Former Saturday Night Live star Maya Rudolph’s tilt at reviving the variety show format received a cautiously favourable reception on Monday night. The debut of NBC’s The Maya Rudolph Show delivered 7.2 million viewers and a 2.2 rating among adults 18-49, a performance that won the 10 p.m. slot and topped the second half of ABC’s premiere of The Bachelorette. Maya Rudolph is the daughter of the late coloratura soprano soul singer Minnie Riperton and writer/producer Richard Rudolph. It is Maya’s name her mother repeats at the end of her biggest hit, Lovin’ You – a showcase for the upper part of a five-and-a-half octave vocal range that extended into the so-called ‘whistle register’. Maya is primarily an actress/comedienne, but possesses an accomplished singing voice of her own, which she exercised to good effect on Monday. Whether the world has left variety shows behind is a debate worth having, though Ms Rudolph seemed keenly aware that she could well be fronting an anachronism when she declared: “There’ll be cool special guests and comedy sketches; outdated jokes that nobody catches,” and later ended a song and dance number while sitting on a crescent moon – thankfully a parody of a cliché best left unrestored. New York magazine’s Margaret Lyons wasn’t bowled over but conceded the show had its strengths. “I hope this isn’t the series’ only outing because I have almost infinite positive regard for Rudolph, and I’d rather see a show like this find itself than watch another second of some hate-soaked but competent sitcom,” Lyons reviewed. “But I kept wondering what the mission of ‘TMRS’ is, what tone it aspires to, how it sees itself, how it’s supposed to feel. … Mostly, though, the show just needs to be more.”
