By: Linita Masters
NBC is bringing variety to a brand new audience, with the long gone variety show genre, in the the highly anticipated new series Marty & Maya, which aired its premiere episode tonight.
Saturday Night Live’s Lorne Michaels is definitely no stranger to the variety show format with Saturday Night Live as well as an unsuccessful variety show revival back in 1984. Michaels serves as executive producer to his superstar SNL alum, Martin Short and Maya Rudolph.
Despite the premiere episode being star-studded, with some of the most talented comedic performers, Marty & Maya never quite hit the right note. Keenan Thompson’s SNL’s Steve Harvey impression, which is marginally funny on SNL, Jimmy Fallon as a blonde bowl haired dutch boy, appearances by Kate McKinnon, and superstars Tom Hanks and Steve Martin made the show feel like a shorter version of SNL with too many of the skits fizzling to nothing, like listening to someone tell a joke and then having them forget the punchline. One highlight was Martin Short as Jiminy Glick , interviewing Larry David which was infectiously funny. Miley Cyrus, who performed a sexy rendition of “I’m Your Man” by Leonard Cohen and “I’m A Woman” by Peggy Lee in true Miley fashion, and the show-closing number with Savion Glover and the cast of Shuffle Along injected the show with the bit of energy that it needed.
This was just the first show and I think with a bit of tweaking , a little less obvious product placement and a steady stream of talented guests, Marty & Maya may not only remember that punchline, but make it worth waiting for.