Saturday Night Live's 40th Doesn't Dazzle

Saturday Night Live has been a late night TV staple in America for years. However, lately, the jokes have been becoming more and more unfunny, some borderline offensive. SNL also seems to have been in a rut with its hosts for the past 5 years or so. This year, though, seemed to be a new low for the show millions have come to know and love. This year was the shows 40th year on the air, and if you didn’t know any better, you would think its the shows first, and maybe last, year on the air. Saturday, May 16, was the season finale and lets just say this was a less than spectacular season with which I had some problems with.

The first problem with the show this season was its cast. Up-and-coming comedian and all around hilarious individual Pete Davidson was a new addition to the cast but he was the only funny person, in my opinion, this season. We get it, Bobby Moynihan makes an awesome Guy Fieri and Kate McKinnon looks eerily similar to bad boy Canadian pop star Justin Bieber. These jokes have gotten old though. After the departures of Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis, and Bill Hader, it seems the cast members are now doomed to play the hollywood idiots they look somewhat similar to, instead of a few years ago, where it’d be a once a season type deal for any character.

The second problem with this season was the hosts. The season opened with host Chris Pratt. Let ‘s be honest, he was fantastic. But, after him, it was a steep decline in the quality of the hosts. With hosts like James Franco, Kevin Hart, Chris Hemsworth, and Reese Witherspoon, it seems as though SNL went for star power, not laughs.

The third and final problem with season 40 was its jokes. Sure, Saturday Night Live has always gone for shock factor with most of its jokes, but most jokes seemed to be repeatedly utilized this season. The news focuses on ISIS more often than not, and SNL took advantage of that. Every episode had at least three to four ISIS jokes, and after a while, it got quite tiring. Note to Saturday Night Live: find some new material. You can only make terrorism so funny until it just gets plain repetitive.

All in all, SNL Season 40 was not a hit with me. I’m anticipating that season 41 will be better, but, a girl can only dream.