part of the SNL legacy comes from all the famous comedians who used it as a springboard for stardom, part of it comes from being the only non-talk/news TV show here that's broadcast live. the writers have one week to write 90 minutes of new material each week to be shot live, which is harder than it sounds. the other big plus is they have a live musical guest doing two songs each week, and there are many memorable performances, both good and bad.
invariably, any variety show on the air for 46 years has ups and downs. it was a huge comedy trailblazer in the 70s/80s and probably 90s with skits that were outrageous/risqué at the time, or just plan bizarre, then hit dry spells but I believe has had strong ratings and decent critical reviews for the past few years. four+ years of trump is pretty low-hanging fruit for comedy writers to work from, so his campaign and presidency were a windfall with various cast members and guests impersonating politicians and staffers.
it's a place where young comedians can break out, cast members come and go, some groupings better than others. that being said, many of the skits have a humorous premise by die when they drag it out for too long. one-joke skits that would make for a good quick segment go on for 4-5 excruciating minutes.
we stopped watching it many years ago, but I do checkout youtube clips if there's a particularly good segment.
