For Saturday Night Live Season 43, we decided to raise the stakes a little bit in our weekly watch-and-text-each-other routine. So, we created a fantasy SNL scoring system, based on sketch appearances, types of characters, flubs and breaks, etc. The gamification of life, right?
We drafted our teams right before the Season 43 premiere. There were plenty of unknowns (how will the three new featured players do? What will it be like without Vanessa?) but also plenty of knowns (Kate McKinnon is the best person on the show).
We flipped a (virtual) coin to pick first, knowing that whoever drafted first would automatically draft Kate. Al won the toss, and here's how the draft went:
AL MEATY
Kate McKinnon Leslie Jones
Cecily Strong Beck Bennett
Aidy Bryant Kenan Thompson
Pete Davidson Kyle Mooney
Luke Null Alex Moffatt
Chris Redd Melissa Villasenor
Heidi Gardner Mikey Day
Scoring system
Sketch appearance (+1)
Weekend Update Character (+2)
New character debut (+3)
Recurring sketch (+2)
Political impression (+1)
Celebrity impression (+1)
Make host break (+4)
Breaking* (-1)
No appearance in episode (-3)
Flub a line** (-1)
*Breaking: -1 for each instance of breaking, UNLESS cast member also causes others in sketch to break, then null. See also: +4 for causing host to break.
**Flub a line: -1 for EACH instance of flubbing
BONUS: choose list of former SNL cast (Alec Baldwin doesn't count lol) Guest appearances (not host gigs) = Add cast member to your tally for that episode
BONUS: choose list of musicians @ beginning of season. If they are musical guest during season, +2. If they are also in a sketch, +3. (+5 total)
BONUS: choose list of hosts @ beginning of season. If they host during season, +5
The scores:
Week 1: Al 25, Meaty 22
Week 2: Al 23, Meaty 20
Week 3: Al ?*, Meaty 18
*I'M SORRY. Coming soon! I kept track of my score on a piece of paper and then forgot to input it to our spreadsheet because I saw a centipede in my apartment and passed out for two days. But needless to say, I'm definitely still winning. -Al
We're now 3 episodes in to Season 43. How's it going?
Meaty's Take: Now, you may be looking at these teams and thinking "what a weird move, Annie." But I stick by my choices! I feel VERY STRONGLY about my children Leslie, Kenan, and Beck, which is how I ended up without a Cecily or an Aidy. Hey, the heart wants what the heart wants. Which is probably why I am losing pretty badly.
Favorite sketch so far: "The Fliplets" because I cannot handle HGTV spoofs and absurdity. (Episode 1/Ryan Gosling)
Favorite line- Aidy: "What an inconvenience for me and my family." I don't know, Aidy's sadsack deliveries always get me. (Episode 3/Kumail Nanjiani)
Favorite moment: When Che was like "Oh really Donald?... You bitch." HOOOO BOY. (Episode 1/Ryan Gosling)
HOWEVER, had this little number not been cut for time it would have been my favorite everything:
Video is property of NBC/Universal, obvi.
...just, what a waste. --Meaty
Al's Take: You may be saying, wow Al - Kate, Aidy, AND Cecily? With a crew like that you should leave Annie alone and pick on someone your own size. I know, I know, but Annie made her bed. She's an adult woman responsible for her own choices. Even the stupid ones.
You may also be saying - Al, why did you pick all of the untested new cast members? That seems risky at best. Much of it came down to the luck of the back and forth draft, but there are a few other contributing factors.
- We hadn't drafted yet when Luke got cast, and when I saw the news the first thing I did was text Annie: "I GET THE GUY I KNOW"
- I've seen Chris perform with my favorite improv team in Chicago, 3Peat, AND my mom LOVED him in Popstar - I can't think of a more promising combination of factors
- I saw an Instagram comment that said "Heidi is really funny!" so, fuck yeah Heidi, let's do this
Favorite sketch so far: I've actually been a bigger fan of the Weekend Update appearances so far (Cecily's Ivana Trump??? I passed out on my couch), and I think my favorite sketch might be the cut for time "Climate Change," (more on that below) but I loved "Themyscira." Kate and Aidy are my favorite duo on the show, and even if you didn't feel anything when you made out with Kate, Gal, I definitely did. Lord. (Episode 2/Gal Gadot)
Favorite line so far: Kumail: "I'll be buying lots of jackets and jeans! Jackets and jeans! Whoo!" (Episode 3/Kumail Nanjiani)
Favorite moment so far: Pete Davidson talking about his borderline personality disorder diagnosis on Weekend Update. I hope this doesn't cheapen what he said - which was an incredible use of his platform to bring mental health as a topic into the mainstream and to normalize both managing it and talking about it - but beyond that it was also a perfect example of his somewhat staggering charisma. This kind of frank vulnerability + the most effortless sense of humor on the show = why my sister has sent me many shapchats of him with "PETE" inside a bunch of hearts drawn on it. (Episode 2/Gal Gadot)
Runner up: Kumail's monologue
And for a moment of point-counterpoint, I also liked "The Last Fry," but "Climate Change" was the obviously superior cut for time sketch, IMO. Beck as a CW star trying to "fix the earth" left me stunned. He was born to play that role. And the CRANE SHOTS? That's such an investment! Do you not care about ROI (look it up)? I would have kept it in is all I'm saying, Lorne.
Video is property of NBC/Universal
Meaty again: Hold up I'm just gonna hop back in here and say counter-counterpoint, "Climate Change" is not obviously superior because as much as I love Beck (I'm the one who drafted him BEFORE Cecily or Aidy, remember!?), any scenario that brings Beck AND Kyle together is the better scenario. "Climate change" is great satire, "Last Fry" is camp nonsense, which I will always prefer. But I do love that Al is just like "Here's where you went wrong, Lorne."
Also its aesthetic reminds me of these Burger King ads from the early 90s, which featured MTV DJ Dan Cortese. Actually now that I think of it, everything Kyle touches reminds me of these Burger King ads from the 90s.
Video property of...Burger King? I guess?
AL AGAIN: Alright. COOL! Yeah Beck and Kyle are are a good team or whatever but to IMPLY that "Climate Change" is not as SILLY as "Last Fry"? Honestly that's not even true. It is AS SILLY. AND it has CRANE SHOTS. That's my closing argument. YOU do the math.