Miley Cyrus has been in the news a lot lately following the very embarrassing interview her father-- Billy Ray-- gave to GQ. Cyrus' father is concerned that his daughter is "going down the wrong path" and being influenced by "Satan" (or perhaps it was Santa, and GQ made a spelling error). Cyrus has also been struggling after photos of her smoking a bong appeared online. Perhaps a hosting gig on SNL would help smooth things over? Let's see how she did, my gentle Examiner readers...
Miley Cyrus' work on last night's SNL was-- perhaps sadly-- neither great nor terrible. Falling somewhere in-between, the gig won't win the teen singer any new fans...but it also won't cause her to lose any of her current followers. It was a massively mediocre episode, one where a somewhat-solid sketch might be followed by a terrible one, only to be followed by another "It ain't that bad" sketch, followed by an awful one, and so on. Every time we thought the show was about to turn a corner, it did...but never in the direction that most would've hoped for.
So, without further ado, here's the highlights (and the lowlights) of last night's SNL, hosted by Miley Cyrus:
HIGHLIGHTS
* Opening with Duh! Winning!-- a Charlie Sheen talk show-- was a good move, if only because it meant that we weren't opening on yet another lame Obama sketch. Armissen did factor into the scene, however, arriving midway through as a Digital Underground-loving Muammar al-Gaddafi. This sketch came right on the heels of an actual Charlie Sheen "talk show", which probably made it seem a little less terrible than it actually was. That said, Bill Hader's Charlie Sheen impression was pretty damn solid.
* The Our Time With Taboo and Apl.di.ap sketch wasn't completely terrible, and the Digital Short-- which also featured Andy Samberg doing one of his recurring characters-- didn't utterly suck. The problem, of course, is that we're listing sketches that "didn't completely suck" amongst the "Highlights" of the episode.
* Taran Killam had more than a few chances to shine on this episode, and the "French Sketch" (that's what we're calling it) was fantastically weird and fun to watch. Like Jay Pharoah, Killam is turning out to be one of the MVP's of the newly-hired SNL cast members. Here's hoping that he continues to get more screen time, because he's funnier than a good portion of the rest of the cast (suck it, Bobby Moynihan). Addendum: See a note on this sketch in the "Lowlights" section.
* (I just sat here trying to conjure another "Highlight" from last night's show. I was unable to)
LOWLIGHTS
* The "Rockabilly and Facial Cream" sketch. When it started, I thought I knew where it was headed, and if it had gone in that direction, it might've been saved (I was expecting a punchline that revolved around...well, let's call it a "Pearl Necklace"). It did not go in this direction. Instead, "Rockabilly and Facial Cream" was just grating, weird, and went on for about three minutes longer than it should.
* Why was Bill Hader absent through most of the show? Come on, guys: use your strengths.
* The incessant need to have Miley Cyrus sing in nearly every sketch in which she appeared. That said, her Justin Bieber was very nearly a "Highlight". Had they done a little more with the character, it would've ended up filed under that category. Unfortunately-- like the four or five songs that SNL felt compelled to have Cyrus perform last night-- it just wasn't enough.
* Why was Weekend Update that short? A good Weekend Update can save an otherwise crappy episode, and this was one of the instances where the entire show could have been elevated if Seth Myers had been given more time (and not decided to bring in Bobby Moynihan's spectacularly unfunny "Misinformation Guy").
* Where's Jay Pharoah? Sick? Measels? Come on, SNL.
* Why the hell isn't the "French Sketch" on Hulu.com? They got the "Gurney Sketch" in there, the underwhelming monologue, even the "Rockabilly/Facial" sketch, but not the "French" one? It was the best damn sketch of the night, Hulu!
OTHER THOUGHTS
* Earlier in the season, SNL re-ran that "Bosley Hair Restoration" commercial at least three times (bringing the total to four when you include the original episode during which it aired). Last night, they re-ran the "Baby Spanx" commercial. What's up with SNL repeating their faux-commercials? It reeks of laziness and desperation. We'd rather see no faux-commercial than one we've already seen two or three times, SNL.
* Just to reiterate: Taran Killam rocks. That is all.
MY GRADE
C-
Stay tuned for more on SNL in the near future: The Hangover Part 2 star Zach Galifianakis is hosting next week (and Elton John's hosting the next live episode after that), so we'll have more on that as it becomes available (including our review once it's aired). If you've got anything you'd like to add to all this, by all means, give it a whirl in the comments section below, folks: Think Miley did a good job? Think she sucked? We wanna hear about it, so make with the commenting!
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