Less than a year ago, Kristen Wiig was given an emotional and touching graduation style sendoff from "SNL" that very few cast members ever receive. So, that's why it was a little weird seeing her "back in school" so soon. Pulling the same old tricks.

This week's Zach Galifianakis-hosted "SNL" felt at times that the cast was just sitting around waiting for the reaction to final sketch of the night -- which turned out to be one of the most ambitious sketches in recent memory.

What an odd show this was. In that I can't remember the last time a host -- in this case, Vince Vaughn -- had that much energy during the monologue, yet the rest of the show felt so ... sluggish.

All of the elements for a truly terrific "SNL" were there -- great host, spirited audience, refreshed cast -- but it wasn't a terrific "SNL." It was a good show, fueled mostly by the physical efforts of host Melissa McCarthy, but, overall, the material wasn't there.

Justin Timberlake was, as always, a great "SNL" host and seems to actually be enjoying every minute he's on screen -- which was a lot, considering that Timberlake, including his musical performances, appeared in all but two segments last night.

Kevin Hart came with a ton of energy (perhaps too much at times), but the material was mostly second rate. It certainly wasn't a terrible show, but it wasn't a good or particularly memorable show, either.

Christoph Waltz was fantastic, which resulted in the best SNL of the season. Waltz is the type of actor who can do almost anything and it felt like there was a lot of saved up material, just waiting for a host that could do almost anything.

The entire show was about Justin Bieber -- and "SNL" is at its worst when the show is about the host as opposed to the host integrating him or herself into the cast.

Adam Levine certainly didn't phone it in -- like we've seen other "SNL" hosts do this season -- but, like many a musical guest-turned-host before him, this just really didn't work out.

Saturday night's Jennifer Lawrence-hosted edition of SNL was... not good.

I was going to title this post "My Favorite Sketches From 2012," but I started thinking how I've gotten up early, every post-"SNL" Sunday morning, on my day off, to write "SNL" Scorecard (which, I will note, I haven't missed once since it started in 2010 - I'm strangely proud of that) and then gotten yelled at by half of you, each and every time, for my admittedly subjective ranking system. (It's fine! Keep doing that because that is the point.) Because of this, I thought, well, just maybe, I've earned a "Best Sketches" title for my trouble? I mean, no, it's not a true title. These are certainly not the best ten sketches of 2012 (going back to the last half of the 2011-2012 season), because they are only my favorite ten sketches. Regardless, I decided to keep the title of "best sketches" even though it's a lie. Here they are:

Like any "SNL" that features cavalcade of guest stars, it becomes a tough week to get significant airtime -- and that's not even taking into account that there were only nine segments that involved the cast.

"SNL" had the difficult task of airing one day after one of the worst mass shootings in the US history. It was never specifically mentioned, but it presided over the night after a haunting children's choir rendition of "Silent Night."

In the wake of the Connecting school shooting, "SNL" has to truly decide, right now, if it wants to help start the national discussion, or if it just wants to tell us which fake nightclubs tourists should seek out over the holiday season.

With "SNL" coming off a break, and only one more show until a long break, this week's show felt stagnant. As we all place are wagers on if we'll see the return Ed Grimly in next week's Martin Short-Paul McCartney, here's this week's Relevancy Poll.

It's hard to build momentum without a major news story or scandal this week, this felt like a show with no purpose and no momentum. This wasn't Foxx's fault, who, with a sketch comedy background, is certainly a talented enough host.

Yeah, the Jeremy Renner-hosted installment of "SNL" certainly wasn't the strongest effort of the season. And no cast member had a truly outstanding ...

Unfortunately, this week's "SNL" was just off from the start. An almost shockingly boring cold open followed by Renner's monologue with technical glitches, set a tone that never fully recovered.

Jason Sudeikis said goodbye to his interpretation of Mitt Romney on Saturday night. He seems to have a renewed energy that he was missing the last two seasons. It's a shame that this will be his last.

Anne Hathaway deserves to be mentioned in the pantheon of the other "current great 'SNL' hosts" like Jon Hamm, Emma Stone and Justin Timberlake. But, the material this time around was not as consistently strong as her last two appearances.