Bloodless Coup

Timberlake is the next Baldwin. He's absolute murder on SNL. My opinion of him as a human being and as a performer has gone up so much based on his several brilliantly self-deprecating appearances on SNL over the past couple of years.

And I did love this episode generally.

But is it just me or has SNL's improved ratings made it a total marketing platform for everything. This is the second time Fallon's appeared since his show started, and then this week there was also the whole Quinto / What's-his-name / Nimoy appearance on Weekend Update in a pretty blatant bit of Star Trek cross-marketing.

Having really enjoyed the show for the past five years, I'm glad everyone's catching on, but the increasingly frequent cameos are beginning to look more and more like weekly product placement.

I wouldn't say he's the next Baldwin, but yes, Timberlake has become a much more interesting and talented celebrity than I would have ever thought likely.

And I don't think the marketing thing is new - it's seemed that way for years.

And I guess you like the show more than I do. I almost never watch the whole thing. Losing Fey, Rudolph and Poehler - for me, each one of those was a big blow to the show. And while I like Forte, Hammond, Hader and Meyers well enough, I don't usually find them to be "must see" in this format.

And I suppose I should add that usually I really hate Samberg - so for me that's a cut against the show.

I have to say, I'm always up for a little bit of the Barry Gibb Talk Show, but this one wasn't even that funny. The Motherlover thing? Fantastic.