Molly Shannon/Jonas Brothers

So far this season SNL has been very hit and miss, which is not unexpected given that most of the veteran cast members left. That can be forgiven. I was hopeful that this episode would be a hit when I saw that Molly Shannon was hosting. It wasn't. The cold open was quite funny to me, although I know some people might take offense. However, if SNL hasn't already offended you enough to stop watching, this won't bother you. Unfortunately, the show went straight downhill after the cold open. My wife and I snickered once or twice during the first sketch, but afterward I was thinking, " If that's the best choice to lead off the show, it could be a rough one." It was. The writing throughout was bad. The "please don't destroy" video not nearly as amusing as usual, and Heidi Gardner's bit on the news as "your overworked co-worker" was interminable. There wasn't even a Mary Catherine Gallagher skit to bring back some good old memories. If you haven't watched it already, just watch the cold open, and don't waste your time on the rest. Go back and rewatch Pedro Pascal's episode instead.

Molly Shannon has always been one of my least favorite SNL performers. I rarely find her funny. More disgusting. Her comedy on SNL is not particularly creative or humorous. But for some reason, lots of people enjoy her work. Maybe they identify with her since she's so completely middlebrow. She just seems weird, creepy, and amateur to me.

So, after 20 years or so, I thought maybe she's changed. I mean, after 30 movies, Leonardo DiGiorno finally got better and started to live up to the hype, so maybe she improved, too. You know, got funny.

Nope.

Same old disgusting, unfunny, noncreative, middlebrow Molly Shannon.

This is played out in a fart skit that goes on way, way too long. Yeah, we got the joke in the first 30 seconds. No need to keep repeating it.

Same thing goes for the prepubescent three writing stooges with yet another one of their agonizing videos.

A skit where the dodo-like Heidi Gardner is a playwright who savages her boyfriend for no other reason than she can drags on interminably. (She comes back later to chew the scenery as an overworked woman, mugging like there's no tomorrow.)

Weekend Update was once again low energy. What's happened the past two weeks?

You can always measure just how unfunny an SNL episode is based on how loud they've mic'd the audience - the less funny, the louder the mic. This week, the volume was on 11.

This week's "musical" guest was the Jonass Brothers, the Molly Shannon of pop music.

Oh, look, a long singing skit about medication for menopausal women with the unfunny man character going on way, way too long.

And another with her over-the-hill high-kicking woman again, except isn't she 60 or 70 now?

All in all, except for the open that really got Trump's megalomania right, just an awful episode.