SNL, now mildly humerous for 60minutes

During our historic presidential campaign, I started watching Saturday Night Live again. SNL was always one of my favorite shows growing up. Although I did not get every joke as a youngster, I have fond memories of my friends coming over for sleepovers and staying up late to watch SNL. As I grew up and the cast changed, I found it less and less funny. In the late summer and early fall, however, SNL got back to what it does the best; political satire. Tina Fey's epic portrayal of Palin, as well as others were in their strides. It brought back viewers and gave NBC a temporary respit from it's meteoric fall from grace over the last many years.

As I would frequently miss said show during the campaign, my DVR is still programmed to record every SNL. I have been checking out the most recent shows and frankly I don't get it. The actors seem only semi-competent, but the acting has never been the glue that holds the magic of these skits. It's the writing. The writers just don't seem to know how to get to a rakaus level of humor. They comment on a specific incident that is mildly funny, but then ram it into the ground by not moving on and instead going to the well on the same joke, over and over and over.

As has always been the case, the first skits are the funniest. I have reasoned that after "weekend update" (now without Amy Poehler's good-natured, light-heartedness, not nearly as funny) there is really no reason to watch. The scenes are ill-conceived, unfunny, and downright pathetic, and it even shows with the live audience reaction. 

Please SNL, shorten the show to an hour, stick to political humor, and for God sake's get better writers.