Most of the sketches on SNL this week were nothing to write home about, but at least the quality was more consistent than with the previous three shows. The awful one-note premises (Maya Rudolph -- who is related to Minnie Riperton, dontcha know -- drawing out the "Star-Spangled Banner" during a World Series game, a sketch revolving around the interjection "oooh!") were saved by being drawn-out enough that they actually became funny.

There were no obvious bad sketches, but the Meyers/Pell/Steele-led writing staff tends to throw premises out there to see if they stick. There's less of a reliance on recurring characters, which is refreshing, but sometimes I wonder if what I see on screen is the best SNL can do. This season reminds me of the 1985-86 version of SNL in that the cast is capable enough of being funny, and the writing can often be good, but most of the sketches are of negligible "You Bet Your Finger"/"Mr. Monopoly" quality.

Hardball saw Darrell Hammond fumble throughout his routine. As much as he's been an integral part of Saturday Night Live since 1995, he doesn't seem to have his heart in the show anymore. I can't see Hammond lasting a thirteenth season if he's just going to mail it in at this point. He really should move on.

Hugh Laurie is a good host, but SNL should be capable of more than what it's currently offering. I'm not looking at this through the "SNL hasn't been good since Belushi/Farley/whatever cast I'm a fan of left" lenses, either — Robert Smigel still comes out with great premises like Ladysmith Black Mambazo in Outer Space through his TV Funhouse segments, even though TV Funhouse's ratio of good cartoons to bad has been narrowing as of late. Even the 1985-86 version of SNL had a good John Lithgow episode under its belt at this point in time. Maybe Alec Baldwin will bring the goods in two weeks. He usually does, as he is this generation's Buck Henry.

Beck's two songs were surprisingly entertaining, and I am not a Beck fan. The scale-model replicas of the current SNL set, Beck, and his band were the most creative things I've seen from a musical guest in a long time. It's hard to touch Booji Boy or Lee Ving publicly "loving" his fans while performing "Beef Bologna" and "Let's Have a War," but that was by far Beck's best SNL performance. Pity that Christina Aguilera returns in two weeks to ruin the fun for everyone. Maybe she'll perform "New York's Alright If You Like Saxophones," but I doubt it.