海角大神

鈥�Saturday Night Live鈥� recently commemorated its fortieth anniversary with a special episode on NBC that drew huge ratings and many guest stars.

According to , the episode鈥檚 ratings were the highest for NBC in total viewers for a primetime entertainment program since a 2004 episode of the show 鈥淓R鈥� that aired the same evening as the "Frasier" finale (that leaves out shows airing after the Super Bowl). We couldn鈥檛 possibly list all the guest stars that showed up, but they included famous 鈥淪NL鈥� alumni such as Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Eddie Murphy as well as famous hosts like Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin and musical guests that included Paul McCartney, Kanye West, Miley Cyrus, and Paul Simon.聽

So was the anniversary special, which was moved to Sunday, Feb. 15 from the show鈥檚 customary Saturday airing, a satisfying celebration of the comedy show鈥檚 storied history?

Most critics seemed to agree that the program included many funny sketches but that the three-and-a-half-hour run time was a little long ,and that the appearance of Eddie Murphy on the special wasn鈥檛 all it could have been.聽(The star was the subject of a tribute by Chris Rock and then spoke very briefly, with his comments including, 鈥淚 will always love this show.鈥�)

critic Alessandra Stanley wrote that the special 鈥渨orked and was well deserved.鈥�

鈥淪ome of the live sketches were too lame and too long; it didn鈥檛 help that they were placed next to montages of clips from some of the show鈥檚 most memorable moments from decades past,鈥� Stanley wrote. 鈥淵et the special was still a high-spirited, generous tribute, self-mocking (there were several jokes about the show鈥檚 lack of diversity and overly drawn-out live skits), as well as self-congratulatory. Some of it was awkward. After a huge, minutes-long buildup by Chris Rock, Mr. Murphy didn鈥檛 try to amuse... [Chevy] Chase also seemed startled to be there.鈥�

Meanwhile, writer Meredith Blake noted that the show was 鈥渁s long鈥� as an Academy Awards broadcast."聽

鈥淔or better or worse, [it] left virtually no favorites untouched,鈥� Blake wrote. 鈥淥ther heavily anticipated moments left the audience wondering, 鈥業s that it?鈥欌�� [Eddie] Murphy made a few boilerplate remarks鈥� In what at times felt like a strained effort to prove the show鈥檚 continued relevance, there were musical sets聽by contemporary superstars Kanye West鈥� and Miley Cyrus.鈥�

And Frazier Moore called Murphy鈥檚 appearance 鈥渢he night's big hitch,鈥� noting that 鈥淢urphy said little more than thanks," but he found the rest of the show聽鈥渓ong, very long, but [a] mostly satisfying retrospective of TV's great comedy institution.鈥�

However, critic Hank Stuever called the show "adequate."

"[There were]聽a couple of worthy high points, including the sight of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Jane Curtin sharing the Weekend Update desk," he wrote. "But there were too few surprises...聽As it dragged toward its end at 11:30, it was hard to make a case for all the effort. Viewers might have been better served 鈥� and more entertained 鈥� by a well-considered, deeply curated and chronologically presented 3 1/2-hour clip show."