Wasn’t That Special
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Wasn’t That Special: Season 39 (2013-2014)
Six new featured players begin the season while another is added in the middle of the year. Can they be subsumed into the show without issues? We spent a good portion of the Season 38 show explaining to you how Saturday Night Live actually improved without the presence of Kristen Wiig. Does the trend hold in Season Continue reading
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Wasn’t That Special: Season 38 (2012-13)
Filling a Kristen Wiig-Sized Hole in the Cast It doesn’t make any sense that Saturday Night Live would actually improve when an all-time great cast member like Kristen Wiig leaves the show. We have seen what happens when a legend leaves in the past; the show’s quality dipped, for instance, when Will Ferrell left in 2002 after Continue reading
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Wasn’t That Special: Season 37 (2011-12)
Kristen Wiig’s Swan Song, and Hello Kate McKinnon It hasn’t been that often that Lorne Michaels brings back an identical cast from the year before, but that’s exactly what happened after Season 36 and into Season 37. Everyone returns, even the cast members struggling for screen time – it is only in the 18th episode Continue reading
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Wasn’t That Special: Season 36 (2010-11)
Digital Shorts Dominate, Stefon Takes Off, and Vanessa Bayer Joins the Cast On a show called Saturday Night Live, one would expect the live sketches to be the most exciting part of each episode. Half the fun is the possibility that something completely unexpected could happen, from an actor flubbing a line to a light falling Continue reading
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Wasn’t That Special: Season 35 (2009-10)
‘What Up With That’ is Born, Betty White Reigns Supreme, and Goodbye, Will Forte In this free episode, we discuss Season 35 of SNL, including the f-bomb being dropped in the season’s first episode, the rise of Kenan Thompson as the backbone of the show, the regression of Kristen Wiig and Fred Armisen, the all-time Continue reading
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Wasn’t That Special: Season 34 (2008-09)
Sarah Palin Enters, Amy Poehler Exits, and an All-Star Host List Dominates Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin. Season 34 will likely be known forever for one thing, and that’s returning cast member Tina Fey’s impression of the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate. But the 2008-09 season had a lot more going on than simply Continue reading
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Wasn’t That Special: Season 33 (2007-08)
Kristen Wiig Dominates, Hillary and Barack Take Center Stage, and the Writers Strike Every season of Saturday Night Live has its classic episodes and its real bombs. In virtually every case, these peaks and valleys average out to make each season simply “pretty good.” But what if there was a season that had no bad episodes but Continue reading
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‘Wasn’t That Special’ on the Radio
Wasn’t That Special co-host Scot Bertram appeared on “What’s On Tap with Sandy Maxx” on WTMJ Radio in Milwaukee this week to talk about the upcoming Saturday Night film and to pitch the podcast to listeners in Wisconsin. He was unable to drop the Badger State references like Christian can, but he can pronounce “Oconomowoc” if called upon Continue reading
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Wasn’t That Special: Season 32 (2006-07)
Budget Cuts, a New Director, a New Bush, and Things in Boxes Real-world Saturday Night Live events are dotting the calendar at this point. Season 50 officially kicked off on September 28 (did you like Maya Rudolph, Dana Carvey, Andy Samberg, and Jim Gaffigan?) and the new SNL film Saturday Night is in theaters on October 11. Continue reading
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Wasn’t That Special: Season 31 (2005-06)
Every now and then in Saturday Night Live history, you have these seasons in which an older, established cast is on their way out, and a newer cast is on their way in. They cross paths for maybe a year or two, and looking back, it is hard to believe all these people were on the same Continue reading
Scot Bertram 