The Maya Rudolph Show

Watched this last night not completely expecting to be wowed but hoping to be somewhat entertained. Was a little for the first 30 minutes which mostly consisted of Ms. Rudolph singing with former "SNL" castmates Fred Armisen, Chris Parnell, and Andy Samberg as well as Sean Hayes, Kristen Bell, and Craig Robinson (liked the tribute to movie theatre snack food trailers). But by the second half-hour lame sketches-the kind I don't think "SNL" would ever have put on-permeated and the seems fell apart. Still, it was a nice try and if NBC orders this for series, maybe Lorne Michaels and his writing staff would try harder for a quality product. So on that note, "The Maya Rudolph Show" was an interesting experiment.

We watched, hoping it would be a lot like The Carol Burnett Show and Maya did a pretty good job. It would have been loads better if they had been brave enough to leave out the crudeness. Many references just felt dingy. The show could be SO much more intelligent and fun if the writers would rise above. We LOVED seeing the guest stars, especially Sean Hayes. He is so bright and entertaining and fun. We hope he is able to be a regular. We also hope it becomes less and less like Saturday Night Live (which seems to be narcissistically taking over NBC and is boring us to tears) and becomes more and more Maya's own thing. The world needs a great variety show and Maya's got what it takes. Hopefully SNL will cut her loose and she'll choose to shine without feeling the need to litter. So far, it's not a show we'd choose to watch more than once.