There was only one question coming in to Season Fifteen of Saturday Night Live: Could the show maintain the high quality that made Season Fourteen the best year in the show’s history to date?
Martina Navratilova was a surprising banger from Nora at this late stage of her tenure. I think she acquitted herself well in the “Big .... Bustout of 89” sketch from earlier in the season too.
Curious, what do you guys think of the Jan Hooks/Alec Baldwin diner sketch?
Scot: It's a tremendous spotlight for Jan. There's a bit of the Reagan/Mastermind sketch there as she has to whipsaw between emotions helping different customers. It wasn't a favorite by any stretch but it's still one I'll remember.
I am just now joining this rewatch -- listened to the pod before rewatching the season (as many as I can find anyway).
I do not like Attitudes (except the one with Walken) or Sweeney Sisters all that much so I'm with y'all there -- but the way y'all talk about Jan makes her sound like she's an outcast on and off the show and after watching, I'm wondering if we're viewing the same show? Jan is as good and important as any cast member this season (Carvery and Hartman aside). I recognize Nora is known for being "difficult" to work with and she's not as funny as Jan or Victoria but she's certainly not as bad as the pod makes it seem. Some bad recurring characters, but they all do (Ching Change anyone?) We're all entitled to our opinions but the personal vendetta the one host has against Jan and mainly Nora is noticeable. In summary, justice for Jan! And Nora is okay, Not great but not the comedic fentanyl!
Scot here: I like Jan so much. I think my primary takeaway (I can't recall exactly what I said, forgive me!) was just that's she's in so much less stuff than I remembered. And I think the show is written away from featuring the women in the very best sketches. I want to go back to make sure I'm not mistaken, again because of my great respect for the quality of Jan's work. Just don't have the time as we work through the seasons!
Victoria had problems with both female cast members, as she told us. But everyone else seemed to enjoy her.
Aw thank you for responding! I just loved discovering Jan while watching— I’m in my early 30s so I wasn’t super familiar with her prior to doing this deep dive with y’all (my parents exposed me to the 70s stuff because that’s what what on when they were young, but not much of this stuff). The fact that I didn’t really know her before kind of proves your point I suppose lol
Martina Navratilova was a surprising banger from Nora at this late stage of her tenure. I think she acquitted herself well in the “Big .... Bustout of 89” sketch from earlier in the season too.
Curious, what do you guys think of the Jan Hooks/Alec Baldwin diner sketch?
Scot: It's a tremendous spotlight for Jan. There's a bit of the Reagan/Mastermind sketch there as she has to whipsaw between emotions helping different customers. It wasn't a favorite by any stretch but it's still one I'll remember.
I am just now joining this rewatch -- listened to the pod before rewatching the season (as many as I can find anyway).
I do not like Attitudes (except the one with Walken) or Sweeney Sisters all that much so I'm with y'all there -- but the way y'all talk about Jan makes her sound like she's an outcast on and off the show and after watching, I'm wondering if we're viewing the same show? Jan is as good and important as any cast member this season (Carvery and Hartman aside). I recognize Nora is known for being "difficult" to work with and she's not as funny as Jan or Victoria but she's certainly not as bad as the pod makes it seem. Some bad recurring characters, but they all do (Ching Change anyone?) We're all entitled to our opinions but the personal vendetta the one host has against Jan and mainly Nora is noticeable. In summary, justice for Jan! And Nora is okay, Not great but not the comedic fentanyl!
Scot here: I like Jan so much. I think my primary takeaway (I can't recall exactly what I said, forgive me!) was just that's she's in so much less stuff than I remembered. And I think the show is written away from featuring the women in the very best sketches. I want to go back to make sure I'm not mistaken, again because of my great respect for the quality of Jan's work. Just don't have the time as we work through the seasons!
Victoria had problems with both female cast members, as she told us. But everyone else seemed to enjoy her.
Aw thank you for responding! I just loved discovering Jan while watching— I’m in my early 30s so I wasn’t super familiar with her prior to doing this deep dive with y’all (my parents exposed me to the 70s stuff because that’s what what on when they were young, but not much of this stuff). The fact that I didn’t really know her before kind of proves your point I suppose lol
Not discussing the 15th Anniversary special episode?
Special (shorter, free-for-all) episode coming on that.