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Wranger's Open-Fly Jeans

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under TV Reviews | Comments (35)



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After what I considered two of the better seasons in recent memory, the 2010-2011 “SNL” season has reverted and, at this pace, it may go down as one of the worst, all the more frustrating because of the caliber of guest that they’ve had so far: Bryan Cranston, Jane Lynch, Amy Poehler and, last night, Emma Stone.

It was a dud. A painful one, too, given how goddamn adorable Emma Stone is. She couldn’t salvage the bad writing, and while Kristen Wiig used to be one of the cast members you could rely on for a few solid moments in each episode, she helped to weigh down last night’s brutal performance.

Thankfully, Kings of Leon performed, and offered some small reason to stick around.

That lone highlight? The all-too-obvious, but still amusing, Brett Favre Wrangler Open-Fly Jeans Commercial:

Emma Stone’s best moment was probably the Digital Short, which was almost amusing up until Andy Samberg’s Grape Jelly began rapping. Then it was just embarassing.

There was a “The View” parody, and Emma Stone did an expected Lindsay Lohan impersonation, but it was both underused and wasted.

“Weekend Update,” which used to offer a series of decent headlines jokes has been mostly reduced to a series of terrible bits. Stefon was painful, John Mulaney’s “I Love It” was OK, while Kenan Thompson’s Jimmy Mulligan was the highlight, if you could call it that.

Finally, Emma Stone’s monologue was flat and kind of lame, but the dude doing the Michael Cera impression was spot-on.











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Comments

I'm watching my DVR'd broadcast right now and cringing, literally. They are completely out of the groove.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at October 24, 2010 11:17 AM

I kinda liked Baby Spanx and Les Juenes, but the rest was meh.

Posted by: Nat at October 24, 2010 11:44 AM

And was it me or was the sound for Kings of Leon just a tad fucked-up? You could hardly hear the vocals.
And yeah Baby Spanx was kinda good. Xtreme Home Makeover was a massive pile of fail.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at October 24, 2010 11:47 AM

Maybe I'm just a horrible person, but Stefon makes me laugh hysterically every single time I see it. Any Stefon skit just kills me.

Posted by: Matt at October 24, 2010 12:09 PM

I agree Matt.. I'm always happy to see Stefon on Update. The whole Weekend Update segment has kind of bugged me for the last decade. The extended editorial asides that started with Fey and Poehler and are now pretty much a weekly staple for Seth Meyers are incredibly annoying. It's like a "REALLY?!? With Seth and Amy" every damn week, only they just don't use the title card unless they've managed to drag Amy on set that week. It kind of cheapens the whole premise of the segment which is: News item -> One Liner. I miss Norm Macdonald.

Posted by: Matches at October 24, 2010 12:31 PM

*deep breath*

On the whole, it could have been worse. Yet, like Rowles said, they completely failed Miss Stone, she BROUGHT. IT. the material was just not up to her talent, that's a fucking shame, man. They are also completely squeezing the life out of Kristen Wiig's career. Girlfriend needs to cut back before she they burn her out. And did anyone else see the promo for the Women of SNL thing for next week? What the FUCK is up with Cheri Oteri's face. I had to do a triple take.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at October 24, 2010 12:34 PM

Terrible episode. I watched the first couple sketches and then left in the middle of the digital short. Completely embarrassing and a waste of such a talented and super hot actress.

Kristen Wiig has totally lost whatever it was I found appealing about her when she first arrived.

Also, why isn't the new guy doing the Barack Obama impression? I was 99% sure that was the only reason they brought him on.

Posted by: Allen at October 24, 2010 1:03 PM

I liked Les Jeunes, just because it was different, and I always enjoy a sketch that makes me go "What the fuck was that?" at the end.
Update was pretty lame, except I'm a sucker for Stefon. "Finally, a club that answers the question 'NOW?!??'"
Other than that, there wasn't really much.

Posted by: chayes at October 24, 2010 1:49 PM

Kings of Leon performed

Did they play that song that sounds like that other song of theirs?

Posted by: Fredo at October 24, 2010 1:52 PM

Stefon is my favorite thing SNL has done the last couple seasons, I just love Bill Hader so much. And Les Jeunes de Paris was cute and let Emma Stone do something besides a background character. In fact, the last half of the episode was way more bearable than the first half. Isn't it supposed to be the opposite?

Posted by: kelsy at October 24, 2010 1:54 PM

I liked the Favre jeans commercial, the "the Rent is Too Damn High" guy, and the perfect Michael Cera impression which was totally wasted in the otherwise dull and predictable monologue. I see more Cera impressions in that guy's future at least.

But otherwise, one of the worst episodes ever. It prolly didn't help that I watched the Amy Poehler season premier just before this one either. At least I could skip the commercials...

Posted by: EJ at October 24, 2010 2:07 PM

"...You instead took us on a tour of a coked-up gay Candyland."

I LOVE Stefon. :D

Posted by: Another Jen at October 24, 2010 2:33 PM

honestly, what the fuck? im lost as to why emma stone agreed to be on this terrible show in the first place. its a terrible show, surely someone that (as far as i know) is smart as her, would realize how bad this show is doing. its a fucking disgrace to the people who started SNL. im sure they're sitting at home going "who the fuck are these kids? im funnier than that in my sleep."

Posted by: Taylor Kozakar at October 24, 2010 2:43 PM

Kings of Leon performed

Did they play that song that sounds like that other song of theirs?

Are they our new Matchbox 20?

Posted by: greer at October 24, 2010 2:47 PM

"Prolly" fuck that. It's PROBABLY.

Posted by: Spellcheck at October 24, 2010 2:53 PM

Team Stefon!

Posted by: Hayden Tompkins at October 24, 2010 3:17 PM

Jesus Christ! That show is going down faster than a log cabin republican at a lobbyist convention.

Posted by: Pookie at October 24, 2010 3:30 PM

I was pretty busy, but that doesn't mean I missed the obnoxious level the comments were at the end of this week.

I caught up on all the shows I watch, and a few trumped as 'superior'. Community, 30 Rock, and South Park were all hilarious. And though you may think the comedy game passed them by, as many of you blame them for the level of obnoxious comedy has taken (even it's the level of obnoxious the fans of comedy believing themselves the owners and arbitrators of what is funny that is the glaring difference between 1998 and 2010). Really, what the fuck is wrong with you kids? Granting the significantly low rate of general shittiness on the site, what is wrong with some of you?


and Terriers! that Bitch?! My nom for best of the week.
Caprica! sweetass sweet.
Modern Family gave a nice one.
Running Wilde played the 2nd episode out of order, when they should have left it in the bin. It's funny, but not when they focus on the irony of opulence-- like they do with this episode, to show Wilde's growth. The two best eps of this show have been the one where Emmy goes to work at Wilde Oil, and the one where she + Wilde interfere with the little girl's school dance. Maybe a show where Wilde legally changes Puddle's name? Use the charisma of the strong cast to mold your plots, not the fucking premise. Come On, Hurwitz!

Looking forward to Venture Bros/Children's, Boardwalk, and Bored to Death Tonight.

Oh yeah, and SNL's fucking awful. A good option to look for an actor, but fucking horrible for entertainment purposes. And I love sketch. It just doesn't play on network. Not even 30 Rock could do a good live sketch show. Rest of their season and Community's season have been solid. Some classic shit there, sherlocks.

It might be awful, but the only interesting stuff going on in sketch right now are Whitest Kids You Know and the new cable version of Brownstein & Armisen's Portlandia. I love their Saddam sketch and the Katchenza restaurant sketch. Links embedded.

Posted by: Jackseppelin at October 24, 2010 3:42 PM

What band did the background music for the Les Jeunes De Paris skit.

Posted by: Kevin at October 24, 2010 6:11 PM

Kevin: it's a French singer named Camille. The song is called "Ta Douleur."

Posted by: sonk at October 24, 2010 6:46 PM

Screw you, the French Dancing sketch and Stefon bit in Weekend Update were BY FAR the best parts of the episode.

Posted by: ChristianH at October 24, 2010 6:46 PM

Keenan's Mcmillan was hilarious

Posted by: oh yeah at October 24, 2010 9:01 PM

Jeez. Smoke pot, then watch. It's ALWAYS hilarious that way....

Posted by: DUH!!!! at October 24, 2010 9:28 PM

Onion News Network is better than SNL for pot. Or you know, almost anything else.


Still, don't do drugs kids. It's baaad. Even if you don't ruin your lives (unlikely), if you become a regular user (somewhat likely), close to 4 out of 5 of you will make poor decisions on a weekly basis (verified customer). This can be flipped to your advantage if you need to make bad judgements, or want to; but to smoke pot merely for something as bad as SNL is _________.

I'll let the clown peering in through the window fill in the blank.

And explain exactly what it's doing there.

Posted by: Beercan bravado at October 24, 2010 10:14 PM

"Look, is that Mick Jagger? No, it's a fat kid on a Slip n Slide. He has knees that look like biscuits, and he's ready to party."

That's some pretty funny shit.

And the Digital Short was gold until the grape jelly started to rap. The more I watch it, the funnier it gets.

Posted by: The Pink Hulk at October 24, 2010 10:22 PM

@DUH!!!!
No, even pot can't save this show. I never watch it sober, because I'm not into pain, and it's still terrible. Yet, I still watch it, because it's an extended audition for who will be the funny people after they leave SNL and who will become Victoria Jackson.

And I'll join the others in saying that Stefan is one of the best characters, but they need to do a little more with him. Everything else was really terrible and hard to watch. I could watch Emma Stone do anything and be totally entertained, but the opening monologue was soooooooooooooooooo tired and not at all what should be done with a treasure like Emma Stone. I don't know why people liked 'les jeunes de paris', but I will give it credit for being about the only thing on TV that doesn't appeal to my generation by referencing 80's TV.

Worst of the season so far.

Posted by: John G. at October 24, 2010 10:50 PM

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who love Stefon. Man, he kills me every time. Also agree that the other highlight was the French Dance number.

Posted by: moonsover at October 25, 2010 12:27 AM

BarbadoSlim, I thought the lead singer was just mumbling. Then again, I skipped their performances after the first ten seconds, so I could be wrong.

I couldn't stop laughing during the Wrangler Open-fly commercial, but the rest was horrible. I like Stefon, but I skipped all of Weekend Update so I missed him this time.

Posted by: Uda at October 25, 2010 2:48 AM

Spellcheck, the Nazis prolly forced people to write out "probably" too. Fuckin' Nazis...

Posted by: EJ at October 25, 2010 3:58 AM

11 p.m.: Austin City Limits
Midnight: The It's Alive! Show

That's IF I'm not at the bar.

I'd watch SNL why?

Posted by: , at October 25, 2010 8:43 AM

"Prolly" fuck that.

You're missing some punctuation in that sentence, Spellcheck.
(and your name should be hyphenated.)

Posted by: Citrus pith-flavoured *Irony* at October 25, 2010 10:06 AM

"Fat Urkels. Once you've been with one of those guys, you'll find yourself asking, 'Did I do that?'"

Sadly, I will sit through all of SNL, no matter how terrible it is, just to watch Weekend Update, because I have an inexplicable love for Seth Meyers. Well, it's not technically inexplicable--he reminds me of a boy that I had a four-year, unrequited crush on in high school/college. But it's inexplicable in the sense that even though I know that, as head writer, he's responsible for the rest of the crappy skits making it to air, I still find him adorable. Sigh.

Posted by: burpany at October 25, 2010 1:08 PM

Am I the only one who liked Sex Ed's Sex Symposium? Overall the episode was pretty painful (though Stefon is always welcome, even if it wasn't one of his best) but the Sex Ed sketch got me. The sketch felt like they just let the new dude do his thing and personally, he won me over. The infinite swirl killed me.

Posted by: fourtyjr at October 25, 2010 2:02 PM

The wrangler jeans commercial is a nearly shot for shot ripoff of comedian adam ray's video posted days before this episode aired.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x5po-LeSy4

It's a shame, more so than however unfunny they might be, if this show stoops to dishonesty.

Posted by: kjones at October 25, 2010 7:49 PM

fourtyjr
You're not the only one. I really liked it as well, but I think I completely forgot it was from SNL.

Posted by: Uda at October 26, 2010 12:18 AM


















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