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September 17th, 2012
10:35 AM ET
Seth MacFarlane hosts 'SNL' - what's the verdict?Expectations were high for the 38th season premiere of "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, but host Seth MacFarlane did his best to meet them. With "SNL's" retooling, there was a lot riding on the season opener, which had Frank Ocean as the musical guest. In addition to three new cast members, this is a political season, and Jay Pharoah now does the impression of President Obama instead of Fred Armisen. We didn't have to wait long to see how well Pharoah would do, as Saturday's premiere began with Armisen passing the torch.
Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker charged that Pharoah, while nailing Obama's voice and speaking habits, needs to work harder to develop a "coherent take" on the president. "If the show can’t do better than increase the amount of gray hair the President has acquired over the past four years, it needs to get out of the political satire business," Tucker, who was also unimpressed by Jason Sudeikis' Mitt Romney and Taran Killam's Paul Ryan, said. "The notion that Romney is a fool is foolishly short-sighted. Time for the show’s political-sketch writers who re-sharpen their pencils." The L.A. Times, meanwhile, was more forgiving, allowing that Pharoah is understandably still tweaking his character. "Pharoah’s Obama may need a bit of fine-tuning and subtlety, but he brought more humor and satire to the impression (especially in terms of the president’s eyes, grin and pauses), whereas Armisen tended to play Obama fairly straight." The Huffington Post's Mike Ryan agreed that Pharaoh's Obama is a marked improvement, calling the cold open one of the best skits of the night, along with Bill Hader's impression of Clint Eastwood and his empty chair. "[I]t's a tad dated, but Hader's Eastwood is just too good for this not to happen." MacFarlane, meanwhile, was "fairly excellent," HuffPo complimented. The highlight was MacFarlane's impersonation of Olympic swimming champ Ryan Lochte: "He nailed Lochte's signature brand of goofy, aloof ditiziness," said Time, while TVOvermind observed, "If no other sketch had made me laugh the whole night, Seth MacFarlane hosting would have been worth it just for this alone." What'd you think of "SNL's" season opener?
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This man is a rising star. From cartoon creator to voice actor to comedian to filmmaker and now hosting the Oscars? All the best to you, Seth.
The opening political skit and the Eastwood sketch made the show! MacFarlane was ok, but I don't think they used him enough in the skits. Thought he had more to offer and SNL didn't capitalize on them
Absolutely love Seth MacFarlane! Talented, funny, good-looking–what more could a girl ask for??? The Lids sketch was off the rails, I'm still dyin' laughin! GO PSY!!!! The guy that got fired for "being a complete bush"!!!!!! LMFAO!!!!!!
SNL blew a golden opportunity to start the new season with such a big-bang-of-a skit that it quite possibly could have been one of the funniest, if not the funniest, of all time. Why they didn't do a take off on that stupid and pitiful Eastwood bit at the RNC I will never know. When they finally did do something about it it just wasn't funny. "Clint Eastwood & The Chair Tour" coming to a city near you – it was no where near being funny and the result was terrible writing. Yes, the SNL writers missed a huge boat on this one and the written material that used to be super is now getting closer and closer to the curbside right beside the garbage waiting to be collected.
Pharoah’s Obama impersonation was impressive, and we can expect better from him as the season continues. I did like MacFarlane’s Lochte impersonation too, but the part that made me laugh the most was the Gangnam Style sketch. I’m glad that I recorded the premiere on my Hopper since every time I watch the episode I still keep laughing. The 2,000 hours of hard drive space helps me keep up with shows when I work overtime at Dish. I wonder if Lochte would ever be asked to host SNL, and more importantly, would he accept the chance to do it.
he was oscar material the other night
I thought he did impeccably well. Perhaps he should host the Emmys or Oscars?
The new guy had Obama's voice down perfect – good job! Bill Hader was the gem of the show, between his Eastwood impression and the puppet guy. MacFarlane was a good actor, but the material was flat. Frank Ocean was the dullest music act I have seen in years. All in all, I guess I miss Chevy Chase even more than before.
I did notice that when the News Update was done they did a skit on Latinos voting, well that bit was taken from some youtube charectars named Angel Baby & El Rocky..shame on them!
lol
was that for me? - you kinda sorta miss me...in a gross, unmarried, wenchlike disgusting way.
If thats the best you can do with finding a new guy to do Obama,Then its time to pull the plug on this show.You no longer push the envelope.Your skits bore me.If sweaty balls is your latest and most outragest skit then fire your writers and hire past actors from the 70s to write skits and bring the show back to what it was.
there was never a plug
its up babe–go
get it done....
whoever you are...do you understand that..cnn?
huh?
Wow, this show is still on? Who watches it anymore?
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Watched it for the first time for awhile. Better than it was but still very dated think its time to pull the plug