That's the Show

All in all, it wasn't terrible.  It was alright but the writing was weak as usual.

The opening sketch featured decent writing.  But I was very happy with Jay Pharoah's impression of President Barack Obama.  He had the voice down and he had plenty of energy.  We got to see Jason sudeikis' good impression of Mitt Romney as well as the debut of Taran Killam's Paul Ryan impression.  All the performances were good and the writing wasn't terrible.  I'm very happy to see Jay Pharoah get to open the show and I'm looking forward to seeing him do more this year.

Seth MacFarlane did a good job with his monologue.  I figured that he would do a musical number at the start of the show.  He dis good voice work.  And I like how he was able to go from one voice to the next at the blink of an eye.  MacFarlane is a good singer and he started off the show on the right foot.

The return of Fred Armisen's surly talk show producer character was unfunny and I didn't like the fact that the writers used cheap sexual and dirty humor to get laughs from the audience.  The sketch follows the same format every time and I'm very tired of this character..  Fred Armisen needs to do something new this season.  Otherwise, he's going to be in the same rut he was in for the past couple seasons.

The sketch about the Internet dancer celebrity "Psy" was alright and I liked the performances.  But I probably would have liked it more if I've seen this guy's Internet videos.  I figured that he was the surprise appearance at the end of the sketch; but I wish I had seen his video before the show.  Nevertheless, all the performances were good and Bobby Moynihan is actually an alright dancer.

I had a feeling that SNL would make fun of Clint Eastwood's RNC appearance.  Bill Hader once again did a great job with his impression and he made me laugh quite a bit.

And speaking of Bill Hader, I very much liked the puppetry class sketch.  Hader stole the spotlight with his war vet character and his delivery and acting made me laugh throughout the sketch.  The writing was good and the performances from everyone else were pretty good as well.  This sketch would go to be the best of the night.

Tonight's installment of "Weekend Update" wasn't terrible; but most of
Seth Meyers' jokes weren't anything special.  He may have had either one or two good jokes.  Other than that, his jokes weren't very hilarious. 

I liked seeing Vanessa Bayer get to play a main character on the weekly fake news segment.  Her portrayal of Honey Boo Boo was fine; though she did go slightly over the top towards the end.  Bobby Moynihan was alright as Honey Boo Boo's mother; but he wasn't  given a lot of funny material.  Both performers had good chemistry; though the writing wasn't great.

Seth MacFarlane's portrayal of Ryan Lochte was alright; though the weak writing hurt the bit.  Nevertheless, MacFarlane gave a good performance and I liked seeing him on 'Weekend Update."

Cecily Strong wasn't given great material for her first appearance on "Weekend Update."  Though she did give a good performance.  Hopefully she gets better material in the future.

The army general sketch was very predictable and the ending just appeared rushed and tacked on.  Nevertheless, Seth MacFarlane gave a good performance.  The rest of the cast did well and I liked seeing Tim Robinson get some screentime after speaking just one line in Fred Armisen's producer sketch earlier in the show.

The blind date sketch wasn't bad.  Seth MacFarlane and Nasim Pedrad gave good performances and they exhibited good chemistry.  Pedrad does very good voicework and I liked seeing her and MacFarlane engage in rapidfire impressions.  The sketch got slightly silly as it went on but the performances of everyone were good. 

The quick sketch at the end with MacFarlane and Tim Robinson as the Amishmen was very quick and mainly consisted of an obvious joke.  Nevertheless, their performances were good and I liked seeing Tim Robinson get some screentime alone with MacFarlane.  I look forward to seeing more from him.

As I look back on my review, I realize that this episode wasn't at all awful.  Seth MacFarlane did a good job as the show's host and he worked very well with the cast.  The best sketches of the night were the puppetry class skit and the blind date piece. Once again, I am very impressed with Jay Pharaoh's impression of President Barack Obama and I look forward to seeing him act alongside Jason Sudeikis for the inevitable parodies of the upcoming debates.  There were many great performances throughout the night and I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the season play out.  I just hope the writing improves in time for the election.  I also hope that SNL gets some better musical guests; as Frank Ocean proved to be a rather forgettable performers.

And that concludes my coverage of tonight's season premier of "Saturday Night Live."  I look forward to live-blogging next week's episode; which will be hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and will feature Mumford and Sons as the musical guest.

Thank you all for following me and stay tuned for more Nater-Tainment!  Good night everybody!