Tonight was the long-awaited first episode of Saturday Night Live since the writers' strike ended. With Tina Fey as host and more than three months of material as fodder, the episode hit a homerun, making it one of the few consistently funny episodes of the last few years.

Among the first episodes targets were the media's infatuation with Barack Obama (played by Fred Armisen, a clear sign they need a skinny black cast member), The Celebrity Apprentice and several Oscar-nominated films. Seeing Bill Hader “drink your milkshake!” was worth the 90 minutes all by itself. Yet the highlight could've been the ingenious Rock of Love 2 parody.

Often, shows will try to parody the idea of something without getting the details right. Well, it was obvious that the Saturday Night Live writers are rabid Rock of Love fans, because they nailed the sketch. The look, the characters, the attitude were all exactly as they are on the real show.

It was set at an elimination ceremony, and the SNL set designers perfectly achieved the look and feel of the Rock of Love mansion. Bret Michaels, played by Jason Sudeikis wearing both a bandanna and a cowboy hat, narrowed down his picks to the final three. Startling enough, the show actually bothered to parody three of this season's more memorable contestants, with blistering accuracy,

There's Kristy Joe, played by newcomer Casey Wilson, as a constantly crying, neurotic, germaphobic mess, Daisy, played surprisingly well by Tina Fey, the obscenely stupid sexy blonde, and Peyton (Kristen Wiig, with a spot-on accent), who constantly complained about needing more “Face Time” to make a connection. So ttue, and so tragic, because the sketch also played up the total lack of physical attraction between Peyton and Bret.

To make it a true SNL sketch, they brought back Amber, the one-legged recurring character for Amy Poehler. We've seen her on The Swan and America's Next Top Model, and it was nice to have her back. Though they didn't mention it, I'm also left to wonder if the return of this character was a result of the fact that Rock of Love 2 actually features a contestant named Ambre.

Will Saturday Night Live prove prophetic and will Peyton, Kristy Joe and Daisy be the final three? I don't know, but I do hope SNL continues to mock these semi-obscure reality shows. They always do a great job, and I still remember the episode hosted by Hillary Swank when they parodied the first season of Project Runway, with crazy Wendy and Austin, who loves to make “gown gowns, and gown gowns.” Now that was funny.


-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of NBC)