SNL: ZZZZzzzz

Ugh. Watching SNL last night I couldn't help but think to myself; remember when SNL was somewhat tolerable? Yeah, tolerable. I am nowhere near old enough to remember when SNL was excellent or even good - I am part of a generation that knows SNL as the show that sometimes has special cameos during Weekend Update, when Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon basically salvaged whatever there was to salvage of the show. Now that they are gone and Tina is no longer a writer, watching the show has become increasingly uncomfortable and much like a televised awards show: Actors read their lines uncomfortably while making the lamest small chat and jokes (which they know are terrible making the delivery 10x worse) and the audience tunes in for the first 1/2 hour, 45 minutes if they are really into masochism, and then groan and switch channels or as the case may be - go to bed. Besides the unstoppable downhill roll SNL has found itself in for some years now, last night was a particularly poor showing for the following reasons:

1 - Am I the ONLY person who finds January Jones' total lack of acting ability troubling given the attention she's received for Mad Men? Also - did that show's season not just end? Why in the world was she hosting? - snooze. The whole Deer in the Headlights look was understandale for the first 30 seconds of her monologue but after that it just got sad. Then it got irritating. Then I turned off my T.V.
2 - I heart Grace Kelly; If you are going to do a sketch about her at least try and make it intelligent funny - not 12 year old boy funny *fart*
3 - Just because she's famous and on a psuedopopular television show does not mean she should be hosting SNL. If ya ain't got the chops you shouldn't have the job.

In all fairness - Ms. Jones did have a tough act to follow - last week's SNL was surprisingly entertaining even if I didn't collapse in giggles, I did smirk often and Taylor was fabulous. Perhaps the weeks should have been reversed?
The sad thing is that it just does not seem to be getting better - ever. The only entertaining and in fact memorable bits of SNL from the past couple of years have been the Digital Shorts - and those aren't even live. I still go back and watching my favourites - like Lazy Sunday or Jonah Hill Dates Andy's Dad (which I watched last night on youtube only to find it removed from the site this morning!) - priceless ... but not enough to save this show I'm afraid. What they DO need is some original and funny recurring characters that younger viewers can get behind. Other than that, I'm at a loss.