Justin Timberlake
October 11, 2003

Here's some e-mail I got in the past week:

 

From jneau@comcast.net:

 

Just wanted to say I liked your review. I usually check these out during the

week but I've started to get frustrated as many of them contain long stories

about what the people did that week. (I don't care...just give me the review!)

 

Highlights:

- Easy to read. Nice formatting and not too wordy.

- You say what you liked and didn't like

- You also add a few comments

- The "Castmember Countdown" is neat trivia.

 

Lowlights:

- None

 

Misc. Comments

- It would be interesting to add the host to the "countdown"

 

On a side note. I bought the "Best of Will Ferrell" on DVD. While watching it,

I began to get pretty sick of Jimmy Fallon. I've always liked him, but on the

DVD he cracks up during every single sketch. It's cute once in a while, but

every sketch?? C'mon!

 

 

 

From Nicole Moro (nmoro@bu.edu):

 

Hi,

 

I hope this doesn't seem too creepy, I just wanted to tell you that I

look forward to reading your reviews every week and I agree with almost

everything you say. I have to say I was a bit disappointed with this

week's performance, I look forward to it all summer and I was a let

down. I have high hopes that next week will be better, but I question

Justin Timberlake as a host, hopefully I will be proven wrong and SNL

will be great next week.

 

-Nikki

 

Thanks. And don't worry, I don't think it's creepy at all.

 

_________________________________________________

 

 

 

(COLD OPENING) "Hardball with Chris Matthews"

Highlights:

-- Hardball!!!! Need I say more?

 

Lowlights:

-- None.

 

Grade: A+

 

 

 

(OPENING MONTAGE)

-- Is it just me, or was Jimmy's picture different this time? His smile looked different than in last week's montage.

 

 

 

(MONOLOGUE) Justin Timberlake sings for a fan

Highlights:

-- The first half was good and Steve Higgins was very funny as the audience member.

 

Lowlights:

-- The musical performance in the 2nd half. They did the same thing with M.C. Hammer and Sting's (90-91) monologues, and I didn't like it there, either.

 

Misc. Comments & Questions:

-- I'm surprised they gave Higgins, who's a writer, such a big role in this.

 

Grade: B

 

 

 

(SKETCH) "Punk'd - Barely Legal"

Highlights:

-- A funny parody of Punk'd, and Justin was surprisingly hilarious as Ashton Kutcher.

 

Lowlights:

-- None.

 

Misc. Comments & Questions:

-- When they showed Finesse as 50 Cent from the side, I thought that really was 50 Cent at first.

-- Whoever that was playing the vampire looked a lot like Chris Kattan, though it obviously wasn't him.

 

Grade: A

 

 

 

(SKETCH) Schwarzenegger Press Conference

Highlights:

-- A few good lines.

 

Lowlights:

-- Mostly forgettable stuff.

-- Darrell's Arnold voice still needs work.

 

Grade: C-

 

 

 

(SKETCH) "A Message from Nick Lachey & Jessica Simpson"

Highlights:

-- Justin was great as Jessica Simpson and had one great line after another.

 

Lowlights:

-- None.

 

Grade: A+

 

 

 

(NEXT WEEK) October 18, 2003: Halle Berry

Should be good.

 

 

 

(SKETCH) Benny's mascot vs. Omeletville mascot

Highlights:

-- Justin's Britney parody.

 

Lowlights:

-- A creative idea for a sketch, but the result was very weak and a waste of Parnell's talents.

-- Did the audience have to applaud after EVERY one of Justin's songs?

 

Grade: D

 

 

 

 

 

(COMMERCIAL) Gary Busey for DirectTV

Highlights:

-- Jeff's Gary Busey impression is always a hoot.

-- A dead-on parody of those DirectTV ads. This captured the same look and feel perfectly.

 

Lowlights:

-- None.

 

Grade: A

 

 

 

 

 

(SKETCH) Sully & Denise at a restaurant

Highlights:

-- Jimmy yelling at the old lady.

-- The I.D. part.

-- Horatio's character in these is always funny.

 

Lowlights:

-- Not as good as most Sully & Denise's. They seem to be going downhill since the one with Bernie Mac.

-- What was with Seth's overacting at the end?

 

Grade: B-

 

 

 

(MUSICAL PERFORMANCE)

-- No comment.

 

 

 

(WEEKEND UPDATE) Fallon & Fey, uhh.nobody else

Highlights:

-- Tina's clean house joke.

-- Jimmy's Euro Disney joke.

-- Tina's Shannen Doherty joke.

-- Tina's Star Jones joke.

 

Lowlights:

-- Tina's Pamela Mackey joke. It went on too long and wasn't that funny.

 

Misc. Comments & Questions:

-- Surprising that there were no correspondents, which is the first time this happened since the Conan O'Brien episode. This is a good thing, since almost all of the jokes were good; if a correspondent turned out bad, it would've dragged down this great Update.

 

Grade: A

 

 

 

(SKETCH) "The Sharon Osbourne Show"

Highlights:

-- All the impressions were good, and I always like seeing Horatio's Ozzy.

 

Lowlights:

-- This could've been better if it were a little longer.

 

Grade: B-

 

 

 

(MISCELLANEOUS) Justin Timberlake sings with Kermit the Frog

Highlights:

-- The twist with the puppeteer calling Justin a douchebag and Justin beating him up was hilarious.

 

Lowlights:

-- None.

 

Misc. Comments & Questions:

-- I thought that was the real voice for Kermit (even though it was obvious it wasn't the same puppet) at first until they showed Forte. Forte's good at doing goofy, cartoonish voices.

 

Grade: A+

 

 

 

(COMMERCIAL) "Carl Weathers for Governor"

Highlights:

-- I'm not sure what to say about this. Carl Weathers being here was so random. I guess that's a highlight itself.

 

Lowlights:

-- Not really that funny and the Predator references got kinda old.

 

Grade: C

 

 

 

(MISCELLANEOUS) Amy and Justin Timberlake backstage

Highlights:

-- A good little backstage segment.

 

Lowlights:

-- None.

 

Grade: B

 

 

 

(MUSICAL PERFORMANCE)

-- No comment.

 

 

 

(SKETCH) "The Barry Gibb Talk Show"

Highlights:

-- I thought this would suck at first, but it turned out to be a good closing sketch.

-- Jimmy was very funny as Barry Gibb, and it's good to see him doing impressions again.

-- Jeff's brief but dead-on Al Franken impression; plus, it's always funny when they impersonate former castmembers.

 

Lowlights:

-- None.

 

Grade: B+

 

 

 

(GOODNIGHTS)

-- They showed the full goodnights! Really makes up for last week's premature cut-off. I noticed Seth was dressed like a cowboy for some reason. I guess he was supposed to be in something that got cut at the last minute.

 

_________________________________________________

 

(CONCLUSION)

Great episode. Justin Timberlake really surprised me by doing a good hosting job and being funny in a lot of sketches. I also liked how there seemed to be a lot more sketches and misc. segments than usual.

 

Overall Episode Grade: B

 

Overall Highlights:

-- Justin's performances as Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Simpson, and as himself in the Kermit sketch.

-- Hardball.

-- Punk'd - Barely Legal.

-- A Message from Nick Lachey & Jessica Simpson.

-- Jeff as Gary Busey.

-- Weekend Update.

-- Justin Timberlake Sings with Kermit the Frog.

-- Jimmy as Barry Gibb.

 

Overall Lowlights:

-- The 2nd half of the monologue.

-- Benny's mascot vs. Omeletville mascot.

-- Schwarzenegger Press Conference.

-- Carl Weathers for Governor.

 

Funniest Single Moment:

-- Justin beating up Forte as the puppeteer.

 

Best Lines:

-- Darrell Hammond as Chris Matthews: "Don't look now, people, but President Bush's approval rating's going down faster than Paris Hilton in the back of Limp Bizkit's tour bus."

 

-- Darrell Hammond as Chris Matthews: (to Ann Coutler) "I would call you a media whore, but I feel like that would be offensive to whores."

 

-- Justin Timberlake: "I remember my mom would let me stay up late. That was way, way, way back when, like, Molly Shannon and Chris Kattan were on the show."

 

-- Tina Fey: "In his first news conference after being elected governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger threatened to clean house in Sacremento. He also threatened to molest the energy crisis and date-rape the deficit."

 

-- Jimmy Fallon: For the first time, the annual event Gay Day, in which homosexuals gather at Disneyland, was held in Euro Disney in Paris. This was the largest gathering of gay men in Paris since the day before."

 

-- Tina Fey: "In an effort to improve her image, Shannen Doherty has signed on to produce and act in a new sitcom about a woman who has a reputation for being difficult and mean, but who is really kind at heart. Doherty will play that woman's bitchy friend."

 

-- Tina Fey: "Last weekend, a couple hiking in a remote mountain in Sweden found 70 pairs of shoes, all filled with butter. To see something like that here in America, you would have to travel all the way to Star Jones' closet."

 

 

 

CASTMEMBER COUNT DOWN

DRATCH: 3 sketches (1: Sully & Denise at a restaurant; 2: Amy and Justin Timberlake backstage; 3: The Barry Gibb Talk Show)

 

FALLON: 4 sketches (1: A Message from Nick Lachey & Jessica Simpson; 2: Sully & Denise at a restaurant; 3: Weekend Update; 4: The Barry Gibb Talk Show)

 

FEY: 1 sketch (1: Weekend Update)

 

FORTE: 1 sketch (1: Justin Timberlake sings with Kermit the Frog)

 

HAMMOND: 2 sketches (1: Hardball with Chris Matthews; 2: Schwarzenegger Press Conference)

 

MEYERS: 1 sketch (1: Sully & Denise at a restaurant)

 

PARNELL: 3 sketches (1. Punk'd - Barely Legal; 2. Benny's mascot vs. Omeletville mascot; 3: Sully & Denise at a restaurant)

 

POEHLER: 2 sketches (1: Hardball with Chris Matthews; 2: Amy and Justin Timberlake backstage)

 

RICHARDS: 4 sketches (1: Hardball with Chris Matthews; 2: Punk'd - Barely Legal; 3. DirecTV: Gary Busey; 4: The Barry Gibb Talk Show)

 

RUDOLPH: 2 sketches (1: Punk'd - Barely Legal; 2: Amy and Justin Timberlake backstage)

 

SANZ: 4 sketches (1: Punk'd - Barely Legal; 2: Sully & Denise at a restaurant; 3: The Sharon Osbourne Show; 4: The Barry Gibb Talk Show)

 

ARMISEN: 1 sketch (1: The Sharon Osbourne Show)

 

MITCHELL: 1 sketch (1: Punk'd - Barely Legal)

 

THOMPSON: 2 sketches (1: Hardball with Chris Matthews; 2: Punk'd - Barely Legal)

 

Jimmy was the star of the night.

 

 

FIN.