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The Night My Hopes For The Season Slowly Started To Slip Away

When this season first got started, I was really hoping for a repeat of season six, where despite being known as a horrible collection of shows, it was my favorite outside of the seasons that featured the original cast, because this season definitely had the potential to do so since they have a very talented batch of Not Ready For Prime Time Players.

With episode one, my hopes were heightened because it was my favorite show from the past couple season and I felt it would take very little for the cast and crew to iron out any bugs. The next two shows were very host-centric shows with Chevy Chase and Pee-Wee Herman that were both great shows but felt more like the host's specials over feeling like a typical show.

Then both last week, and this week the show has been hosted by actors that I really really like and I much as I tried to talk myself into loving both shows the reality is, every episode other than the opening night has been feeling a little flat which is more of a repeat of last year where I was constantly on the meh side of the fence.

As always, I actually liked this episode but I really just wanted a little more because their back to the longer but fewer sketch format where things can really feel like they are dragging on and it doesn't help that this season seems to be making references from the time that are either no longer funny with time or jokes that I just don't get because I just don't know the original material being parodied.

I really wish this wasn't the case because I have much more fun writing positive reviews which also tends to equal more readers and I can use as many as I can get to justify this three-year commitment.

Oh well, it is what it is and now that my thoughts on the episode are out of the way, it's time to move on and share what I saw as I give you...

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started with an Entertainment Tonight parody with fake news about pop culture from the time. During the segment, it sounds it sounds like they are going to interview "Brooke Shields" about something important only to end up talking to her about men. This was followed by a "George Michael" about Wham! that ends up to be British ramblings about his attempt to date Brooke Shields then jumps around through random polls and other segments that go on and on and on just like the real Entertainment Tonight in what felt like with the longest opening sketch that I've seen so far, finally, ending with the announcement of, "Live from New York..."
Tom Hanks then officially opened the show with a monolog about how hosting the show is a dream come true because he was such a big fan of it while in college. He then went into his journey on how he became the host of the show and how he feels a little disappointed because he actually wants to watch the show which is when he discovered the director's monitor and put on a show for himself.
We then got yet another repeat of the first Trojans fake ad that originally aired in episode one.
We then went to Carol's comedy club for a bit of a prequel to Punchline where Tom Hanks, Jon Lovitz, and Damon Wayans all play observational comedians that seemed to be making fun of Jerry Seinfeld.
The Pat Stevens Show then returned for another segment where once again Nora Dunn answers viewer mail before interviewing "Minister Louis Farrakhan" where she tries to talk fashion while he sticks to his traditional black power agenda.
Sade then took to the stage to perform Is It A Crime.
Once again, Dennis Miller gave us the news. This week, Dennis Miller did a commentary of the new warning labels on records, and he also gave us the sports where a fan was allowed to give refereeing boxing a shot only to get knocked out.
We then went to a fancy restaurant with Tom Hanks and Joan Cusack out on a married couple's night out. We first hear how open they are with each other then we get to hear Hanks's inner most fantasy about Joan's death and how he would hook up with the woman who takes care of the kids who is also a part-time model who somehow also kick starts his own modeling career then we find out that Joan just has regular fantasies that only involve her man. As she stands to leave in anger she ends up getting stabbed to death a steak knife that just happened to be in the waiter's hand which triggers Hank's fantasy to actually start to play out.
The Pathological Liar then returned to celebrate Christmas Eve with his family where he and Hanks, who plays his brother participate in another lie-off.
Sade then returned to the stage to perform The Sweetest Taboo.
Steven Wright then returned to the show to perform another stand-up routine.
Christmas Shopping Break/Holiday Moms is yet another sketch that I couldn't find anywhere on the internet and now that I'm ahead of the reference site that I used to use to fill in the blanks, I have no idea where this sketch is about, only that it was supposed to be part of this episode.
We then met up with a couple of Italian fishermen who don't seem to like their fishermen lives but it is what they do and after casting a net they pull back an electric guitar which Hanks thinks is due to the ocean tormenting him over his inability to play and Randy Quaid has to talk him down. They try again this time they pulled back a treasure chest filled with all sort of expensive jewels while Quaid is still hungry for fish making him the one that now needs to be talked down because he doesn't appreciate the gift while Hanks wants nothing more than the rich life that Quaid rejects.
Finally, Tom Hanks closed the show by thanking the audience and saying his goodnights.

Again, as much as I complain this was still a pretty fun episode with these three sketches as my favorite moments from the night. First, I loved the Conversation Between Observational Comedians because I'm not sure whether or not they were making fun of Seinfeld because I don't remember where he was in his career at that time. Next, I really like Tom Hanks teaming up with the Pathological Liar because I don't know if I will grow tired of this series of sketches and feel I will be using it a lot as a top three safety net. Finally, I was a fan of Tom Hanks's fantasy about the death of his wife because I have a tendency to be open to a flaw and this was a perfect example of the backlash that comes from telling the uncensored truth.