'SNL50' didn't do justice to the past 50 years of comedy: Review

Fifty years of "Saturday Night Live" is a lot of history, legacy and pressure to pack into a one-night special, even if it's 3? hours long.

But producer Lorne Michaels and the "SNL" cast and writers, past and present, tried to do just that in the show's 50th anniversary special Sunday on NBC, a star-studded black-tie bacchanalia of celebrity cameos, sketch revivals and self-congratulatory montages that gave it the flavor of an awards show crossed with an extended episode of "SNL" crossed with a drunken party that should have been attended only by people who have actually worked on the show. The special even featured an "In Memoriam" segment, although it was reserved for all the offensive and poorly aged sketches over the years (and to remind us they re-aired a lot of the racist and sexist stuff).

It was a tonnage of effort and personality smushed onto the Studio 8H stage, and it all added up to something that was, well, fine? You could call it serviceable, checking nostalgia boxes while trying desperately to remain relevant to the youth of today, with more screen time for Sabrina Carpenter than Bill Murray. It had almost all the still-living heavy hitters from the series' history doing chuckle-worthy monologues and sketches. It was humorous, if not hilarious. And if we hadn't seen a similar but far better version of this a decade ago when the show celebrated its 40th anniversary, it might have been more satisfactory.

Maybe producers didn't want to repeat the classic sketches used in 2015, leaving the 50th stuck with the also-rans and ones that are less than a year old. The only advantage "SNL50" had over "SNL40" is that this time, Eddie Murphy actually appeared in sketches. But overall, it was a wasted opportunity to do something slightly different and far more transcendent.

The night started sleepily, and it was difficult to build energy. Opening with Carpenter, the hot pop star of the moment, and Paul Simon, an "SNL" staple since the show's second episode and a close friend of Michaels', was clearly an effort to marry the past and present, young and old. But the choice of ballad "Homeward Bound" made the cold open somber and slow. A monologue from consummate host Steve Martin brought a little bit of verve (especially his "Gulf of America" joke), but the momentum careened to a halt with a reprisal of Kristen Wiig's tiny-handed Dooneese sketch that went on far too long and for some reason included Kim Kardashian.

The rest of the evening veered from adequate to mediocre, with a flash or two of genuine brilliance. Murphy put his whole heart and soul into a Tracy Morgan impression for the "Black Jeopardy!" sketch that was, honest to goodness, the best thing the 63-year-old comedian and movie star has done in a decade. Mike Myers' classic "Coffee Talk" character Linda Richman joined Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler for "Bronx Beat," a crossover that was smooth as buttah. But that was all alongside another edition of this season's already overplayed "Domingo" sketch, Murphy in a cringeworthy "Scared Straight" bit, and Kate McKinnon's usually hilarious alien abductee, who was upstaged by a fuzzy Meryl Streep cameo.

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Nearly every sketch could have used the ruthless red pen of an editor as it dragged on to fill time. Most also felt as if they were only 80% finished. A New York history-themed installment of John Mulaney's trademark musical parodies featured some good moments, but it also felt as if it had no point. Plus we got another one of these back in November, the last time Mulaney hosted. Did we really need another one so soon?'

It's such a shame, because "SNL40" felt so essential to any fan of the series because the sketches were both familiar and novel: a "Celebrity Jeopardy!" that honored Will Ferrell and Norm Macdonald but left room for current cast member McKinnon to shine. A digital short from Andy Samberg and Adam Sandler making fun of cast members who "break" and giggle during a sketch. They were sketches that felt as if they could happen only on an anniversary show, and not just because of all the cameos; it's because they truly honored the show's legacy past and present. "SNL50" merely managed a handful of unsuccessful attempts to mesh what the show was with what it is now. But by the time Paul McCartney closed out the show, it felt as if we had all taken a dose of the "After Update" sleeping pill Alec Baldwin joked about in his short appearance.

A half-century in, "SNL" is something too big to be contained, let alone distilled into something succinct and sensational. Any version of a 50th anniversary special would likely disappoint in some way; there's just too much history here to get in everything everyone wants to see. But the version of the special Michaels and the writers created didn't have the sparkle of the show at its height.

It's nostalgic to watch the re-creations of the "SNL" of the past, but maybe we're better off just rewatching the sketches that made the show a cultural landmark in the first place.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'SNL 50' review: Anniversary special disappointed after 50 years