SNL Scorecard: Owen Wilson / Kacey Musgraves

Saturday Night Live made its welcome return this weekend, after one of the most bizarre, unusual (and all things considered, surprisingly good) seasons in its 46-year history. The differences in circumstance surrounding last season's premiere and this year's were stark, which is something head writer Colin Jost discussed at the top of the Weekend Update segment. Season 46 began in the absolute depths of the pandemic (pre-vaccine times), and debuted to an audience of only masked, socially-distanced first responders. It also kicked off in the heat of an extremely momentous and contentious election, and oh yeah, the very day the sitting president was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Last night felt much more like the SNL we were used to. Host Owen Wilson kicked off proceedings to a masked, yes, but full studio audience, and as Jost referenced, the pressing political issue du jour was an infrastructure bill put forth by President Biden, not the contentious election fodder and personal well-being of President Trump. And, other than the arrival of a few new featured players and the sad absence of Beck Bennett, whose departure I grieved earlier in the week, it was filled with familiar faces as well.

As for the quality of the show itself? Well, it stayed consistent with what was the case for many of last season's episodes, particularly in the latter half: good, if not particularly memorable. Wilson, for as affable and easygoing as he is, seemed surprisingly uncomfortable on camera (a fact that makes the exclusion of this Cut for Time sketch baffling-- it would have been not only the host's best performance but perhaps the best skit of the whole show). What's more, in another complete difference from last year's premiere, the new featured players-- one in particular --all made noteworthy appearances throughout the night, and there was strangely a complete lack of veterans Kate McKinnon and Kyle Mooney, and a near-complete lack of some other personal faves, Chris Redd, Chloe Fineman and Bowen Yang. All that being said, the new arrivals both on the cast and on the writing staff acquitted themselves well, and while the memorable bits may have been few and far between, there were no clunkers, and thus I am delighted to say we get to kick off the first SNL Scorecard of the season with only "Good" sketches!

Here's the sketch-by-sketch breakdown of the 1st episode of the season:

Sketch of the Night

“Women's Talk Show”: 7.5/10

The chaotic pace of this one made for great humor; it was just quick hit after quick hit. Owen Wilson's repeated appearances as the doctor were funny and included some of the funniest lines of the sketch, but I almost would have rather just seen the four women devolve into increasing absurdity. A bit of an abrupt ending, but this one was fun from start to finish.

The Good

“Weekend Update": 8/10

It's hard to believe, but Colin Jost and Michael Che will end this season as the two most tenured Weekend Update co-hosts in SNL history. I'm not sure either one of them individually will be remembered as an institution the way Norm Macdonald, Seth Meyers even Tina Fey are, but they make a good team, and have steadily become more consistent. That consistency showed in this episode, as the two came strong out of the gates with good punchlines and even better banter. But the best bits of this great Update piece were independent of those two; Pete Davidson has his best Update visit in some time, and Ego Nwodim was equal parts hilarious and incisive as the "Black Woman Who's Been Missing For Years." Finally, there was a meaningful touch in closing the segment with a farewell to the late, great Macdonald.

“School Board Meeting”: 7.5/10

This was such a great— and sadly accurate —snapshot of these kinds of meetings that are taking place in school counties across America. The various appearances by host and cast alike tended to be a little boom or bust, but Aidy Bryant’s brief appearance as “Jan Kraaaang!” was probably the hardest I laughed all night.

“Mail-In Testing Service": 7/10

This was a great 10-to-1 sketch. It wouldn't have worked at any other point in the show-- and thus likely won't pop up in any year-end lists or anything --but its ridiculousness and energy were delightful at 12:55 AM. Plus, very cool to see a sketch made up entirely of featured players! Newbie Sarah Sherman shone here, with a nice cameo from fellow newbie Aristotle Athari and a solid performance from second-year Andrew Dismukes.

"Cars 4": 6.5/10

This was the same concept as the great Madden sketch with JJ Watt. I really love the idea behind this kind of sketch, and the jokes were funny here, but ironically enough, Wilson stumbled over his lines and timing in a way Watt didn’t, and it prevented a good sketch from being truly great, in my opinion.

“NFL on Fox": 6.5/10

It's not often you see sports broadcasts parodied on SNL! This was among their more accurate ones they've done, though; newbie James Austin Johnson does an inch-perfect Joe Buck, and I never realized until now how much Owen Wilson naturally sounds like Troy Aikman (though I am a little confused why they didn't even bother making either of them look like the commentator pair). Of course, the premise of this sketch has nothing to do with the action on the field itself, but rather a quirky new show that they have to begrudgingly, repeatedly plug. It was an enjoyable sketch, but ran dry a little quickly once it became clear what the joke was.

“Monologue": 6.5/10

Owen Wilson is one of those effortlessly likable people, so it's no surprise that he had a laid-back, heartwarming monologue in his first appearance ever on the show. In what you'll notice is becoming a bit of a recurring theme, I was surprised by how uncomfortable he appeared to be on stage, and I found it a little bizarre that no mention was made of his recent appearance in Loki nor his upcoming appearance in The French Dispatch, but those facts did little to deter a fun intro to the show.

“Billionaire Star Trek": 6/10

I didn't realize how much I needed Owen Wilson impersonating Jeff Bezos until I saw it. That and Alex Moffatt's terrific Richard Branson were the highlights of this sketch, which was a nice if not particularly convincing send-up of the frustrating billionaire space race.

“Biden Unites Democrats Cold Open”: 6/10

Wow, it was a boooold choice to open the season with one of the new featured players. I know you've never been on TV before, but you're going to go out there and kick off Season 47 of the most famous show on television....good luck, kid! In truth, James Austin Johnson’s Biden wasn’t great— which is surprising, because he has a spot-on Trump —but man it was so refreshing to see a cast member play the President after years of spotty celebrity impressions of political figures. All in all, this won’t be one of the remembered sketches of the year, but the writing was notably sharper than much of the political content last year. And boy did I enjoy Cecily’s Kirsten Sinema immensely.

"Funeral Song”: 5.5/10

Nothing epitomized Wilson's lack of camera-readiness more than this sketch, where he visibly missed his cue to start the sketch and the camera caught him looking offstage, saying "We ready?," which led to multiple cast members obviously trying not to break from the outset. Anyways, the joke here about the deceased woman constantly surrounding herself with problematic figures was a funny one, but between the muffed beginning and a sloppy ending, it was a little too messy all in all to truly land.

Musical Performances

Kacey Musgraves: 6/10

I'm not a big Country guy, but I'm a big Kacey Musgraves fan. I think she's a tremendous talent; her Album-of-the-Year-winning Golden Hour was MY album of the year back in 2018, too, and her recent release star-crossed will make a serious run at top honors in 2021 as well. There also was a special significance seeing her back on SNL; her last appearance three years ago was my first exposure to her, and her performance of "Slow Burn" from that set was the moment that made me a fan.

Unfortunately, while not bad in the least, this was not Kacey's strongest outing. I have no complaints about either song choice; lead single "justified" was an obvious selection, and though it's not quite as impactful as some other tracks off star-crossed, it's a good tune. The studio stage can be very unforgiving to live musicians, but the mixing sounded good on the first track, and she eventually hit her stride vocally. (I also genuinely had no idea she was naked until I saw this article, so kudos! Artfully done!) Her second song, "camera roll," is actually probably my favorite off the album, but-- and perhaps this could be related to how emotional of a song it is --her voice was pretty wavery throughout and unlike in the first performance, never really hit home. Whatever; stream star-crossed anyways.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.64 ('Comedy Only' score: 6.70)