I know it's a bit late in blogland to be opining on SNL, but since I have unofficially adopted the "media-meets-comedy" beat I will anyway. Also, the blog needs a splash of color today and I have all these pretty pictures. So forget about Judy Miller for a second and enjoy.

I confess to being very excited about SNL -- I was psyched to see who their new Weekend Update anchor was (Tina Fey is on maternity leave -- congrats Tina and family!), and I was superpsyched to see how they tackled the mother of a news summer we've had (never mind that now it's in HDTV -- will that change who hosts it, I wonder?). Despite the missed opportunities, protracted unfunny sketches and beat-the-horse recurring characters that have become all too common, when SNL gets it right, it's great.

But getting it right must begin with literally getting it right, and I was distracted by what I perceived to be three big, glaring factual errors in Saturday's SNL. The first was in the opening sketch with Will Forte's Presidential press conference whereby SNL played catch-up on the news (notable for all manner of media refs: Chris Parnell as Wolf Blitzer; a reporter named "Terry" which has to be Terry Moran; Darrell Hammond as Arianna fave Tim Russert ). This may seem nitpicky, but I don't think so: Bush's massive summer vacation was 5 weeks, not 6, and that fact was well-known and oft-cited. Smart comedy must account for smart viewers, plus people like me.

After Steve Carrell's showstopping opening number, which has tangential media relevance for his Daily Show roots, they launched into a Jet Blue 292 sketch about passengers watching their certain demise on the seatback monitors (media figure: Darrell Hammond as Aaron Brown -- identical to Tim Russert. Funny.) Okay so real sticklers know it was MSNBC on the TVs; I'm prepared to let that pass. What I can't forgive is the fact that SNL riffed on the fact that JetBlue 292 dumped fuel -- except JetBlue 292 did NOT dump fuel! In fact, the non-dumpage of the Airbus was a big element of the story! Am I a huge geek or is that a glaring error? Frankly, I think both.

But this was the worst, because it represented both a missed opportunity and a factual inaccuracy: the Anderson Cooper Katrina sketch, which they chose to use as a platform for out-of-place celebrity impersonations (except for the only-time-ever-relevant Horatio Sanz impression of Aaron Neville). It's like they missed the whole Anderson Cooper-as-emotional-lightning-rod story. I mean, it wasn't just me; $1 million book deal, people. Although Seth Myers' physical likeness was striking, the fact that his Anderson was a stonefaced and distant observer was a huge disconnect with what any viewer knew to be true. Where were the tears? The hoarse accusations hurled at impotent politicians? It's literally like they missed the Katrina coverage. I was mystified.

The one high point, however, was when Geraldo Rivera came bursting in (a nudge at that point would have been nice but beggars can't be choosers) -- Darrell Hammond went three for three and his impersonation was spot on, if not enough to save this dismal sketch.

The saddest moment of the night came, however, with Weekend Update: of all the people they could have chosen -- Hammond, Parnell, the Michael Vartanesque Myers, even Rachel Dratch, they chose HORATIO SANZ. I actually moaned out loud, "Oh no! Not Horatio!" Despite morphing into a utility player over the years, he is not suited to the position with his one-note, vaguely childlike delivery and utter lack of gravitas, fake or otherwise. Tina, Lorne -- WHAT were you thinking.

Okay that's it for the criticism, now on to what I thought was wonderful and inspired: