Saturday Night Live Needs Retooling

Last night's installment of Saturday Night Live with Gwyneth Paltrow was so weak it made me think the program needs to be taken off the air and completely retooled.  It was such an obvious plug for Paltrow's latest movie, "Country Strong" and yet so devoid of any comedy that it was sad.

I'd hate to see the program go away forever because it has such great potential, per its past greatness.  But clearly it's being ignored by those who have the power to infuse it with energy.  There's so much fodder in the news these days.  How can a program that relies on current events for its material be so lame?

Last's week's cold open to SNL. (Click here)

Last week's show had an opening that was both hilarious and incredibly insightful.  The  immensely talented Fred Armisen (who usually plays President Obama) addressed New Yorkers as Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the wake of the December 26th blizzard.  It was brilliant.

There has to be a way to mine the what's going on in the world and produce a weekly comedy program that will actually make people laugh.  Jon Stewart does it five nights a week.  Surely, NBC, a major network with deep pockets, can come up with something that can measure up.