i've been reading these reviews for about two months now, so I decided it was time to write one myself. and if it sucks, sorry. the only other reviews i ever write are for my school newspaper.

COLD OPENER: Bush and his White House posse
     I'm really sick of Bush being in all the cold openers, becuase they're all pretty much the same thing. And this would've been way too long even if it had been good. Aside from it being nice to see Al Gore again, this was one of the worst openers I've seen this season. Grade: C-

JACKMAN'S MONOLOGUE
     Singing in the monologues has suddenly begun to appeal to me this year. It was a little overdone, but that's okay because it was a Christmas song and I'm going to try my hardest to get in the spirit early. And the look on Rachel's face when she latched onto Hugh was great - very Ally McBeal-like. Grade: B

COMMERCIAL: LOOSE BEAR
     I'm a huge fan of most SNL commercials, even though most people seem to have very low opinions of them. This one was no exception, and it featured Amy Poehler, which brought it up a notch. Grade: A-

JARRET'S ROOM
     These sketches are gradually growing on me. I really like it when the actors crack up,  for some odd reason, and it made this sketch even better because it made it seem like they were really high. Jackman was great; just looking at the expression on his face made me loose it. The only bad part is that this was probably the high point of this sketch, and it will now begin a long, painful decline into obscurity (right now I'm think of "Jeffrey's"). Grade: A

ROBERT GOULET"S XMAS
     Not funny. That's really all I can say. And it's not just because I don't really know who Robert Goulet is. The ones featuring him last year were fine. Grade: D

SEARS PHOTOGRAPHERS
     This was a funny idea, and it had some great lines, but overall it was an average sketch. In a way it pissed me off because it made me think of the weird photographers who come to school to take pictures. I always want to scream: "THIS IS SCHOOL PICTURE DAY, NOT A PHOTOSHOOT FOR VOGUE! STOP MOVING MY ARMS AROUND OR I'M GONNA  DECK YOU!" Grade: B-

WEEKEND UPDATE
     Obviously, as my screen name declares, I'm a huge Tina Fey fan. So I'm a little biased when it comes to her. Anyway, this  WU was its usual above-average self. Jimmy's joke about Japan was probably the best one, but Tina's joke about Bush ornaments was pretty close. I didn't get the Phillipino one at first, but it was also pretty good just becuase of the way Tina said: "He was right, and it worked." I was very glad to see Kattan's "Terrible Reenactment" back, because it's one of the few times he's not pigeonholed in a homosexual role. And - what's this? - Jeff in 2 SKETCHES? His "drunk girl" was pretty good, esp. the "Doyounnnnnnnwhatyouare?" part. Grade: A

HELLO DOLLY
     This sketch is always hit-or-miss, and this time it fell flat on the miss side. (The only one I think I've ever liked was on the sean hayes episode). Except for the "Jist Discoverin'" doll, which had me on the floor laughing. I know I probably shouldn't have found that so hilarious, b/c it was kind of innapropriate, but oh well. Grade: C

THE TWO MICKS
     This was cool, if not all that funny. Grade: B+

SUPERMAN AND HIS 'RENTS (I usually avoid using  "rents",  b/c it reminds me too much of "roids", but it fit here)
     I'm not in college, so I guess I don't really know what this is like. Mya was funny as his mother, that's about it. Grade: B- / C+

DONATELLA
     I really like these sketches, but I have no idea why. I guess they're so weird that they're funny, and I always enjoy it when the fashion world is made fun of. Everybody gave solid performances, but I could've done without all those  guys dancing at the end. Grade: A -

XMAS KANGAROO
     When this first started, I seriously considered changing the channel becuase it seemed like a more-bearable-than-Jack-Handey time filler. I'm so glad I didn't. For the first couple seconds after the kangaroo's true intentions were revealed, I was mainly  in shock. Then when Will started patting his hair and girl-slapping "Freckles", I completely lost it. Jackman's line about "Brown Town" was a perfect ending. this was very, very dirty, but also extremely funny. It can only be compared to the Angelina Jolie bit from the Britney Spears episode - it was that over the top. It was robably the best sketch of the year so far. Grade: A

POST-SHOW REVIEW: I had the same feeling before this show that I had about the Drew Barrymore one. Fortunately, this one didn't go straight down the crapper like that one did (I know there had been an antrax scare, but that was TERRIBLE). Hugh Jackman was one of the best male hosts i can think of. Overall, this was the best episode of the year so far. OVERALL GRADE: A

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