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    in Television

    ‘S.N.L.’ Spoofs the Final Debate and Adele Sings (a Little)

    Adele hosted “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, and to answer your most pressing question: Yes, she did sing, briefly, though H.E.R. was officially the musical guest. But first, there was a parody of Thursday’s second and final presidential debate to get through.The debate sketch, which opened the show, began with Maya Rudolph, its resident Kamala Harris impersonator, this time playing the moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News.She explained, “Tonight we have a mute button, because it was either that or tranquilizer darts and the president has a very high tolerance for those after his Covid treatment.”Onto the stage came Alec Baldwin as President Trump and Jim Carrey as Joseph R. Biden Jr. “How’s this mute button work?” Carrey asked. “Do I just haul off and slap him in the mouth?”Rudolph replied, “It’s not connected to anything but I will push it.”Baldwin, who was given an introductory question about managing the coronavirus crisis, responded, “What a nice question, thank you, Hoda. Can I just say you’re really doing a great job?” He added, “No, really, you’re taking really good care of us tonight. Now, could you just tell us about the special, please?”Baldwin repeated Trump’s now-familiar line that the country is “rounding the corner” on coronavirus. “In fact,” Baldwin said, “we’ve rounded so many corners, we’ve gone all the way around the block and we’re back where we started in March.”Indicating Carrey, Baldwin said, “If he was in charge, we’d all be in our basements and that’s where the haunted Annabelle doll lives. A lot of people are saying that’s a very scary doll.” He added that “we can’t spend all day in the basement, because we’re all not rich like Joe, with all the money he got from China.”Carrey responded, “Look at me. Do I look remotely rich? If I have money, where am I spending it? I live in Delaware. A night out is $28.” If he had an extra $3 million, Carrey said, “I’d be pulling up to the Capitol in a candy-red Trans Am with Kenny Loggins playing in the back. Not a recording — the real Kenny Loggins.”Baldwin said he could not reveal his coronavirus response plan because it was under audit, adding, “If you don’t believe me, you can talk to my lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.”The camera cut to Kate McKinnon as Giuliani, with her back to the audience, making an obscured but vigorous gesture. As she turned around, she revealed that she was rubbing her stomach. “It’s not what it looks like,” McKinnon said, adding: “Is this another ‘Borat’? You’ve got to tell me if it’s a ‘Borat.’”Finally, the two candidates were asked what they would say to people who did not vote for them. Baldwin replied, “If they didn’t vote for me, I guess I’d say, ‘Hola.’”Carrey said, “You know who he is and you know who I am. I’m good ol’ Joe. I’m reliable as a rock. I’ve got a five-star safety rating and I’m ranked best in midsize in my class by J.D. Power and Associates. I don’t have a golden toilet seat. I have a soft, spongy one that hisses whenever I park my keister.”‘Bachelor’ Parody of the WeekIn her opening monologue, Adele explained that she didn’t want to be both host and musical guest, saying that she would rather “just put on some wigs” and “have a glass of wine or six and just see what happens.” Nonetheless, “S.N.L.” found a not-so-subtle way to get her to perform selections from a few of her best-known songs in this sendup of “The Bachelor,” which cast Adele as one of its contestants.“I’m here because I’ve had a lot of heartbreak in my life,” she said at the start of the sketch. “First at 19, and then, sort of famously at 21, and then even more famously at 25.”Desperately vying for a bland romantic interest (Beck Bennett), Adele sang him excerpts from “When We Were Young,” “Hello” and “Rolling in the Deep,” then concluded with a spirited portion of “Someone Like You.” As the sketch ended, Adele said, “Catch me next week on ‘Love Island.’”Political Ad of the WeekThis filmed segment starts off like any number of other political commercials rotating endlessly in the run-up to Election Day, with the “S.N.L.” cast members playing seemingly everyday Americans explaining why they’re voting for Biden and against Trump. But, these people explain, they’re also worried. Because, as Ego Nwodim asks, if Biden wins, “then what are we going to talk about?”Pete Davidson adds, “The only thing I talked about for four years is Donald Trump.” Another voter played by Melissa Villaseñor says, “My entire personality is hating Donald Trump. If he’s gone, what am I supposed to do, focus on my kids again? No thanks.”Kenan Thompson says, “I am really worried for Rachel Maddow. Like, what is she even going to talk about?” (Following the commercial — paid for by the fictional Trump Addicts of America — the real-life Maddow tweeted, “I’ll be fine! I swear!”)Weekend Update Jokes of the WeekAt the Weekend Update desk, the anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che continued to riff on the final presidential debate.Jost began:Well, the final presidential debate took place on Thursday and the actual CNN headline after was, “Trump Behaved More Like Regular Person.” That’s not a description of a president. It’s like a description of a robot from “Westworld.” This debate was so frustrating to watch. Did anyone else find themselves yelling lines at the screen that they wished Biden had said? Like when Trump talked about how good he’s been for the stock market, I was like, Joe, the stock market when you were Vice President went up four times higher than Trump’s stock market. You have the ball, you’re standing above the rim. Why will you not dunk it? Or when Trump said that Biden is all talk and no action, why didn’t Biden just say, “Bitch, show us your taxes, show us the vaccine, show us the wall and show us what prison you locked Hillary in”? Really, it was like Biden had an open field, running for a touchdown and then this happened: [plays video of New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones tripping in Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles]Che continued:Trump claimed that he was the least racist person in the room. Which is only something the most racist person in the room would say. You never hear Martin Luther King going, “I’m the least racist.” Nobody’s expecting you to be the least racist. I’d just settle for not-so-racist anymore. When you lie that big, it makes you look more guilty. Like when my uncle told me he doesn’t get high anymore, while he was holding my TV.Questionable Tourism Ad of the WeekWe can’t say we endorse this fake ad, which rests on the uneasy premise that Adele, McKinnon and Heidi Gardner are women who have traveled to Africa in search of men who will help them get over their divorces. (That’s already elicited a fair share of discomfort on social media.)But we include it here for the sake of completeness and for the sight of Adele repeatedly breaking character, which at least gives the sketch some moments of pleasant awkwardness. More

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    in Theater

    Attend a Black-Tie Gala From Your Living Room

    It’s gala season, when nonprofit organizations host their biggest fund-raising events of the year. Many of those events have been canceled or postponed because of the pandemic, but others have moved online and are open to those who don’t have $1,000 or more for a table (donations are strongly encouraged).The Public Theater’s free virtual eventlast week featured a long list of stars, including Meryl Streep and Alicia Keys. And a benefit for the Children’s Diabetes Foundation earlier this month gathered celebrities such as George Clooney, Jay Leno and Jane Fonda. Here are some star-studded fund-raisers you can attend from your couch this season.#FightLyme With Avril & FriendsOn Oct. 24, the singer Avril Lavigne will perform during this virtual benefit concert to shed light on Lyme disease, which she contracted in 2014. Organized by the Global Lyme Alliance, a nonprofit that works to eradicate the disease, and the Avril Lavigne Foundation, the show will also feature performances by the band OneRepublic and the singer Rob Thomas. The broadcasts begins at 8 p.m. Eastern; tickets start at $25.I.C.P. SpotlightsThe International Center of Photography’s annual benefit celebrates women in film and photography and supports the center’s education and exhibition programs. This year’s event, on Oct. 27, will honor Nadia Hallgren, the director of the Michelle Obama documentary, “Becoming”; the photographer and artist Deana Lawson; and Lindsay Peoples Wagner, the editor in chief of Teen Vogue. Stream it on YouTube at 12 p.m. Eastern free. It will be followed by a Q. and A. session with the honorees on Zoom; tickets start at $250.In Search of the Sanderson SistersBette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy will reprise their “Hocus Pocus” roles during this spooky benefit for the New York Restoration Project, an open-space conservancy founded by Ms. Midler. Starting at 8 p.m. Eastern on Oct. 30, the show will play like a documentary that delves into the characters’ back stories and will feature cameos by Glenn Close, Jennifer Hudson and more. Tickets cost $10.VetsinTech Veterans Day GalaHosted by the nonprofit organization VetsinTech, this gala will raise funds for scholarships to support veterans training for careers in technology. The lineup features military leaders and special guests, like the rapper Snoop Dogg and the singer Jordin Sparks. The broadcast airs Nov. 6 at 9 p.m. Eastern. Veterans and their spouses can tune in free; others can purchase tickets starting at $25.A.B.T. 80th Anniversary Fall GalaThis fall, the American Ballet Theater commissioned virtual programming from four choreographers, who then formed “ballet bubbles” with their dancers and created the works in quarantine. The results will be filmed and are set to premiere during this gala on Nov. 18, which will benefit programs that will advance diversity and inclusion. Watch the event on the theater company’s YouTube channel free starting at 7 p.m. Eastern.Performa TelethonThe arts organization Performa is having its first ever online telethon on Nov. 18, from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern. The event will be broadcast from Pace Gallery in New York and will feature live performances by the pianist Lang Lang, the artist Laurie Anderson and others. The event is free, and viewers at home can purchase limited-edition home goods commissioned for the telethon.The Center for Fiction Annual Awards BenefitThis virtual benefit and awards ceremony hosted by the Center for Fiction, a nonprofit literary organization, will celebrate the work of the writer James McBride, the publisher Chris Jackson and a number of debut novelists. Scheduled to be broadcast on Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, the event also features appearances by the actor Ethan Hawke and the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. Register online to watch free. More

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    A Beautiful Day for a List: How We Chose 50 Examples of PBS’s Impact

    Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.As a theater-obsessed middle school kid in Santa Monica, Calif., Alexis Soloski watched a 1991 recording of PBS’s “American Playhouse” broadcast of “Into the Woods” so many times that her VHS tape became nearly unplayable. So when Lorne Manly, a senior editor on The New York Times’s Culture desk, asked her to interview a fellow theater lover, Holland Taylor, as part of an article listing 50 reasons that fans cherish PBS for the network’s 50th anniversary this month, she hesitated exactly zero seconds.“I was definitely a PBS kid,” Ms. Soloski, a freelance culture writer, said. She loved “Great Performances” and was a devoted viewer of “Mystery!” though only its animated opening sequence. “I’d stay up and watch the Edward Gorey cartoon before anyone got murdered or anything scary happened — it was the most fascinating, elegant thing I’d ever seen.”The list of 50 reasons, a who’s who of beloved PBS shows, was compiled with emotional connections like that in mind. The article is part of a package on PBS that touches on its programming past, where it could go in the future, and even the evolution of its famous pledge drives. Jeremy Egner, the television editor for The Times, said the Culture desk began discussing how to commemorate the half-century mark in April. “It seemed like a good opportunity to take a step back and look at the impact PBS has had on TV, and certainly on American cultural life,” he said.Mr. Manly, who edited the list and oversaw the package, said the idea grew out of a brainstorming meeting among several of the Culture editors in July. “We were interested in this idea of a family tree,” he said. “That became the concept of 50 programs over 50 years.”Mr. Manly asked nearly two dozen writers from inside and outside The Times to identify and reflect on their memories of some of the system’s most iconic programs. He also recruited notable names, like the celebrity cook Rachael Ray and the Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Gary Clark Jr., to share first-person reminiscences about programs that changed their lives.“The Times audience is, I think, very knowledgeable about public television and has lots of memories,” Mr. Manly said. “We tried to include shows from every era to capture the impact on different generations.”Mr. Manly and other editors emailed a Google Doc to writers to collect ideas, which generated around 80 potential programs. Mr. Egner and Meeta Agrawal, The Times’s Arts & Leisure editor, helped to narrow them down, and then Mr. Manly chose the final 50 based on writer interest and the desire to represent different eras and genres. (“There were no fisticuffs,” Mr. Egner said.)Mr. Manly said many of the writers had personal connections to the programs they wrote about. “When someone has had a formative experience with a show, that makes for really engaging writing,” he said.But Mr. Manly would like to be clear: This is not a case of one man determining the 50 best shows on PBS. “It’s definitely not supposed to be a ranking,” he said. He added that he sought out programs that were well known, of course, such as “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” Ken Burns’s documentaries and “Sesame Street.” But, he said, “we also wanted to introduce some surprises in there.”For instance, Damon Lindelof, a creator of series including “Watchmen” and “The Leftovers,” suggested “Miss Marple,” whose heroine he became infatuated with as an 11-year-old navigating his parents’ divorce. “I don’t know if that was on the original list, but he found it a powerful part of growing up,” Mr. Manly said. “So we wanted to weave that in.”Other well-known programs lurk near the top of the list: The 1973 documentary series “An American Family,” “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” Julia Child’s cooking show “The French Chef,” “Downton Abbey” and Mr. Burns’s 11-hour documentary series, “The Civil War,”This is hardly the first list Mr. Manly has edited at The Times, and he said he had learned that it is better to try to represent a wide range of programs than to try to be definitive. “I haven’t seen anyone yet who’s outraged that we left something out,” he said, though he acknowledged he had heard some good-natured grumbling from an editor’s husband about the omission of Thomas the Tank Engine.Much has changed since PBS broadcast its first program, an episode of “The French Chef,” a cooking show created and hosted by Ms. Child, on Oct. 4, 1970. But the original mission of the system remains the same: education.“PBS created TV as we know it,” Mr. Egner said. “They dealt with issues like censorship, funding and political priorities while airing some really formative programming. Now the challenge is to figure out how to survive and thrive over the next 50 years.” More

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    Who Watched the Debates on Television, Minute By Minute

    More Republican households watched this year’s presidential debates than Democratic ones, but the Republican watchers were slightly likelier to turn them off earlier in the night. And during the so-called dueling town halls by President Trump and Joe Biden, Democratic and Republican households mostly watched the town hall of their own party, according to 605, […] More