SNL season debut ratings crash - down more than 50%

I've been watching SNL since the very beginning (yes, I am old).  I'm a giant fan of the show, even when it's in a down time.  Like now.

Last season was about as unfunny and unwatchable as was possible, yet the season debut over the weekend proved there are still lower depths to be reached.  Beyond the show being unfunny - like aggressively so - it doesn't seem even remotely aimed at the middle class, the economic strata from which former, funnier, casts were derived from. 

The cast is stacked with people who'd I describe as professional actors - they can remember their lines and hit their marks, but none of them have charisma or would in any way be thought of as funny on their own.  Oh, a few have comedic chops, but b/c they've allowed themselves to become mouthpieces for democrats and not much else, comedy is pretty much off the table, even for the (few) funny people left on the cast.

And if you doubt the mouth piece aspect, one only need watch the debut - despite a mountain of anti-Trump "jokes" for 4 years, there wasn't a single reference to Joe Biden's epic fail in Afghanistan.  Or a single joke about the border.  Or the highest rate of inflation in 40 years.  Or the cost of gasoline.  Or China buzz-bombing Taiwan.  Or any of the other policy failures of Joe Biden. 

I mean, if there was ever a guy that could easily be poked fun of, it's the pathetic form of the Prez.

Instead, the cold open had the only new actor in the cast playing Biden as though he were some sort of mastermind, trying to get rouge democrats to sign on to the most aggressively stupid budget proposal in this country's history.  Not only was it ridiculously out of touch with reality, it wasn't funny.  At all.  The audience simply did not laugh at all in long sections of the long open.  It got worse from there.

During the weekend update, they actually showed a pic of Joe Biden getting his 3rd covid shot, "At the White House."  This despite dozens of news stories clearly showing Biden getting his shot - whatever it actually was - on a set.  It was a bizarre bit of weirdness - the mention of the White House didn't help a joke or set one up.  It had nothing to do with anything before or after the mention.  It felt like the writers got a memo saying they better mention Joe getting a shot at the White House.   Well, they did.  No joke included of course, but hey - they mentioned it.  The "fuck Joe Biden" chants in stadiums across the nation are just begging for a joke... but they'll have to be told on other shows I guess.

Apparently burying Biden's bad news while scolding the middle class for not wanting a shot or liking Trump all while being completely devoid of humor isn't a recipe for huge ratings.  Who knew?