The 2017-18 'Saturday Night Live' season in review

Alec Baldwin continues to play Donald Trump, while Scarlett Johansson plays Ivanka, Ben Stiller is Michael Cohen, and Fred Armisen plays Michael Wolff. Larry David is still Bernie Sanders, Bill Murray plays Steve Bannon and even Trump’s doctor is played by Martin Short. The result of this stunt casting is that the show can only do certain political sketches when movie stars are available, and the sketches themselves are interrupted by thunderous applause, as the "SNL" audience loses its collective mind every time a celebrity appears. Also, they don’t have time to rehearse, so there’s a lot of obvious cue card reading.

It also limits the breakout potential of the cast. The Trump White House is full of crazy characters, but the actual cast of "SNL" is limited to playing Melania, the Trump sons and whatever old white guy Kate McKinnon is playing that week. Gardner couldn’t play Ivanka? Mikey Day was only allowed to play Steve Bannon under a mask. It’s tough to break out when you’re competing with your castmates, Lorne Michaels’ friends and friggin Robert De Niro for roles. It’s certainly more likely to lead to sketches going viral, but it feels like that’s at the expense of developing the ensemble — which was also the subject of Tina Fey’s monologue on the season finale.

There’s an idea that Trump is gold for comedians, but for a show like "SNL," that’s not necessarily the case. It’s hard to exaggerate and lampoon the White House when in real life the president is calling other countries “s---holes,” his comb-over blows off and he’s facing a legal battle with a porn star. The show ends up often having Baldwin recite actual Trump quotes from a podium while squinting his eyes. That can be funny, but it’s not very different from what Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and 10,000 Twitter comedians are already doing. How do you exaggerate Trump? And how does a weekly show stay timely when ridiculous things happen literally every day?

One result is that the non-political sketches got weirder and weirder. Some of the strongest sketches of the season weren’t social or political commentary, just extremely absurd. Take the "Diner Lobster" sketch, where a diner order turns into an extended parody of "Les Miserables." Or a rap song about everyone’s favorite balding character actor, Tucci Gang. Or the fake ad for a discreet, disgusting office toilet. Or "Girlfriends Game Night," featuring an elderly Bill Hader and the entire cast breaking up mid-scene. And of course, virtually any Beck Bennett-Kyle Mooney digital short falls into that category, especially "The Race."

Still, some truly great sketches were extremely weird and extremely opportune, particularly in regard to the #MeToo movement. Saoirse Ronan joined the cast for a bubblegum pop song about sexual predators, "Welcome to Hell." McKinnon’s Debette Goldry character was her timeliest ever (or #TimesUp-liest) in a panel about Harvey Weinstein and harassment. And one the sharpest pieces was about the potential, horrifying minefield that is any dinner conversation in 2018.

Where does "SNL" go from here? Ideally it'd showcase the repertory cast more, but all indications are it’s more cameos, stunt-casting and taped pieces. The show is trying to skew younger and stay current — this season’s musical guests in particular stood out — but it’s ultimately run by a 73-year-old man. Still, it was a diverse and interesting season, and while the show may be a lumbering institution, there’s still nothing like the blend of music, standup, sketches, short films and ridiculous wigs anywhere else on television.