Expectations for the 34th-season opener of NBC's Saturday Night Live were high, and the show delivered brilliantly. For five minutes.
Once the opening sketch was over, SNL, for a variety of reasons, tanked more than it floated, and never again soared. But the cold open, with Amy Poehler reprising her Hillary Clinton and, yes, Tina Fey guest-starring to introduce her Sarah Palin, may have been the show's best political sketch of this entire political campaign to date.
The two women were shown together, making a bipartisan speech -- an inspired idea that allowed the former "Weekend Update" anchor team (a first! two women!) to reunite, capitalizing on their comfortable chemistry. (They also co-starred in the movie Baby Mama -- but this time, Poehler's pregnant look was for real, and hidden, in this sketch, by wardrobe and a podium.)
Fey nailed Palin's Fargo-like accent and sing-song speaking style, and was just a delight. As the sketch went on, and so did Hillary, she began vamping poses and cocking and firing an invisible shotgun, loving the spotlight.
Poehler's Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, got angrier and angrier, furious that the woman to her right actually had gotten on her party's ticket, while she herself had fallen short. And other than participating together in a history-making political year, they agreed to disagree on almost everything.
"I don't agree with the Bush doctrine," Poehler's Clinton said. Fey's Palin quickly added, with a sheepish smile, "...And I don't know what that is." Very funny, and very timely. Great, great sketch, and the ladies knew they nailed it.
And when they screamed "Live, from New York, it's Saturday Night!" together, it was the sound of pure joy.
Then came guest host Michael Phelps, who suggested that, like some aquatic amphibians, he couldn't function as comfortably on dry land. The dazzling Olympic swimmer, as an SNL guest host, was no Peyton Manning. The writers did everything they could to punch up his sketches -- inserting other celebrities, concocting reasons to keep him silent for long stretches -- but as comedy goes, Phelps didn't.
It also didn't help, I'm sure, that a reported appearance by Barack Obama was canceled out of concern for dire national news regarding Hurricane Ike hitting Texas. But, boy: TWO sketches climaxing with allegedly funny dancing? With all summer to plan, SNL came back weakly, and even "Weekend Update" had less punch than usual.
It did have Will Forte as a new character, the reactionary conservative Alaska Pete, who wasn't very strong overall, but did have two memorable lines. One was about Palin holding her infant child on stage at the Republican National Convention "like The Lion King." And the other was a wicked but memorable remark that Palin's daughter giving birth in a few months will change Palin's status, "officially making her a GILF."
That was the last big laugh, though, during the season opener. Better luck next week -- but what a great start.