Hmm. It's not a great episode of SNL Weekend Update Thursday when the funniest thing in it was a Hall and Oates song about the healthcare system. Actually, I might still have found that the funniest thing even if the episode was otherwise pretty solid.
It just felt like a ton of good opportunities were missed this episode (no cold opener, or Amy Poehler, by the way). For instance, a joke about Sarah Palin finishing her memoirs and the best the writers could come up with was that it was missing punctuation? That's a stale Bush joke at best. And when the Polanski situation came up, it was just an opportunity for Fred Armisen and Kenan Thompson to do their View schtick.
I liked the idea of the pilot who was supposed to have flown Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger's plane being all bitter, but it went on a little long, but what's the rush anyway, since we were just getting to Kristen Wiig's Suze Orman impression, which is tireder than Joy Behar after five minutes pleasuring her husband. So what? Who cares? Plucks at sweater.
In honor of Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics, John Malkovich (Bill Hader) and Dennis Franz (Daryl Hammond) came out. As its own bit it didn't quite work (the Dennis Franz thing was weak) but there's something fascinating about Hader's Malkovich—I sort of hang on every word. They gave way to Maya Rudolph doing the same old-ass Oprah impression that everyone does—yelling and saying "You get a ___! You get a ___! Everyone gets a ___!" I hope Maya didn't have anything better to do tonight.
Will Forte and Fred Armisen wrapped it up as Hall & Oates singing "Privatized" to, you guessed it, "Private Eyes." It was so silly I had to laugh, with lines like "The system is flawless" and "Please shut up/keep clapping" and lyrics warning Americans will be forced to adopt immigrants, ending with "Our new band's called Hall and Oates/That's our band/We're best friends." What can I say? I like Hall & Oates, silly songs and moreover, songs that tell a story.
But otherwise, I plead with the writers to give The View, Suze Ormand and Oprah all a rest. Malkovitch can stay (on probation).
Grade: C
The random things that I found funny other than Hall & Oates:
—"No seriously: someone's going to get murdered"
—The T-Rex with the dental floss.
—Khloe Kardasian and that basketball player's wedding being known as "the wedding of the day." And Bruce Jenner being her mother.