Don't you hate it when you're writing something and your computer freaks out and it gets deleted? Yeah? No? Anyway...
Great episode. Great way to finish off the season, great way to send off Jimmy Fallon, who will be missed as much as Will Ferrell. He won't have the box-office cache that Ferrell does, but let's hope he finds his niche out there.
Hardball is great. Darryl Hammond is great. I know, I know, "tell me something I don't know," right? Okay, how's this: if Kerry gets elected (fingers crossed, wood thoroughly knocked on), Seth Meyers will have his hands full for the next four years. Hope he's up for it, but he really is perfect for the job, which is great. I remember Alec Baldwin saying how SNL should really be giving it to the US administration every week. He said Tina Fey has done that, but they should really be roasting the current administration. The problem is, Will Ferrell left, and no one could do Bush as well. Now we have an almost-perfect Kerry doppleganger in a man with great sense of humor to match. So even with Fallon leaving, the future looks promising. More on that later. Oh, and seeing Kenan's Sharpton was a welcome return.
The opening prom sketch was great. "You're 35." -- ouch. Nice that they brought back the whole paparazzi sketch from when Aniston hosted. "You're too skinny -- eat a sandwich!"
The Mary-Kate and Ashley fragrances commercial was great, too. I love it when sketches become more and more schizophrenic as they progress. It really shows intelligent writing. Case in point: Jessica Simpson's Chicken of the Sea riff, and a later sketch from this episode, Pat and Patti's Backpack Shack.
Jimmy's shock jock was back for one last hurrah. Such a shame he came up with a great sketch on his last season and won't be around to reprise it. Delivery is everything. "AND WE'RE BAAAACK!" *crowd goes wild*
I'm so glad they pointed out how awful a show The Swan is, even though that should be obvious to anyone with half a brain. Maya Rudolph shone here in an understated role. Nice to see Amy Poehler's disgusting girl return. "Vicky is what we doctors call 'fugly.' ... Basically, we're gonna take some skin from her butt and do stuff with it." Loved the whole mirror bit.
J-Kwon -- who cares? Awful.
Weekend Update was decent as it always is. One good/bad thing about Fallon leaving: he and Sanz won't be able to crack each other up anymore. Fey doing Schwarzenegger: classic. $2,400 vouchers allow students to attend college ... for eight days. More sad and true than funny. The Troy review was out of place. I was unaffected. Tina's "Jimmy! TV voice." line was cool, though. "Aw, that might be the last time you hit me, Jimmy!" Sad. Really sad. And when Fallon addressed the camera to say goodbye, it sucked.
The back pack sketch was great. Thought it would suck when it started, but once it got going the writing and delivery really pulled it through. Great stuff.
The evening basically was a Fallon showcase. Good to see him returning to Pat O'Brien one last time. The triplet sketch, though, was predictable, and Armisen deserved better than that unfunny bit. The "I have asthma." line was funny, though.
No Merv the Perv sketch as Cinephile predicted, but the next closest thing as Fallon and Parnell reprised their awkward brothers role. Really reminiscent of Lovitz's whole schtick he did with Tom Hanks (or without, too -- that I don't remember). I don't really care for the sketch -- Lovitz's rendition was better. But the whole "wanna see our pants half-off?" line was good. And "I love the night life - I pick the boogies from this nostril up HERE, oh yeah." I liked how Don Pardo sat up from the bed at the end of the sketch. Nice touch, that. Jackson family barbecue -- feh. Alright, but nothing special. Nice technique. Could've been better.
Don't know what was up with the whole young male-pattern baldness sketch. Seemed so out of place, but a throw-back to the days when short films would be included in the show. Seemed to be just a time-eater when that time would better be served by letting Fallon do something else.
The highlight of the night, the thing that makes the poor moments pale, is the final sketch. I LOVED it. The whole Grease thing was so perfect. Such a great way to end the season and to see Fallon off. "No more orgies Thursday night." It was so fitting that they have Fallon and Fey singing at the end. Such a sad moment. The end of an era.
Now the question arises: who to place Fallon? Can Fey really carry Weekend Update, talented as she is? Probably. If they try to replace Fallon, will the next guy measure up? Not likely, so should they try? Armisen is too wacky to take a newsanchor role, but he could work. But then again, for some reason I see Will Forte being perfect. He has that je ne sais quoi about him. Then again, there's something to be said for Seth Meyers, as he's done plenty of Weekend Update segments, and seems to fit right in. But no one can match the flirty, catty, love-hate, brother/sister thing Fallon and Fey had. Best team since Aykroyd and Curtain. SNL's at SUCH a great loss without him.
