Saturday Night Live Rapewatch: Anne Hathaway Ediiton

I missed reviewing this episode the first time around, but since SNL is re-airing it to coincide with Anne Hathaway hosting the Oscars, this seems like a perfect time to go ahead and check it for rape and homophobia-themed humour, as is my wont.

The episode opened with another Rachel Maddow show sketch in the current events slot - it's not a great impression, but at least they've given up on making gay jokes about her. So that's something. Things moved briskly from there, through another Miley Cyrus sketch to a visit from Penelope (possibly my least-favorite Kristen Wiig character! Ah, who am I kidding. They're all my least favorite Kristen Wiig character. Especially the lady who expects people to be happier about winning a sweepstakes. Ugh.), and then a joke about the TSA groping people over Thanksgiving.

Smuggy Smuggerson brought the one rape joke of the night, devaluing the term by hyperbolicly using it to describe what the dictionary people are doing to the English language by including Sarah Palin's 'refudiate' in a list of the year's best new words. I mean, he's not wrong, but he could have looked for a less horrible choice.

The show's back 30 went by without incident, sketches included a scene about a dropped character from 'The Wizard of Oz' that served only to remind me of a superior sketch from the Dana Carvey Show, and (possibly) the first appearance of Hader's 'old reporter' character. You know, I talk a lot of crap about the Stephan character, but that's mostly because Hader can't get through a sketch without laughing. At least his incredibly varied list of activities keep that one from being the exact same sketch every week, the way Gilly, Target Lady, Old Reporter, Vinnie Vedici and so forth are.

Anyhoo, let's go to the totals!

Homophobia: 0

Rape: 1

This season's trend of being the kinder, gentler SNL has gone on nearly uncontested. We're now halfway through the year without a single visit from the Scared Straight sketch - and there's even a new black guy in the cast, so the producers could theoretically mix it up a little for Kenan if they were so inclined. They've restrained themselves from doing so, and I thank them for it.