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Slipping Back To So-So Shows

Looking back, I’m kind of surprised that I never ended up getting into Ally McBeal since, from what I can remember from the marketing, the show seemed to have that surreal quirky cuteness that I love when it comes to indie films. Then again, I’m not all that surprised because, as I often point out, even to this day, I rarely get into scripted hour-long television since it takes me back to the days when hour-long TV meant that it was time to go to bed.

It’s crazy how I’m so hung up on this considering I stopped having a bedtime around third or fourth grade when I got my first bedroom TV. Now that I think about it, the fact that I did start to stay up so late at such a young age might be why I developed such a focused grudge by actively avoiding hour-long shows out of bitterness where I might not have the same hatred if my bedtime changed later when I was more mature.

Either way, tonight’s show with Calista Flockhart is another case where I know our host more from her interviews than the shows she was trying to promote. In fact, looking over her resume, I only know a few of her early indie films where she wasn’t the star or even a character that comes to mind.

It’s weird when this happens, especially around this era because I used to be so in late night talk shows at the time that I feel far more familiars with people’s work from their promotional efforts than I am with their actual projects. That was totally the case tonight because I could have sworn that there was at least one Flockhart film that I was a fan of.

As usual, that’s not to say that I’m not a fan of anything from her, it just turns out I haven’t seen much. I would say that I wasn’t a fan of tonight’s episode though because it felt like it reverted back to match the content quality from the start of the year and didn’t improve after Charlize Theron’s visit like I hoped/expected.

Don’t get me wrong, Calista did well, as did everyone else considering what they had to work with but with these extra-long sketches, I just can’t help but zone out and get bored. With tonight having the fewest sketches that I’ve seen in a while, at points I felt like was I watching failed sit-com pilots instead of a quick little sketch.

I fear that this is just how the rest of the season is going to be so sorry in advance if I continue to repeat myself over and over again while trying to share the same problems that I’m having in different ways. We’ll see if that ends up being the case but until then, it’s time for me to shift gears in order to give you…

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show started with a sketch called The Presidential Couple that had Will Ferrell and Darrell Hammond as Bush and Gore who lived in a world where a dual presidency was the solution to the election night debacle. This led to a quick parody of the opening to The Odd Couple before the announcement of, “Live from New York…”
Calista Flockhart then officially opened the show with a monolog about her issues with how expensive it is to live in New York which led to a joke about mistaking an election booth for an ATM. Right after the joke, our host was interrupted by Rachel Dratch as Ally McBeal which led to a very meta confrontation between Flockhart and the character who made her famous because she felt like she was being stalked.
This was followed by a fake ad for Cracklin' Oat Flakes which was a cereal with the tagline, “Now laced with ecstasy!!!”
The Culps then returned for another installment of Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer as the singing instructing duo who sing hits from the day in their quirky style, this time while at a Democratic rally against Bush.
Nick Burns, Your Company Computer Guy also got another segment where Jimmy Fallon as the titular IT guy received his very first kiss from fellow IT nerd who was played by Calista Flockhart and found Jimmy to be sexy since they both shared the same sarcasm and were the same level of smart.
A Message From The Vice-President Of The United States gave Darrell Hammond a chance to complain to America about the Electoral Vote since he won the Popular Vote and lost. He also went on to complain about all of the issues that were going on with hanging chads and other voting concerns.
Ricky Martin then took to the stage to perform She Bangs.
Once again, Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey gave us the news. This week, Darrell Hammond dropped by as Bill Clinton to talk about the mishaps from the current election and suggested that maybe we don’t need a new president at all since he already solved all of the world’s problems. Will Ferrell then interrupted as Janet Reno to declare martial law. Chris Kattan did a terrible reenactment of how the Queen received a recent injury and Calista Flockhart, Rachel Dratch, and Maya Rudolph sat in as Charlie’s Angels to fawn over Jimmy Fallon while promoting the film.
Chris Kattan returned as The Crocodile Hunter to get attacked by more wild animals while attempting to host his show, this time Calista Flockhart played his wife who was bitten multiple times as well.
Chris Kattan then did a quick Ricky Martin impersonation before the real Ricky Martin took his place in order to perform Loaded.
Barflies had Calista Flockhart and Rachel Dratch as two skanky cougar barflies who struggled in their efforts to pick up on the establishment’s younger patrons.
Darrell Hammond then got a sketch as Dan Rather who adapted election slang to share the highlights of an NBA game.
Finally, Calista Flockhart closed the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

Again, if these sketches were so long the night might have been more fun considering it was still a so-so show with the help of these sketches that contained my three favorite moments of the night. First, I loved the Nick Burns, Your Company Computer Guy sketch even though it felt the most like a sit-com pilot but I loved how Nick Burns treated Calista Flockhart like an equal when he totally seems like a character who might not respect women all that much as an awkward IT a-hole. Next, I really liked the quick moment when Chris Kattan impersonated Ricky Martin at the start of his second musical performance because there was a brief moment where I thought he was the real Ricky there to perform. Finally, I was a fan of the Barflies sketch because it seemed like the sketch where Flockhart was having the most fun.