Margot Robbie hosts the season premiere tonight, with musical guest The Weeknd.

Most notable changes are:

-Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah are gone. Pharoah had so much potential that was squandered. And his Obama was non-existent last year, in favour of the Trump/Clinton craziness. Killam will be missed though.

-Three new cast members join as featured players. One of the newbies was on Maya and Marty. Strike one.

-Alec Baldwin takes over as Donald Trump, replacing Darrell Hammond, who unceremoniously replaced Taran Killam last year when Donald Trump hosted. I was actually very disappointed in replacing Killam, who I thought did a great Trump. I'm mixed on Baldwin. It seems like a grab for ratings and viral videos to have a bigger name portray Trump. As long as they stick with Kate McKinnon as Clinton and not go for Amy Poehler.

Although now that I think of it, perhaps Hammond will keep playing Bill, which would be more logical.

Thanks for the reminder! I'm going to turn the expectation knob way down low.

For me an ideal SNL would be run like the WWE. In wrestling they gauge the audience's reaction to performers and push the ones who are stars and diminish the roles of the ones who aren't connecting. Cody Rhodes in an interview recently called it a "competition among artists" SNL seems to be a lot less fluid pushing stars and dropping busts, and the skits don't feel like a competition to be the biggest star even if they are probably as competitive backstage. Mind you wrestling audiences are also a better fit for this format since they are way more brutal turning on something they don't like, while SNL's is a human laugh track

The season 42 premiere was the most consistently funny episode in the last five years. Solid writing throughout except for the Scooby Doo parody which fell flat. Bodes well.

The cold open and women in film skits were my favorite. Kate killed it again!

Now that she's on an NBC show can Kristen Bell please host SNL sometime?

Oct. 8
Host: Lin-Manuel Miranda / Musical Guest: Twenty One Pilots

Oct. 15
Host: Emily Blunt / Musical Guest: Bruno Mars

Oct. 22
Host: Tom Hanks / Musical Guest: Lady Gaga

Cannot wait for Tom Hanks to host for his 9th time. First time in a decade too.

OMG Emily Blunt.

Lin-Manuel Miranda?

When I saw on the previous episode that's who was hosting the second episode of the season I had no fucking clue who it was. And I still don't.

Come out of your cave people! Hamilton has been getting saturation media attention all year long.

LOL, what?!

Have y'all actually been living under a rock?

Seriously. I actually think he's OVEREXPOSED at this point he's been so prominent in the past year and a half. And I liked "Hamilton."

I don't follow anything of that sort mainly because I don't live close enough to experience it, and I still know tons about Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Even if you don't follow Broadway or aren't in New York he's been inescapable between the fact that the Obamas are obsessed with him to his Disney deal to his press appearances. Plus he has every celebrity in Hollywood clamoring for tickets to his show (especially when he was still in it) and taking requisite selfies for social media.

Miranda was charming, but the writing was back down to average. Not one skit stood out.

The monologue and the Stranger Things skit stood out.

The "Crucible Cast Party" and "KellyAnne's Day Off" bits were great.

I saw a LOT of reaction about the Crucible Cast party on my twitter feed. But I was never in drama or any HS clubs... so I was just ok on it. My wife enjoyed it.

I found the Crucible Cast Party skit stupid. But again, I wasn't in drama or anything either so maybe I just didn't get it.

And I've heard of Hamilton. I don't know what it is exactly (well, I do now because of this thread but before couldn't have told you if it were a play or a TV show on cable ) and didn't know who the star of it was.

Last night's SNL was the victim of having four new shows in a row. And it was only the third show. Hopefully they're saving some strong material for Tom Hanks.

I do commend them for showcasing the three new cast members so much. They seem to be in about every sketch.

I love the Melania Moments though. Very reminiscent of Jack Handey from the 90s.

I liked 'The Sink'.

The opening spoof of the debate was fun. But the rest of the show was awful. I felt so embarrassed for Emily Blunt during many of the sketches.

Emily Blunt kind of has that angle where she can blend into a sketch because there's nothing to really do with her except let her act. It's a double edged sword. She's such a good actress but what do you do with her besides just let her act? Margot Robbie played a bunch of sketches where she's the beauty, while Lin-Manuel did a bunch of singing. It's not a knock against her.

But to make matters worse, yeah, the sketches really sucked. I think so much is being put into the political stuff, especially as it changes day to day, that not enough attention is being put on what works and what doesn't outside of the politics.