Image via NBC.com

Saturday Night Live is a New York institution. You can complain all you want about its current quality, but it’s not going anywhere.

SNL also holds a unique place in the world of comedy in that it is more like a sports team than a television show. Like any team, it depends on the efforts of everybody involved, as opposed to just one person. Despite this, it is devastating whenever a power player leaves. To me, Bill Hader leaving SNL was just as big a loss as Derek Jeter leaving the Yankees. By the way, did you know Jeter is leaving the Yankees? They should do a few stories about it on the news.

Anyway, like any good New York team, be it the Giants or the Knicks, SNL went through a bit of a rough patch. Every year seems to be a rebuilding year for SNL, but this year Lorne Michaels really seems to be taking it seriously. Multiple people were fired and Weekend Update replaced an anchor. Based on the season premiere, hosted by Chris Pratt, these gambles will pay off in a big way.

The premiere played to Chris Pratt’s strengths. Yes, Pratt is now a movie star and a household name. Yet, he still has that goofy and awkward charm that has made him such a lovable character on Parks and Recreation. Also, it seems weird that there was absolutely no mention of the final season of Parks last night. Failed synergy opportunity on the part of NBC. Maybe they were busy thinking of more magazine covers to put James Spader’s face on.

One of the most talked about changes at SNL this season was the Weekend Update shakeup, in which Cecily Strong was demoted and Michael Che was re-hired after spending a few months at The Daily Show. Che is a great comedian and this job is perfect for him. Meanwhile, Jost already seems a lot more comfortable than he was last year. I think he has a Seth Meyers deadpan delivery that he is fine tuning now. Strong’s exit from Weekend Update allowed her to come back as The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started A Conversation With At A Party. It was a welcome return. With just one episode, newcomer Pete Davidson showed that he will be the breakout of the season. At the age of 20, he is cooler now than I will ever be in my entire life.

The second half of SNL has always been my favorite, because it is when things can get a little bit weird. In that regard, last night was an embarrassment of riches. While the NFL sketch was a little too close to Key & Peele for comfort, it took on a funny and timely new angle. By far the best sketch was the digital short, which was a cheesy 90s sitcoms filled with non-sensical non-sequiturs. It seemed way too weird for prime time. But luckily, the audience ate it up. SNL has a lot of great sketch shows to compete against now. One way it can have a great season is if it makes the first half just as weird as the second half.

I feel the same sense of optimism for SNL that I do every year. This time, it feels less blind. This episode’s one big flaw: a serious lack of Kate McKinnon. Come on guys, don’t be afraid to put her in every sketch ever.

Band of misfits. Image via Business Insider

Okay, so being negative about awards is fun. But I got that out of my system yesterday. So today, it is time to be nice.

Luckily, there is a lot to be nice about, because Emmy voters did a pretty good job this year. They didn’t do the best that they could have. On that note, can somebody please photoshop a picture of Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer holding Emmys?

Anyway, if you look close enough at the nominations, you will see that this year’s lineup does as good a job as possible at reflecting the incredibly diverse array of programming that makes up the current golden age of television that we are living in.

For this, I have decided not to include shows like Game of Thrones, Louie, or Breaking Bad. While their inclusion makes me happy, their nominations were foregone conclusions. So instead, let’s focus on some of the people and shows that might not have expected to heard their names called yesterday morning:

Adam Driver (Girls)

In a sometimes inconsistent season of Girls, Adam Driver was the most consistently good part about it. While his character is incredibly unpredictable, you know that (most of the time) he does things because he actually believes in them. Even if you hate Lena Dunham, he makes the show worth sticking around for. With Inside Llewyn Davis last year and Star Wars down the road, Adam Driver is about to explode. We don’t even know what we are in for.

Fargo

I haven’t finished Fargo yet (I have just one episode left), but that has been enough to tell me that this is one of the most unique new shows on television. Given that this is a miniseries, we will have to see if we get anymore of it (or, for that matter, if any one of these characters will make it out alive). Fargo is a pitch perfect black comedy that manages to be the best imitation of the Coen Brothers I have ever seen. Among the many great things about it, there is a tracking shot in it that rivals the much more well known one from True Detective, as well as incredible performances from the likes of Billy Bob Thornton and Allison Tolman.

Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live)

Kate McKinnon is not the first SNL performer to be nominated for acting. However, this occurrence is few and far between, and you have to be really good to bring what are supposed to be two dimensional characters to life. McKinnon can do everything from flawless impressions (some of the best include Justin Bieber and Jemima Kirke) to original characters (Olya the Russian Villager). She is the show’s current answer to Kristen Wiig. And like Wiig, McKinnon will find success in her career long after she leaves Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center.

Key & Peele

There’s a lot of weird, yet awesome, sketch comedy happening on TV right now (see: Kroll Show, Comedy Bang! Bang!). Key & Peele does the typical sketch comedy formula well while maintaining its own unique voice. They can execute simple ideas like The East/West Bowl as well as odd ones like Mr. T PSAs. While it didn’t get the nomination for Best Variety Show, a nod for writing is nothing to complain about, even if it doesn’t quite acknowledge the visual genius and directing choices of the show.

Silicon Valley

Sometimes, it is hard for a freshman show to get much attention, but Silicon Valley knew exactly what it wanted to be from the beginning. Silicon Valley is the satire of the modern tech world that I didn’t know we needed at this moment. It has a perfect ensemble that helped bring perhaps the greatest dick joke in the history of television to life. While its cast members were unfortunately overlooked by voters (especially Thomas Middleditch and the late Christopher Evan Welch), it always makes me happy to see Mike Judge get rewarded, given that many of his past projects were overlooked upon initial release.