<em>Saturday Night Live </em>Needs to Break Its Stagnant Streak

When Alec Baldwin joined to play Donald Trump almost two years ago, it invigorated a show that had started feeling stagnant. Suddenly, there was a political impression that felt like : Baldwin portrayed Trump as an aggressive ogre rather than as a preening egotist, a performance with an extremely blunt perspective on the candidate. Then Trump became president. Since the election, Baldwin’s performance has gone from pointed to perfunctory, and ’s topical sketches have become. The announcement of this season suggests more of the same lies ahead.