big Eyes!) hosting, but not a bad one nonetheless. I’ll see you back here on January 17th for Kevin Hart’s episode.
Also: Happy holidays, everyone. I’ll have Homeland and The Affair reviews up tomorrow, but after that, my TV coverage is done for the year. Stay tuned for TV Year End lists, as well as many more film reviews (those year end lists will be up in late January or early February).
Photo credit: NBC, Saturday Night Live
Polar Bears Watch TV 
I have to be honest and say that I find and have found SNL to not be very funny at all of late I miss Amy Pohler,Jason Sudeikis, and Andy Sandburg, and the “What’s up With that?!” skit, the episode with Zach Galifianakis as R.J.Sizzle the ambidextrous disco flute player still makes me laugh until I cry. 🙂
I just find it lacking, fortunately I do enjoy Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, and Jay Pharoah, they usually make me laugh because they are funny and they try their best with the often lame material given and they are talented.
I cannot abide Taran Killam for I find him trying to be funny and win the sketches that he is in and he is not funny (to me). It is like the want him to be the new Will Farrell or Sudeikis and he is not a patch on them in timing, or commitment to the character or the wacky.
So I watched tonight because I do like Amy Adams, (she is an amazing actor and I agree with your list of favourite female actors, but I would also add Lupita Nyong’o, Emily Blunt,Tilda Swinton,Gugu Mbatha-raw and Dame Helen Mirren)
Amy is great but her opening was so boring, it seems to be the route pattern for them to have some lame singing/dance opening, and Kristen Wiig did not need to be there and for that matter neither did Fred Armistan.
I HATE that singing duo they do, it makes me cringe.
Weekend Update is just so tired, the only good thing about the Christmas video letter was Kate McKinnon, and again I agree Kate was the only good thing about that really sad Cuba skit.
The only thing that I liked was the Dr. Evil opening and the only thing that I LOVED was truly that mental singing Raccoon skit. I laughed so hard that I was crying. I love how zany it was and the fact that the raccoon sisters harmonized so wonderfully, even thought their songs were mental, and their obsession with garbage was wacky until you realize that raccoons LOVE garbage.
I love that your grade for that was “SINGING RACCOONS”, from now on that should be the grade that you give anything stellar. 😉
As for One Direction I have never ever heard a whole song of their’s until tonight and I was very happy for that. They are truly a boy bland, yes they do have talent but their songs are oh so vapid, and filled with empty angsty romantic caring. Every generation has their boy band du jour and now it is 1D’s turn to cause the screaming thigh sweats and palpitations amongst the tweens and teens.
So other than the wonderful singing zany Raccoon sisters trio, this whole show was rather bland.
I just hope that Kevin Hart’s SNL show will be funny. 🙂
Thanks for the comment! Yeah, I definitely agree about Weekend Update, and I do miss the days of Amy Poehler and Tina Fey.
I like those other actresses you mentioned! Tilda Swinton in particular had a great year.
And yup, the singing raccoons sketch was awesome. It seems like so many other people disliked it and thought it was stupid, but I can’t agree with them; I love when SNL just goes all out like that.
Oh, and I’m going to be able to get to your POI comment later! 🙂
You were much tamer on this than I was. While I found bits from the skits to be enjoyable I didn’t think they were good overall. I think the best example would be the Tenderfield Christmas. It was alright but McKinnon absolutely killed it when she came up (as she tends to do). A lot of the sketches were like this.
As a listener to Serial I think they nailed it perfectly. They got all the little things down.
I will say Che continues to grow on me at the WU desk. I can’t quite put my finger on it but he is growing on me. He’s particularly good when it comes to interacting with other characters.
I agree on Che. Sadly, Jost is pulling the whole segment down.
Is it bad that I find 1D just adorable?? hahha I know I know..i’ve lost my mind..hahaha but I can’t help it and tbh it’s only been of recent since I saw them on Graham Norton last week..before that..never paid too much attn. I still can’t name them all..but I find them completely adorable. Medium on the show itself..Mike Meyers..yes! I like the Serial parody..and I also really like Colin Jost..sorry.. I do. Michael Che is getting better now that he seems to not fuss up his lines..but I’m a Jost fan. *shrugs* my fav. new member is Pete Davidson.. and REALLY looking forward to your year end lists.. I’m going to do mine in Jan probably as i’ve still got movies reviews to get out…and you’re so much faster at them than me! 😀
Fair enough on Colin Jost! He does have his moments; I hope they continue to have him interact with Che more. And yeah, Pete Davidson’s great.
And I’ll be excited for your lists in January! I really don’t understand everyone else’s rush to get their lists out in mid-December. So many movies haven’t even come out yet.
exactly..I haven’t seen American Sniper, Into The Woods, Mr. Turner, Unbroken, Still Alice & a few others.. so..not ready yet..:)
Oh and PS.. I’m soooooo freaking/getting ready for/excited for HOMELAND..damn that Peter Quinn..#QuinnIsEVERYTHING 🙂
I’ve already seen it, but it was sadly very disappointing for me. Review will be up right away after the episode, I’ll be interested to hear what you think.
just done watching.. it airs east coast time here also..one of the few shows that does.. I expected it to be quieter.. having a main character die is getting to cliche now and this show is anything but that. 🙂
I’m definitely fine with quieter, but I do feel like it wasn’t handled all too well. A bit too much manufactured drama for my taste, and I don’t think the episode was quite sure what it wanted to be.