​Live! From a theater near you! It’s Saturday Night!!!
 
As the 50th season of Saturday Night Live hits airwaves this Fall, the tumultuous first night in the show’s history is explored in Saturday Night, a thrilling new biographical film co-written by Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman, and directed by Jason Reitman, it takes us on the roller-coaster ride that was the hour and a half leading up to the on-air debut of the program in a chaotic, “everything that can go wrong, will go wrong” saga. Lorne Michaels doesn’t have the trust of the network leads who are threatening to pull the plug on his new idea, the set is seeing constant technical difficulties spring up, and cast members are unsure of the product, fighting with each other, or inebriated (and, in some cases, a combo of some of the three). It all comes together in a feverish countdown to airtime.
 
SNL is such a cultural staple now that it’s hard to imagine it as an experimental, counter-culture product without a place on television. But one of the movie's successes is its ability to transport us to the time and place before that was true. The costuming, set design, and lighting all nail the 70s look. Further, a slew of celebrities from the era are depicted with spot-on impressions for Milton Berle, Billy Crystal, George Carlin, Andy Kaufman, Jim Henson, and BIlly Preston cementing the movie in that era. J.K. Simmons’ portrayal of Berle, in particular, paints the picture of the old guard reluctant to give up the comedy scene to Lorne Michaels’ and his new idea for a program. While the audience knows how that head-to-head turns out and what the fate of SNL will be, Saturday Night masterfully manufactures tension.
 
The stress builds thanks to the pairing of its frantic pace and its static location: much of the film is shot in constantly-moving POV single shot takes, that chase the action around, yet are all contained within the SNL set and the broader Rockefeller Center. It also tries to replicate the events of the show’s first night in pseudo real-time, beginning with a title card showing the time: 10:00 p.m. on October 11, 1975. Only 90 minutes stand between the show and its first time live on television. These title cards pop up sporadically throughout the runtime, slowly ticking away the minutes. That slow crawl to airtime is juxtaposed with hurried scenes that constantly barrel forward. The conflict in those scenes feel like hundreds of small explosions happening simultaneously, only broken up to pause for a handful of slower, poignant scenes scattered in.
 
Beyond the captivating anxiety of the story, the film does so well because of its cast. Rather than relying on the star power of just one or two actors, it excels because of the many talents of an amazing ensemble cast. Every actor is truly a scene-stealer. While the action bounces around frequently and no one character gets an overwhelming amount of screentime, each one capitalizes on their minutes. It’s a tall task to portray an infamous legendary performer, but each of the actors holds their own, nailing the voice and mannerisms of their subject. The hair and makeup department also deserves praise for delivering on the look of each.

Gabriel LaBelle anchors the movie as a young, ambitious, and relentless Lorne Michaels, coming off as both charming and unflappable. Rachel Sennott plays Rosie Shuster, a writer and showrunner, and Michaels’ wife, who delivers a calm presence in spite of the chaos of the SNL cast. Cory Michael Smith delivers as a quick, cocky, and witty Chevy Chase. Ella Hunt gives us Gilda Radner’s comedic ease and heart. Fresh off of an Emmy win, Lamorne Morris plays original cast member Garrett Morris, dishing out some of the best and funniest line deliveries. Other original cast members are brought to life by Dylan O’Brien (Dan Aykroyd), Emily Fairn (Laraine Newman), Kim Matula (Jane Curtin), and Matt Wood (John Belushi). Nicholas Braun does double-duty as both Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson, popping in for comic relief and some of the film’s best running gags. Like the aforementioned J.K. Simmons, Willem Dafoe plays a commanding bit part of David Tebet, a network executive running low on patience for all of the issues surrounding SNL’s debut. This long list still leaves out so many other tremendous performances that added fun, magnetism, and depth to the story.
 
As evidenced by the size of the cast alone, Saturday Night fits a ton into its tight runtime. It does so in a way that gives each of the original “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” their own moment to shine. It tells a hectic yet still balanced story and does a wonderful job painting a picture of that first night. It does feel as though certain events were exaggerated to heighten drama, including villainizing Johnny Carson as someone hoping for the downfall of SNL on a phone call during opening night or insinuating that “Weekend Update” duties were dramatically handed off from Michaels to Chase mere minutes before 11:30. Additionally, it feels like the story may have pulled its punches in how it handled some people or outcomes in order to close with a storybook finish and a neat bow on top. All that said, this semi-biographical, semi-fictionalized tale makes for an extremely fun watch.
 
Saturday Night is fun and wholly captivating. It packs mile-a-minute witty dialogue into fast-paced action shots that keep the audience ping-ponging through a relentless 90 minutes. For those of us that have grown up watching Saturday Night Live, it’s also a nostalgic treat, peeking behind the curtain at the performers, sets, and jokes that are etched into American pop culture. 50 seasons later, Saturday Night finally brings the TV screen to the silver screen and gives flowers to those who have made us laugh for generations.

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the motion picture, ‘A Sprinkle of Deceit: A Hannah Swensen Mystery’.
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If there is one particular emotion that we pay little mind to, it would be jealousy, and rightfully so. Because more often than not, jealousy is nothing more than a weak person’s weapon. Wherein they use its ‘power’ to agitate and throw digs at people over anything constructive and that makes it very, very easy… to ignore it. Because it really does just involve someone spewing out words and being fussy over what someone else has, making it simple to deal with and even simpler to ignore because that’s the kind of noise one can easily drown out. But while that is an emotion worth ignoring more than not, we should always be mindful of why a person is jealous. 

Because sometimes jealousy becomes more than noise. Courtesy of deep-rooted fury and pain over being wronged, over not being enough in this life. So, if we hear someone chirping and sniping about something related to people on a far more intimate level, we best listen to it for a change. Because that person is indeed crying out and asking to express more beyond their jealousy, and that could prove to be problematic if we ignore it. Because it could lead to someone close to them being wounded emotionally, or worse., and it just so happens that a new Hannah Swensen mystery on Hallmark Mysteries, that made its debut the other night, explores why we should sometimes listen and pay attention to jealousy in A Sprinkle of Deceit: A Hannah Swensen Mystery.

For in this particular tale, while Hannah is settling into life once again and flirting often with Chad as we’ve all been hoping she would, quite the mystery came forth. In that, Lonnie, a detective on the force and friend to all… is suspended when an old high school flame turns up dead. All because he did the right thing and saw her home when she was wasted at a high school reunion, and being the last person that was in her presence makes him the prime suspect. Of course, Hannah doesn’t believe in the slightest that Lonnie would be capable of such an act, so she takes it upon herself to clear his name. But that will not be an easy task. For Chad wants conflicts of interest to steer clear of this case, including Hannah and also because… it’s hard to spot how jealousy from an unexpected party played into this heinous crime.

But before we dive into the central theme here, we do need to take a moment and applaud how this is a vastly different kind of Hannah Swensen feature. Simply because, she is held back in this story, and that’s’ not something we see often. In fact, it is even pointed out how Hannah is invaluable to the force and does so much good, and that sidelining her is a terrible idea. But what makes this so unique is that it allows for us to see how much Hannah cares, how comfortable she is in her role as a consultant to the police and how not having that in her life makes her helpless and listless. Which just humanizes the character in delightful new ways and allows for her to be vulnerable like never before. That in turn, of course leads to some tender with Chad, and some comedy with her mother, and just adds a refreshing depth to a tale about jealousy.
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Which is indeed the central theme we’ve talked about, and this story does demonstrate how jealousy can become so much more in a person. Since we learn the real killer is a jilted housewife and local business owner, who is outright stunned that her husband would find any level of comfort in the arms of anyone but her. But he did since the deceased caught his eyes. Thus, driving her to do dark acts and become the heavy of this story. Allowing for this tale to deeply explore how our desire to pay no mind to jealousy, since our killer does throw in some barbs at the victim that no one paid attention to, can be a problem under the right/wrong circumstances. Because in this instance it marginalized some deep feelings and forced the killer to internalize them and let them fester and that in turn let anger grow, until a need for revenge was born.

All of which made for a powerful lesson on jealousy and why we should indeed listen, and it led to a quality mystery. Because this one really did take Hannah on quite the journey, and it of course, kept us guessing from beginning to end. Because none of the suspects lined up, and none of the clues took us down the path we expected. Not to mention, it was wild to see Hannah without power in this tale and well, that really did make for one compelling watch. One that really had something for everyone, including those who love a little romance out there. After all, that chemistry between Hannah and Chad was strong here, and the foundation is now there for perhaps something more. But that, will have to wait further down the line. But for now, we can relish in a dynamic and satisfying mystery from a gumshoe we simply adore.