or...

An Episode Of Scripted Improv

Going into this challenge, I thought that this was going to be the cast that I was going to have to defend. I've always heard people bashing the cast the directly followed the original group which all I could remember for sure was that cast in question included Piscopo and Murphy.

Since I was about six at the time, I remember this current group for being the Not Ready For Prime Time Players who were running the show when I started to watch it weekly as it aired. So, when Piscopo and eventually Eddie were part of season six, I figured that entire group stuck together until Lorne returned because keep in mind, I was after all just a child.

The weird thing is, I’m bracing myself to have my childhood memories of my favorite show completely ruined, but I ended up loving season 6, that is until the new production team took over. Now, I'm back to bracing myself for my original concerns with this cast because I'm not really liking them right off the bat but I'm pretty sure that I'll eventually come around.

I'm not sure if the problem is that I'm extra critical of this group because of what happened with the last cast, just like how season five earned a few extra points from directly following the dreaded season four. There's also the problem that I just sat through a new group who were trying to find their legs, and this seems a little too soon to go through that process again.

I guess this might be why this feels so much like scripted improv. I'm sure most of these actors just came over from Second City and were still in an improv state of mind and using material from their characters that have already worked in the past.

Oh well, though I'm not all that impressed with this episode, I'm finding that I'm always underwhelmed whenever they first implement something new. Though that doesn't mean I lighten up to everything, I do end up giving everything a chance.

Alright, now it's time to move on from my thoughts and finally share what I saw as I give you...

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week the show starts with a jiggle with the lyrics, "NBC... Our age is showing..." and then we go straight into the opening sequence with no "Live from New York..." and a non-Don Pardo announcer that makes me feel way more nervous about this season over the last.
There is no host this week and this time rather than have a character perform the opening monolog, the castmates run out, pose for a second, and then rush off to start the first sketch which is The Little Richard Simmons Show where Eddie Murphy plays a hybrid between Little Richard and Richard Simmons who hosts a workout show.
We then get a short film/trailer for a fake movie called The Clams which is a parody of The Birds only it's clams that overrun the town.
This was followed by two nuns hanging out on the beach talking about how they found their calling. One went the traditional route through the church the other through a one-off class at the local community college. They end up fighting over pudding only to have the voice of God intervene only it ends up being the voice of Bob who taught the college girl to nun.
A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney is a parody of Andy Rooney's 60 Minutes spot or where ever he was doing his segment at the time. This week he waxes poetic about shoes and other mundane thoughts.
Prose and Cons is a short film that shows how prisoners are turning into the brilliant authors of the day. This is where we get to hear Eddie Murphy's poem "Cill" My Landlord.
Rod Stewart then hits the stage and performs Dance With Me and was then joined by Tina Turner to go on and sing Hot Legs.
Once again we're given the news with new branding and a new host. It's now called Newsbreak and is hosted by Brian Doyle-Murray and Mary Gross. I have a feeling these two will grow to be fun. This week we see a clip from Tom Snyder's new Mexican Talk show in his attempt to collect the ratings from the growing Hispanic community, Eddie Murphy complains about the lack of black people in cinema.
The Khaddafi Look is a fake ad for Khaddafi Jeans making fun of the Jordache Look.
We then go to Sweetchuck sitting in bed after having just slept with Robin Duke and it's obviously a one night stand as Robin doesn't even remember his name and how he gets stranger and stranger the more she tries to get to know him. She then gets a call in the middle of the night where she learns her dad just died. As an awkward stranger, he has absolutely no idea how to comfort her and gets weirder and weirder with each attempt. She then tricks him into leaving her apartment.
Oh dear God... We went to a commercial break, and it turns out that the above sketch isn't over. Now we are at the father's funeral, and it's beginning to feel more like a crappy pilot for a horrible sit-com, especially when Sweetchuck shows up with a gun.
Then Michael Davis hits the stage to perform a comedy/juggling act.
When then get a quick segment from Andy Warhol where he trashes SNL and goes on to tell a few jokes.
Season Of Glass was apparently a short film by Yoko Ono about John Lennon that I couldn't find anywhere.
Rod Steward then returns to the stage to perform Young Turks.
Finally, the cast closes the show by thanking the audience and saying their goodnights.

Wow, this is a rough one. This episode only had sixteen segments to start with there was barely anything to choose from as to what I liked best. Then you take out the opening sketch because it was literally a fifteen-second jingle. Then you've got two music performances bringing the countdown to twelve. One sketch spanned across two commercial breaks, and it's rare that I count the news leaving me with ten. Oh yeah, I also count the goodnights as a segment, and there was a short film that I couldn't find so now we are down to nine.

Luckily Eddie and Piscopo made the cut because I feel like I'm going to be turning to them a lot to find my favorite moments. With that, here are the Eddie moments that I liked from tonight. First, I love Prose And Cons because I'm a fan of the poem entitles "Cill" My Landlord. Next, I really liked Eddie as Little Richard Simmons Show, because I've always been a fan of both of the Richards whenever they were guests on shows. Finally, I was a fan of The Clams fake ad because I have a genuine phobia of birds... if that makes any sense.