Saturday Night Live: Stray thoughts that may pertain to Bruce Willis/Katy Perry

There hasn't been a huge cast overhaul on SNL for a while now. Ever since they kind of bottomed out in the mid-90s, they've been careful to stagger their castmembers' comings and goings so that the show never feels the absence of a key player. The departures of Bill Hader, Jason Sudeikis and Fred Armisen this past year, and Seth Meyers in the near future, make this the biggest changeover year in a long while. There's a void of "average guys" on the show in the same way that Kristin Wiig's departure opened the floodgates for female roles of all types.

That may be the logic to the new castmembers selected this year, mostly a crop of seemingly-interchangeable white guys, and Noelle Wells, whose biggest part so far was standing next to Regine Chassigne (and she did a very good Lena Dunham in their Girls skit.) It may seem excessive to pick up five guys to fill more or less the same role, but it makes sense to me that SNL would want to hedge their bets. It takes time to figure out which ones are going to be Hader and Sudeikis, and which are going to be Jeff Richards and Paul Brittain. So far, my money's on Kyle Mooney, although that may just be because I know what his name is. The same weekend he debuted on SNL, he appeared on the "so-okay-it's-fine" Stephen Merchant HBO series "Hello Ladies." I also really enjoyed Brooks Whelan's monologue about tattoos. It's the old Chris Rock tactic: get on Update, get your name said.

Speaking of Update, I'm really into Cecily Strong as co-anchor. She has this very at-ease, yet knowing and cheeky delivery, a devilish glint in her eye when she says something dirty. It makes a nice counterpoint for Seth Meyers' trademark over-enthused shouts. (I happen to like Seth's work, too, but you've got to admit.) I thought Cecily was going to be someone we saw in most sketches, but that role seems to have turned over to Vanessa Bayer.

I like Vanessa. In fact, I think the show has a great female cast right now. She seems to have emerged as the go-to wife/girlfriend actress, but she's also continually developing characters and impressions, like Lady Gaga, or last week's poetry teacher. I was worried she was going to be lost in the shuffle, but she's got a good thing going. The one who seems to have fallen behind is Nasim Pedrad, who I wonder if she could maybe become the new Update co-anchor when Seth leaves. Thank about it, Lorne. She's got a great deadpan.

But hey, it's a guys show, and Bruce Willis was the host, so naturally that means plenty of subversive beta male comedy. There were a few clunky sketches, but they came out of it with at least one winner in "Boy Dance Party," the kind of goofy one-off that used to be the regular currency of the Lonely Island Digital Shorts. I also really enjoyed the pre-tape about rushing a fraternity/beer pong/penpals/make-your-own baseball cards.

Oh yeah, and I'm now pretty much in love with Katy Perry. The girl's got some real charm in her stage-presence.

Who knows how this season and this cast will fare? The show itself has proven bulletproof, in the long run, given that it's been on since my father was my age. In fact, it doesn't even have to be that good as long as it's interesting. It's all about eyeballs, folks. That and capitalizing on people like me who don't have much going on on Saturday nights. Ah well.