First before I start anything, we need a moment of silencefor our fallen hero Paul Brittan.

Sorry I don’t mean he’s dead, he just left the show. He leftthe show in the middle of the season, which is really odd. According toarticles he left the show “amicably” – yeah right… just like every Hollywooddivorce you know there was drams involved.

Well, goodbye Wyndemere. You were too beautiful for thisworld.

Anyway back to reviewing the actual show. Tonight’s host isChanning Tatum. Usually I am not a huge fan of “meat head” type guys but then Isaw Dear John and everything changed.Channing, (really? that’s a name?) first came to our attention in Amanda Bynes’,She’s the Man and the first of themany Step Up films.

Channing, who is a former stripper, could have gone theroute of “hot guy in movie” but his career is doing really well; so well thathe was recently in Stephen Soderberghs’ Haywire.Does his acting talent really match his stardom? Uhhhhhh… not so much. Channing,you need to send your agent some flowers because you are getting some goodroles. I think I have seen glimpses of him being funny. For example, check outthe trailer for 21 JumpStreet.

My hopes for tonight’s show are moderate.

So Newt Gringrich says that in 2014 there WILL be a moonbase. Well maybe my high school reunion should pre-book that space. SNL had funimagining what Newt’s moon fantasy will look like.  The fantasy included a Reagan Robot, HermanCain as his right hand man and his wife being totally ok with open marriages.This was a funny opening and refreshing that it wasn’t a single charactertalking to the camera. I also love how in the “future” the new salutations willbe, “may de-vorce be with you.”

Are suspenders back? Because I certainly did not get thismemo. For those that poo-poo his past as an exotic dancer Channing addresses ithead on in this funny monologue. First he lays the ground rules and introduceshis bodyguard. Somehow his past clients are in the audience but they allmysteriously don’t recognize him. Even his top client Leslie pretends not toremember Channing. But after he shows off his moves his old client remembers. 

And Channing takes off his shirt. 

They have tried this sketch before and I don’t think itsworthy of another try, but here it is.  Cee-Lo’s guest is Matthew McConaughey playedby Channing. I get why he is included because I think both CeeLo and Mattheware pretty freaky. So this is Channing’s attempt at an impression? Let’s behonest my Mom could do a McConaughey impression. But this means we are treatedto shirtless Channing yet again. The only thing that saved this skit, just likethe last time, was the appearance of Colonel Nasty. And I love Cee Lo’s back-upband. 

I should book them for that high school reunion on the moonbase.  

What if Masterpiece Theatre’s Downton Abbey aired on SpikeTV? Here’s what the commercial would look like. I am up in the air if I want to watch Downton Abbey but after watchingthis parody I am not sure I could take it seriously. I would probably say tomyself, “Well who is overhearing THIS conversation?” I am guessing Sambergwrote a lot of this so kudos Samberg.

This was nice throw back to Anchorman. You know the partwhen the news team looks into the camera? Oh Anchorman! The sport anchors atNBC are filming the promo and are directed to have a conversation then look inthe camera. Comedy ensues.

Why? Why is this sketch still on? As usual, Kristen playsthe dramatic fading Broadway star Mindy and Channing (still having a hard timetyping that word) plays an Astronaut who has “seen things.” First I will saykudos for whoever thought Channing should play an astronaut because he reallylooks like he could be one. The only redeeming part was visions that theastronaut saw. And then that’s it!

Seth’s first guest was Food Network’s Guy Fieri played bythe overly energetic Bobbi. Guy really annoys me, it’s like he is forever in1999, a time where spiked hair was king, fire pattern shirts were in, and SmashMouth’s “All Star” never stopped playing. Anyway Guy shares with everyone some Superbowlfootball dishes. My favorite was the dish inspired by Madonna.

A weird bucket of mussels.

Seth’s next guest was Lana Del Ray, played by Kristen Wigg. Sohere is some background. Apparently when this girl performed it was terrible. Iusually don’t watch the musical performances but I did notice Facebook andTwitter blowing up with comments related to how awful she was. When this skitstarted I thought they were going to tear her a new one but in the end it seemsthey were defending her. I just watched her performance and it wasn’t that bad itwas just annoying. She swayed a lot and kept touching her hair which Kristen mimickedperfectly. Overall the skit had an anti-bullying message which I thought wasnice of the show to address. Will I buy this girl’s album? No.

I wish I could give you a joke of the night but that is howquick this update was. Couldn’t find one.

I feel the writers just thought, “Let’s get Channing todance.” And dance he did. This skit would have been a complete failure but thelast line kind of pulled it together.

Again, here is another pre-shot skit that is kind of like adigital short but it’s not. It felt so out of place. It reminded me ofsomething from an episode of Mad TV. Channing wears tight exercise shorts sothat helps a bit I guess.

I usually love Bobbi and everything he does but this is nothis strongest work. I wish this skit involved more Tom Brady jokes. I am notinvested in this “Janet” character and I doubt the catch phrase “put one in me”will catch on soon.”

Wow! So the writers really ran out of imagination of whatChanning can do. How was any of this dancing different from what he did in themonologue? I do like Jason Sudekis’ stripper announcer voice and I enjoy thefact that he laughs while doing it. All the male dancing were funny but it wassuch a waste of Channing.

This episode bummed me out. I feel the cast as a whole wasnot on their game. Maybe everyone at the show is suffering from SeasonalAffected Disorder?

Next week is Zooey Deschanel. I am not a huge fan of her,but Jill I promise to keep an open mind.

Thanks for reading!