Posted in: NBC, Review, TV | Tagged: saturday night live, snl

SNL Review: Ariana Grande, Stevie Nicks Show Gets Wobbly Near The End

A strong showing from host Ariana Grande, musical guest Stevie Nicks, and the SNL cast & writers got a bit wobbly towards the end.

NBC's Saturday Night Live host Ariana Grande (Wicked) and musical guest Stevie Nicks had some pressure on them heading into this weekend's show. Jason Reitman's Saturday Night, the feature film retelling what the final 90 minutes were like before the first SNL show hit the airwaves, opened wide in theaters this week to strong critical and audience buzz. This past Friday brought the actual anniversary of the first show (which aired on October 11, 1975) and a whole lot of social media nostalgia. Add into the mix that SNL has kicked off its milestone 50th season with two strong outings (Jean Smart & Jelly Roll and Nate Bargatze & Coldplay), and you can see why the spotlight was a wee bit brighter than usual.

The good news? Grande and Nicks met the challenge, with SNL still looking good – now three episodes into Season 50. The fine print? It got a bit wobbly near the end with the final run of sketches, and we're not quite sure we need to have the "all-stars" in other sketches. Basically, it was a solid-to-good mixed bag, with some sketches hitting hard and others that can best be described as "beautiful disasters." Here's a look at what worked, what didn't, our personal highlights, and more.

SNL 50: What Worked? What Didn't Work?

The "'Family Feud' Election 2024" Cold Open saw Kenan Thompson's Steve Harvey hosting a special edition of Family Feud. For the Democrats, we had VP Kamala Harris (Maya Rudolph), her husband, Doug Emhoff (Andy Samberg), Gov. Tim Walz (Jim Gaffigan), and President Joseph Biden (Dana Carvey). For the Republicans, we had Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson), his wife, Melania Trump (an empty spot), Donald Trump Jr. (Mikey Day), and Sen. JD Vance (Bowen Yang). As much as I love the lineup, and I know EP Lorne Michaels wants to use them as much as possible up to election day, it didn't feel like we needed an election-related sketch as the cold open – especially one that didn't seem to tread new ground.

Grande's monologue was spot-on, with our host looking to make the case that she wants to go low-key in the most non-low-key way possible – with Yang offering a truly "Wicked" assist. "Charades with Mom" was all kinds of silly in all of the best ways possible, as game night tensions rise between a mom (Grande) and her son's (Michael Longfellow) boyfriend (Yang). An obvious stunt dummy and Yang adding Grande to the list of SNL hosts that he's made out with in sketches are worth noting.

"Bridesmaids Speech" was a fun ensemble sketch in which a group of bridesmaids (Grande, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim, and Sarah Sherman) sang a song about their bachelorette trip to their friend's (Chloe Fineman) wedding. Andrew Dismukes did a great job as the groom, who was shocked about what he was learning about his bride and the format in which he was finding out—one that included hearing from Domingo (Marcello Hernandez) himself.

But then there was a stretch of three sketches at the end of the show that really fell flat – and I think it might have to do with giving this season's "all-stars" more sketch work beyond the political stuff. "Maybelline" featured actress Jennifer Coolidge (Fineman) talking about makeup (and so much more) with her reflection (Grande) while she preps for a date. A fun premise that felt like it had run its course about a little more than a minute into the 3-1/2 minute sketch – and having Carvey appear as another reflection felt a bit forced.

"Castrati" suffered from Grande being too good at portraying a boy who was castrated before puberty to keep his singing voice high. If you're already having problems with the premise, the execution didn't help. It wasn't Dismukes' prince or Johnson's royal aid – they played their parts with just the right amount of concern and skepticism. But Rudolph and Samberg's take on the parents felt more for "show" on their part and less appropriate for what the sketch needed. When the only thing you're feeling two minutes into a nearly six-minute sketch is heartbreak for Grande's young boy, and what was done to him, that's not a good thing.

I thought "The Hotel Detective" would be the redeeming sketch – and it nearly was. Grande, Johnson, and Dismukes pulled off some seriously impressive cue card wordplay as they spiraled down an "Inception"-like rabbit hole of detectives investigating detectives – but for some reason, they had Longfellow appear as Rod Serling at the end of the sketch to make it a The Twilight Zone thing that was so painfully unnecessary that it undercut what came before it.

This Week's Highlights…

"Celine Dion Sports Promo" was a sketch whose premise alone did half the work – but Grande going full-on Celine Dion is what elevated this sketch in so many ways. We've said it before, and it proves true here – there is nothing funnier than when a host (like Grande) fully commits a level of seriousness to the silliness surrounding them (with bonus props to whoever selected the fight footage).

Johnson and Sherman were clearly having some over-the-top fun with Oasis' Noel Gallagher and Liam Gallagher, and Monica – the way-too-happy Amazon employee showing us some of the scary side effects from Prime Day – is yet another enjoyably layered character that Nwodim can add to their resume. But this was all about "Weekend Update" anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che, who dialed up their "don't give a f**k" meter to an eleven and didn't look back. There was a little something for everyone to love, feel bad about loving, and maybe even cringe over. When they can make an Abraham Lincoln joke stick, you know Jost and Che are having a great night.

And then there was "My Best Friend's House" – part of what I'm hoping will be a regular series of seriously twisted sketches entitled "Saturday Night Live: Midnight Matinee." Grande plays a young girl who can't stop singing about the wonderful smells and vibe of her best friend's house – and that set-up is why it works because while we know things are going to take a turn, it's how dark the turn is that becomes both shocking and hysterical. We don't want to ruin it, but let's just say that you're going to look at singing furniture and things like that in musicals in a different light by the end of the sketch – and there's a line at the end of the sketch that might explain why the house smelled so good to her. Dark, twisted, shocking, and hysterical – how can you go wrong with Sherman as a singing decapitated head in a refrigerator?

Saturday Night Live Season 50 Episode 3: Ariana Grande & Stevie Nicks

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Review by Ray Flook

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7/10

NBC's Saturday Night Live host Ariana Grande (Wicked) and musical guest Stevie Nicks had some pressure on them heading into this weekend's show. Jason Reitman's Saturday Night, the feature film retelling what the final 90 minutes were like before the first SNL show hit the airwaves, opened wide in theaters this week to strong critical and audience buzz. This past Friday brought the actual anniversary of the first show (which aired on October 11, 1975) and a whole lot of social media nostalgia. Add into the mix that SNL has kicked off its milestone 50th season with two strong outings (Jean Smart & Jelly Roll and Nate Bargatze & Coldplay), and you can see why the spotlight was a wee bit brighter than usual. The good news? Grande and Nicks met the challenge, with SNL still looking good - now three episodes into Season 50. The fine print? It got a bit wobbly near the end with the final run of sketches, and we're not quite sure we need to have the "all-stars" in other sketches. Basically, it was a solid-to-good mixed bag, with some sketches hitting hard and others that can best be described as "beautiful disasters." Here's a look at what worked, what didn't, our personal highlights, and more.

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