LAWRENCE, Kansas – Back for its 33rd year, Saturday Night Live kicked off the new season with host Lebron James and musical guest Kanye West, marking the second time the season premiere featured both an African American host and musical guest. Oddly enough, the previous time featured Michael Jordan as host and Public Enemy as musical guest in 1991.

Many would argue that ’91 was during SNL‘s glory days, with one of its most popular and successful casts and a top-notch writing staff. However, on the heels of some unfortunate off-beat summer films starring current cast members - Hot Rod with Andy Samberg and Bill Hader and The Brothers Solomon written and starring Will Forte with Kristen Wiig and a Hader cameo, the current cast still has a lot to prove.

This year’s premiere already raises questions that the “SNL” writing staff is still in a funk. They took advantage of obvious opportunities to get Darrell Hammond to reprise his role as Bill Clinton during the cold open and to take a mild jab at Michael Vick in a dog food commercial parody. But, aside from Kansas residents appreciating references that cast member Jason Sudeikis, a native of Overland Park, Kan., made to his high school (Shawnee Mission West) and home state during a sketch about the NBA’s Read to Achieve program, there were few memorable moments in the show. Even the return of “The Ambiguously Gay Duo” with mentions of the Larry Craig scandal, which seemed like a slam dunk, got nothing but air.

Also falling flat was the show’s technical crew, which recently won the Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork and Video for a Series. Perhaps the sound crew didn’t get enough love. Moments into the show’s opening montage, something was clearly missing: Don Pardo‘s voice. Eventually, the microphone for Pardo, 88, kicked in about halfway into the open, although his voice was barely audible seconds earlier. It seems like such an obvious thing to check before the show, and it didn’t bode well for the rest of the night.

Director Don Roy King began his second season with the program, showing no signs of improving his shot-calling prowess over the summer. Kanye West’s two performances were horribly undercut, and King’s refusal to place a camera on the stage or implement more camera movements leave the songs feeling stale. Meanwhile, one group on the crew outshone everyone during the music, literally. The lighting crew deserves a pat on the back for trying out some different and very effective setups for West’s two medleys. It’s that kind of creativity that seems to be lacking practically everywhere else in the show, except for the SNL Digital Shorts.

Andy Samberg, who along with Justin Timberlake received an Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for last year’s popular “Dick in a Box” song, returned with a music video for an original song about Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, played by Fred Armisen. The short featured Maroon 5′s Adam Levine providing backup vocals as well as a brief cameo by Jake Gyllenhaal, but that was all that stood out in an otherwise bland season opener. Even the cleverest sketch of the night, with Lebron James’ guidance counselor talking him out of going to college, was marred by errant switching.

On the surface, it looks like season 33 will again provide more disappointment than laughs. I can only hope they prove me wrong.

Filed under: Music/Variety, Opinion/Editorial