Given the absolute obsession I have had with Saturday Night Live, it's rare that I would ever dare to question any aspect of it. However, the increasingly long "Weekend Update" segments and repeated inclusion of the "What's Up With That?" sketch in recent seasons have not only given me a headache, but are making me question my faith in the whole program. Sure, they have had about one great sketch per episode, but a continuously funny, entertaining hour-and-a-half? Not so much.
This fall, optimism for the series set in as SNL kicked off its 37th season right by welcoming back Alec Baldwin to host for his 16th time. Baldwin's memorable performances throughout the years certainly warranted his return, and his monologue featured guest appearances by Seth Rogen and another SNL-host extraordinaire, Steve Martin.
Despite Baldwin's promising return, the episodes thus far have continued the mediocrity of recent seasons and have fallen somewhat flat. Maybe I just miss the extreme quirkiness of the Will Ferrell era, as his humor is only occasionally matched by Kristen Wiig's insanity. Wiig seems to be falling into a routine pattern of portraying the same character with merely different facial expressions. That being said, her parody advertisement for a perfume called "Red Flag" was a hit this season. The skit set Wiig up to be a seductive temptress but lo and behold, she was actually a psychopath, as the voice-over said: "She's exquisite but she also lived in Vegas for 11 years RED FLAG."
Wiig may be good, but I long for the nonsensical awesomeness that was "Dog Show," a sketch that made virtually no sense but featured Ferrell and Molly Shannon as married dog-trainers with their dogs Mr. Rocky Balboa and Mr. Bojangles. I should note that Mr. Bojangles was actually a girl.
One of the best sketches of the new season so far would probably be the "Top Gun Anniversary DVD Screen Tests." The impressions of various actors who didn't make the final film are downright hilarious, from Nasim Pedrad as Paula Abdul to Andy Samberg as Crispin Glover. These sketches hit on the absurd in a creative way and don't leave a feeling of cheap humor like some of the others skits do. And of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't praise "The Lawrence Welk Show," the sketch that features Wiig with Barbie arms and a huge forehead, for continuing to be completely awesome. This time around though, Melissa McCarthy was Wiig's equally dim-witted sister and their paired recounting of ludicrous, inappropriate adventures made for some hilarious moments.
Overall, it seems SNL needs to get a little crazier and a little quirkier. The writers could take a page out of SNL alum Tina Fey's book, whose hit series "30 Rock" jam-packs every episode with craziness. The characters are outrageous each and every moment, and Baldwin and Fey's quippy conversations are the show's bread and butter. In one of the final episodes of season five, "Everything Sunny All The Time Always," Fey's character Liz Lemon decides she will clean her apartment and instead gets into a war with the plastic bag that is stuck in the tree outside her window. The scene in which Lemon bursts into a spontaneous song about nothing is so seamlessly laced with hilarity it makes you wonder why it doesn't come as easily to lesser comedy shows. Of course, the show also makes you wonder why Tracy Morgan can't be on every show on television. Imagine: Tracy Morgan on "House," Tracy Morgan on "America's Next Top Model" and Tracy Morgan on "True Blood." Okay, maybe not "True Blood."
How about we all just be really, really funny? Okay SNL? Okay TV?
