S1E2 Paul Simon w/ Randy Newman & Phoebe Snow

I'm finally back, thanks to discovering the SNL Transcripts site, which has proved to be a great resource for revisiting these episodes I watched months ago before actively starting this blog. I didn't want to write anymore reviews in which I half-remembered a skit, and I certainly wasn't going to start over watching them again.

So, armed with something to jog my memory, I'm hoping to post every day or so and catch up to where I'm at now, which is the tail end of season two.

Now the oddest of the first season episodes. If you thought George Carlin dominated the first episode without really interacting with the rest of the cast, wait till you check out this, which is essentially an hour long Paul Simon variety show.

THE HOST

Sort of the musical equivalent of what George Carlin did the previous week. He's nothing more than the host, performing and introducing musical acts, with no interaction with the cast. If you're looking for a small-scale Paul Simon concert, this is for you.

THE GOOD

Albert Brooks delivers his first (in my opinion) successful film, a collection of home movies that center on moments that scarred his life. Particularly memorable are the moments with his father trying to film his first kiss and his first attempt to lose his virginity.

THE BAD

I guess it goes without saying - "The Muppets".

THE MEH

The Tri-Hard pacemaker battery commercial is not exactly a classic commercial parody. Did they ever even rerun this one? I recall seeing it at least once more.

THE MUSIC

It's pretty much an all music episode. We get Simon, with and without Garfunkel; Garfunkel, with and without Simon; Randy Newman; Phoebe Snow; The Jesse Dixon Singers. They're all fine, not all my taste in music, but I'd imagine that in 1975 this would be an impressive line-up for a show only on its second episode.

GRADE: C - Nothing against the music, but I have a hard time rating an episode of SNL almost devoid of comedy anything higher than that.

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

Boy, they really didn't know what they wanted to do at this point yet, did they? Viewers carrying over from the previous week must have been a little confused. At this point, it's difficult to see why they even need so many regular cast members.