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Fun With No Need For The “For This Season” Tag

For the first time this season I have found an episode that I would consider slightly above average minus the additional note, "for this season." No, this episode was slightly above average when compared to everything that I've seen to date.

First off, Blythe Danner wasn't a complete stranger to me, in fact, I knew enough of her portfolio that I was rooting for her from the get-go. Then to top things off, she had a pleasant/fun energy about her that added a few points toward the quality of host which does affect the overall score.

This episode felt like it should have been from week three or four with this new cast. I'm always willing to give a new group of Not Ready For Prime Time Players a few weeks to get up to this level of work but we are now fifteen episodes into the season with five more to go and they just now seem to be finding their legs.

Between this week's episode and last week's so-so show hosted by Robert Urich, I feel confident that next season should be way more fun. Looking forward, I see that they have a pretty good lineup of hosts as well as a couple writing and cast changes that I actually agree with unlike how they completely dismantled my favorites from season six.

Alright, so the future might be bright, and I hope that it is, but now it's time to get to the next step of business as I give you...

The Wicker Breakdown:

This week's show starts with a fake ad for Alpo hosted by "Lorne Greene" who gets attacked by the dog because it turns out he is the meat dogs love.
We then get a very brief huddle before we get a cheesy ‘80s transitional edit that brings us into Blythe Danner's monolog where she is interrupted by Mary Gross who mistakes her for a different actress. The two then have an impersonation off as a way to deal with the awkwardness only it because more awkward when Mary Gross gets too into the role.
We then get a fake ad for a cola that has a theme song called America Is Turning Gay
We then go to a house where two couples are having dinner when one of the couples announces that they have more time for hobbies now that they decided to become celibate. When the other couple asks why we find out there was a huge misunderstanding and that they weren't actually on the same page. Instead gave up sex because they thought the other person wanted it so they rush through the meal so they can get caught up on all the sex they missed out on as soon as their company is gone. All this while getting super sexual with their food.
This was followed by a parody of 20/20 where Geraldo Rivera does an investigative piece on a local hospital and make outrageous claims about standard procedures while Blythe Danner is trying to give birth.
We then get a repeat of the fake ad for Khaddaffi Jeans.
Next, we meet a reclusive poet who shares a tale with her mom about the afternoon when she ventured out of her room. Eddie Murphy then breaks into the house to rob them, but the poet turns him into a romantic hero of her shut-in little world and then goes on to share one of her poems. Eddie is actually aware of her work as he is playing the, "Kill My Landlord," poet from a sketch called Prose And Cons.
Rickie Lee Jones then takes the stage to perform Pirates (So Long Lonely Avenue).
We then go to a fake ad for the return of the '50s mentality as the '80s start to deal with the same cyclical issues that are returning once again today.
Once again, Brian Doyle-Murray gives us the news with Christine Ebersole "filling in" for Mary Gross. The inconsistency in the news anchors is getting annoying because I can't help but think that there is some kind of behind the scenes nonsense going on since Christine definitely seems to be getting special treatment when she not really all that good. That said, she is a better anchor than a sketch performer. (Clip 2) (Clip 3)
Michael Davis returns to the show for yet another comedic juggling routine.
We then get another installment of The Uncle Tom Show where this week Uncle Tom Snyder interviews Gumby, in an introduction of Eddie who coins the catchphrase, "I'm Gumby damn it."
Meet The People is a panel show where regular American get to ask the special guest whatever they want. This week's special guest is Princess Diana, and the questions were pretty strange.
Blythe Danner then begs for help from the audience as a struggling artist almost as if it were a Kickstarter video from the day. She's doing so because of Reagan's cuts to the arts. We then see that she's been forced to take the role of a tuna for a TV ad because she can't make any money from plays.
Rickie Lee Jones then returns to the stage to perform Lush Life as well as Woody And Dutch On The Slow Train To Peking.
Finally, Blythe Danner closes the show by thanking the audience and saying her goodnights.

This was the first episode in a long time where my problem was that I actually had too many favorite sketches to choose from but here's what I managed to come up with. First I loved the fake ad for the return of the '50s because I feel like we're reliving the '80s now, so it's interesting to see that it's actually the '50s that we're reliving. Next, I really liked the sketch with the reclusive poet because not only do I relate to her shut-in life, I loved how they tied in Eddie Murphy's poet character from the sketch called Prose and Cons. Finally, I was a fan of the introduction of Eddie as Gumby because that was another favorite character of mine from back when I was a kid.