Saturday Night Live
Jean Smart and Jelly Roll
September 28, 2024
Welcome to the historic 50th season of Saturday Night Live — historic not because it’s the longest-running show of all time or anything, but mostly because 50 is a nice round number.
And in keeping with the historic nature of the season, our premiere episode maintained the honored tradition of being underwhelming and failing to live up to expectations following a long summer hiatus. For the most part, the premiere’s sketches were lazy, obvious, and overly long, but what else is new? The show’s been on the air for 50 years, they’re not going to change the formula now.
But you can’t blame the host, all-around acting phenomenon Jean Smart, who elevates everything she is in. When Smart was given material that was clearly written with her in mind, she lived up to the task, and even made dumb conceits entertaining. However, when plopped down in the middle of a bit that has her playing a generic Real Housewife or some party promoter neither she nor the audience has ever heard of, not even Smart can save the day. Smart deserved better and more consistent writing — let’s hope the writers shake the cobwebs off in time for Nate Bargatze’s episode on Saturday.
Continue reading “Jean Smart deserved a smarter episode of ‘Saturday Night Live’” →
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