Scarlett Johansson is right at home at ‘Saturday Night Live’

Saturday Night Live
Scarlett Johansson & Bad Bunny
May 17, 2025

By closing out the 50th season of Saturday Night Live, Scarlett Johansson made SNL history, becoming the most recurring female host with 7 episodes, narrowly beating out Tina Fey and Drew Barrymore. (Alec Baldwin holds the record with 17 episodes.)

As I’m sure you know, Johansson is married to SNL cast member and “Weekend Update” anchor, Colin Jost, and there have been a lot of rumors that this would be his and fellow “Weekend Update” anchor, Michael Che’s final episode. So, was Johansson there to be with her husband on his last appearance on the show? If she was, it wasn’t confirmed during the episode, not even in the “good nights” which I understand were cut off in the broadcast airings.

Instead, all in all, the episode felt like a regular SNL episode: a few good bits intermixed with mediocre ones, and absolutely zero formal goodbyes from any of the cast members, like Kate McKinnon’s “Final Encounter” sketch, or being danced off the stage during the goodnights, like Kristen Wiig. If it was Colin Jost’s (and Michael Che’s and Mikey Day’s and Heidi Gardner’s) final episode, no one was letting on.

That said — Bowen Yang and Sarah Sherman seemed to share a sad moment during the good nights. I don’t have either of them on my Bingo card for leaving next season, but Bowen has made a name for himself in Hollywood already, so it wouldn’t be a HUGE surprise if he were to leave.

But he better not.

As for Scarlett Johansson, she’s an excellent — and obviously experienced — host who helmed a solid finale. She’s a natural fit with the cast, and despite her movie star credentials, she’s unafraid to look silly or be ridiculous. Also, she can rap? Even if it was Jost’s last episode, I fully expect Johansson to return in the future: she’s family now.

Continue reading “Scarlett Johansson is right at home at ‘Saturday Night Live’”

Former President Biden diagnosed with cancer and the media is being totally normal about it (no they’re not)

Continue reading “Former President Biden diagnosed with cancer and the media is being totally normal about it (no they’re not)”

‘Sirens,’ ‘Nine Perfect Strangers,’ ‘Big Mouth,’ a bunch of season finales and everything else you don’t want to miss on TV this week

Continue reading “‘Sirens,’ ‘Nine Perfect Strangers,’ ‘Big Mouth,’ a bunch of season finales and everything else you don’t want to miss on TV this week”

In which the administration is considering going full ‘Hunger Games’ with a new reality TV show, because of course they are

Continue reading “In which the administration is considering going full ‘Hunger Games’ with a new reality TV show, because of course they are”

A dream sequence was cut from ‘The White Lotus’ and now it’s all I want to see.

Continue reading “A dream sequence was cut from ‘The White Lotus’ and now it’s all I want to see.”

Welp, it’s ‘HBO Max’ again, and everyone — but especially HBO — has jokes

Continue reading “Welp, it’s ‘HBO Max’ again, and everyone — but especially HBO — has jokes”

A whole bunch of shows have been saved from cancellation, so it’s not all bad news!

Continue reading “A whole bunch of shows have been saved from cancellation, so it’s not all bad news!”

‘Murderbot,’ ‘Duster,’ the series finale of ‘Andor,’ a bunch of season finales and everything else you don’t want to miss on TV this week

Continue reading “‘Murderbot,’ ‘Duster,’ the series finale of ‘Andor,’ a bunch of season finales and everything else you don’t want to miss on TV this week”

Walton Goggins’ sexy dirtbag energy fails to enliven a middling ‘Saturday Night Live’

Saturday Night Live
Walton Goggins & Arcade Fire
May 10, 2025

Walton Goggins is having a moment. Thanks to his simultaneous roles in The White Lotus and The Righteous Gemstones, he was all but unavoidable this winter/spring; and let us not overlook his starring role in Fallout, too (which just wrapped filming season two, hooray!).

Of course, Goggins has been serving sexy dirtbag energy for a long while now, delivering memorable performances in Justified, Sons of Anarchy, Vice Principals, and The Shield and going as far back as the original Beverly Hills 90210 where he played “Mike Muchin” in an 1992 episode I’m sure we all remember.

Just look at that collar.

This is a long way to go to say that it took a minute, but Goggins is one of those rare character actors whose talent and charisma has finally been appreciated by the audience at large, and has overcome the odds to become something of a household name. As such, it’s not a surprise he’s hosting Saturday Night Live this week — but it was a surprise at how little the show exploited his particular energy and brand. Of the six characters he played, only two were typical Goggins roles. Otherwise, the episode leaned into surrealist comedy, and relegated Goggins to the straight man, which often felt like a waste of his particular and specific talents.

Continue reading “Walton Goggins’ sexy dirtbag energy fails to enliven a middling ‘Saturday Night Live’”