One of the things about Blogcritics is that it walks a fine line between the professional and personal. I fell asleep before the Hugh Laurie/Beck episode of Saturday Night Live started and missed the cold opening and monologue. Since I don't own a TiVo, I realize I should have plopped a tape into my VCR and set the timer beforehand. Apparently, I missed a Borat cameo.

Then again, I'm not that worried. While this episode of Saturday Night Live wasn't as bad as it could have been, this season is officially going to be uneven in my eyes. SNL is settling into a formula I just can't latch onto. When a guest like Hugh Laurie can't be exploited to the best of his potential, it's going to be a long season. At least Alec Baldwin's back on "Monday, November 11," according to Don Pardo. Pardo flubs are funny.

To Saturday Night Live's credit, Laurie at least got some of his own material on the air, which is good as the SNL writing staff acknowledged his comedy background.

It was nice to see Laurie do an anti-protest song/Bob Dylan riff on SNL and the writers didn't go for any obvious House parodies this week. There were the obligatory "Laurie is British" sketches, but Google Blog Search entries about Laurie's monologue indicate him "taking the piss" (as "they say" in "Britain") out of that conceit nicely.

At the same time, did the Most Haunted parody have to partially hinge around ghost hunters mistaking Laurie's flatus for paranormal activity? Part of the sketch felt lifted from a Homestar Runner routine — specifically, the Strong Bad Email where a tree rubbing against a window is mistaken for The Cheat saying "Douglas." What's next, Fhqwhgads? Jon Lovitz playing Master Thespian playing Strong Bad?

Come to think of it, Strong Bad Thespian would be great. Come on, SNL, don't disappoint me!

Speaking of vaguely Internet-related phenomena, the first TV Funhouse of the season hinged on over-the-top Republican attack ads -- Hillary Rodham Clinton bursts out of someone's chest and terrorists make cameo appearances, because Democrats are evil! Smigel's latest cartoon looked more cleaned-up than usual, like TV Funhouse has embraced Flash animation for the first time ever. Pity that this week's TV Funhouse was on par with an average edition of "Fun With RealAudio" (i.e., it wasn't funny).

Point of interest: Al Franken helped write TV Funhouse this week. SNL is trotting out its past heavily this year. I'm fully expecting Buck Henry to host again at this rate. Come on, SNL, don't disappoint me! You've got that first-season DVD to promote, after all!