Host Selection This Season -- Saturday Night You Bull Sessions

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Date Posted: 03:47:45 02/25/05 Fri
Author: CCS
Subject: Host Selection This Season
In reply to: Ken Hidaka 's message, "Re: Next Host (for those who didn't tune in)" on 14:55:07 02/24/05 Thu

While this season will no doubt be remembered for the one musical guest that just didn't cut the mustard, I think all in all the guest selection has not been that bad.

Let's go through the hosts:
Ben Affleck - Far better at comedy than drama, both his previous hosting gigs were terrific in my opinion. Perhaps a bit soon to be reappearing, but not an overall poor selection.
Queen Latifah - Growing in synergistic appeal and also a good host previously.
Jude Law - Pretty much everywhere and the classic style of hot actor willing to screw around awhile. SNL found good returns in this guy.
Kate Winslet - Didn't do so well but hindsight is 20/20. Going in I expected good things from her, with her strong, varied film history.
Liam Neeson - A strong actor promoting an independent film - this guy is what SNL should be about. Sure, he stared at the cue cards, but that's hindsight again.
Luke Wilson - I think his appearance as a mock host confirms the general appreciation of this guy around here.
Colin Farrell - SNL's had to have been trying to book this guy for a while. Pretty much this era's Brad Pitt, and I don't mean that in a bad way, Pitt has the chops to make some excellent films.
Robert De Niro - Misstep number one. He sucked hardcore the last time he hosted, and it was clearly his (and not the writers') fault. Great for ratings, terrible for comedy.
Topher Grace - Excellent choice for a last minute replacement. He's funny and current. Since we're talking about pre-show thoughts, it's only fair to now list
Jennifer Garner - Wasn't able to show up, but a solid choice nonetheless. Sure, Elektra was probably a dud, but she would help break the male-dominated string of hosts and I feel she proved herself fairly well in her first appearance (my personal favorite WUW).
Paul Giamatti - I've been pulling for this guy to host for quite some time, I was shocked that he'd have a chance so soon. Not a young guy, but definitely an up-and-comer with his roles in American Splendor and Sideways.
Paris Hilton - Misstep number two. Do I need more detail?
Jason Bateman - A solidly funny guy who's great at both lead and support. He's got a semi-hit show and obviously gels well with the cast (only host I've heard of to show up at ASSSSCAT that week).
Hilary Swank - A strong pick for Oscar season. I often find her acting a little over-the-top, but that's not a huge problem when hosting a comedy show.

Upcoming and rumoreds:
David Spade - One of the first guys on SNL that I thought was really funny, it's nice to see an alum back in the house. It's been too long (May '03 was the last).
Ashton Kutcher - Eh, I'm waffling on this one. He's not really my favorite guy. Still, I thought his first appearance was good, not excellent, but good.
Cameron Diaz - There are very few films I don't like her in (Charlie's Angels being both of them) and many that she absolutely makes (There's Something About Mary, Very Bad Things, Vanilla Sky). She's got an excellent and a lukewarm episode to her credit, but according to Tom Hanks' Five-Timer monologue, that's precisely where she should be. Is she on track to do it? You wouldn't hear me complaining.

As for musical guests, you really have to play the percentages game. Unless your some odd omniaudiophile, there's going to be stuff you don't like. So it breaks down like this:

Acts I like:
Modest Mouse
U2
The Killers
Kelly Clarkson (I'm a sucker for that new single)
Green Day (rumored)

Acts I am neutral towards:
Eminem
Keane
Queen Latifah
Jack Johnson
Scissor Sisters

Obviously everything else I'm not a fan of. Out of 15 total acts, we're running a 33% good, 33% ok, 33% bad. I would appreciate a bit more of a shift from the bad to the ok column, but with the number of music choices out there, the 33% good is not bad at all. I mean, if you turn to three <i>random</i> radio stations, what are the odds you'll like one of the songs playing? At the very least the musical guest booking is a improvement from last year.

So anyway, that is my lengthy, detailed description of why I think Marci Klein isn't doing a bad job. She could do a little better, but we have and will see worse.

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Replies:

Three weeks is too friggin' long -- Ken Hidaka, 12:19:22 03/01/05 Tue
- It's only two weeks, not three -- CCS, 22:33:49 03/01/05 Tue