Enlarge NBC Funny ladies: Tina Fey, left, and Amy Poehler do their best Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton impersonations on the season premiere of SNL. Fooled again. Out of some peculiar brew of boundless optimism, lingering nostalgia and limitless hype, we always seem to get sucked into the notion that this week, this year, Saturday Night Live will be the show we imagine it once was. Certainly, expectations were set high for Saturday's season premiere: the "get" of Michael Phelps as a host, the trumped-up suspense over whether Tina Fey would return to play Sarah Palin (of course she did), the countless interviews proclaiming the writers' eagerness to tackle the election. Throw in our own You Tube-like memories, which tend to highlight the show's best moments and discard the rest, and surely you were primed for something special. And odds are, you were disappointed. The opening promised so much more, as Fey and Amy Poehler teamed for a Palin/Hillary Clinton joint appearance, with Palin cheerfully oblivious ("I can see Russia from my house!") and Clinton increasingly vexed. Combining skillful mimicry and on-screen chemistry, the women got the show off to a great start. Unfortunately, as far as politics went, that was pretty much it. A few more Palin jokes were dropped into an otherwise tepid Weekend Update, but there were no other electoral skits — and barely any mention at all of the two people actually running for president, Barack Obama and John McCain. It makes you think Obama was wise to bow out of the show: No politician wants to be labeled as tedious by association. As usual, there were some amusing moments scattered throughout the evening, but even the few decent skits just petered out, and too many of them made you ask "why?" The writers have spent the summer surrounded by one of the most interesting elections of our time, and the best they can come up with for the season opener is a fey waiter, some ugly kids and Andy Samberg playing Cathy from the comics? Really? Granted, most of SNL's best moments have always been essentially pointless, from land sharks to Justin Timberlake extolling the glories of a gift box. Pointless and funny is fine. Pointless and dull, not so much. As for Phelps, he came across precisely as he did during the Olympics: a nice guy and incredible athlete who is inexperienced and uncomfortable in front of a camera. Still, he was at least willing and game, putting on silly wigs and playing second fiddle to William Shatner's cameo and Will Forte's dancing coach (a Peyton Manning retread). The mistake, of course, was in once again falling for the idea that SNL is a comfortable home for relevant, topical humor. It isn't, one over-played, over-rated debate sketch from last season to the contrary. You want political satire, watch The Daily Show. Still, odds are SNL knows just what it's doing. The Fey/Poehler sketch will play in clip-form everywhere and be discussed by pundits who won't have bothered to watch anything else in the flat, draggy, 90-minute show. And once again, they will declare "SNL is back!" So who's the fool? Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more