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Alien abduction stories, hot dogs and heroin, and black Jeopardy contestants joined together to celebrate 50 years of  “Saturday Night Live” on NBC Feb. 16. 

The 180-minute  “SNL 50: The Anniversary Special” included musical numbers and comedy sketches, as well as flashbacks from the series’ past seasons.

The show featured a number of returning characters — from the recently-trending Domingo, played by Marcello Harnandez, Kristen Wiig’s ever-hilarious Dooneese, and Bobby Moynihan’s Drunk Uncle. For steadfast SNL fans, this anniversary episode was a treat, and a long one at that. But for those not as well-versed in the SNL world, those three hours could be better spent elsewhere.

After a musical introduction from Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon singing “Homeward Bound,” the show opened with a monologue from comedian Steve Martin and brief appearances by John Mulaney and Martin Short.

Martin, who had hosted the show 16 times previously, quipped about his age and said he was SNL’s new “diversity hire.” Martin’s performance was mostly uneventful, but, with John Mulaney’s appearance, the monologue picked up some steam.

“Over the course of 50 years, 894 people have hosted ‘Saturday Night Live.’ And it amazes me that only two of them have committed murder,” Mulaney said. 

The reference was likely aimed at O.J. Simpson and Robert Blake, but was especially tense considering actor Alec Baldwin, whose charges of involuntary manslaughter against him were just dismissed last year, was in the room. 

One spinoff of a previous skit was “Black Jeopardy” with Kenan Thompson hosting, and Eddie Murphy, Tracy Morgan, and Leslie Jones as competitors. 

“It’s the only Jeopardy where every single viewer fully understood Kendrick’s halftime performance,” Thompson said, opening the skit.

The categories for the game were “Look Here,” “This Joker Talkin’ ’Bout,” “Leave Bronny Alone,” “Mannnn…,” “Live From New York,” and, per tradition, “White People.”

Eddie Murphy played the character of Tracy Morgan — while Morgan stood to his left playing a different character — and nailed the impersonation.

Later on in the sketch, Chris Rock took over as host and asked the contestants an SNL trivia question, which they incorrectly answered several times. Their failure led to the appearance of Tom Hanks, reprising his role as Doug — a MAGA hat-wearing, Southern accent speaking middle-aged man.

Echoing the 2016 version of the skit, Thompson approached Hanks to shake his hand, but Hanks was initially hesitant, thinking Thompson intended to rob or harm him. 

“It’s just a handshake,” Thompson’s character told Hanks as the two shook hands. “You’re welcome at ‘Black Jeopardy’ anytime.”

This joke sparked controversy online, with many conservative commentators — including Megyn Kelly and Benny Johnson — saying the joke was outdated and unnecessary. Others, like Matt Walsh, thought otherwise, saying conservative reactions to the joke were “overblown,” and the skit contained only “very mild racial humor” that shouldn’t have garnered as much flack as it did.

Overall, the skit had several funny moments and race-based jokes that were so on the nose that audiences couldn’t help but laugh.

One of the show’s most intriguing skits was John Mulaney with Pete Davidson and David Spade in a Broadway-style musical number “New York 50th Musical,” which documented the history of drugs and violence in New York City, and included parodies of Broadway songs. The Lion King’s “Hakuna Matata” was turned into “cocaine and some vodka,” and Kate McKinnon as Rudy Giuliani proclaimed “I am throwing away my shot” with Lin-Manuel Miranda and other “Hamilton” ensemble members, adding to the chaos.

It was an odd number, but it showed the wit and humor SNL writers are capable of, making it one of the most entertaining of the night.

While many of the skits were funny and engaging, too many seemed to drag on much longer than necessary. The worst offender being Tina Fey and Amy Pohler’s audience Q&A, which they eventually admitted was a mere ploy to get as many celebrities on screen as possible. No audience member asked a fruitful question in the skit’s nine-minute run-time, and viewers at home were left wondering why they tuned in in the first place. 

Scot Bertram, Hillsdlale’s General Manager of WRFH 101.7 FM co-hosts the podcast “Wasn’t That Special,” where he and his co-host Christian Schneider watch every season of SNL. The duo watches the episodes individually and then spend one podcast episode discussing each season. Bertram said they are currently working through Season 42. 

Bertram said this year’s anniversary special differed from SNL’s 15- and 20-year specials, which featured more flashbacks and features of old skits. Aside from Adam Sandler’s tribute song and a compilation of SNL commercials — satirical TV advertisements for fake products — moments of reflection throughout the 50th anniversary special were slim. Instead, the special was rife with sequels and spin offs, but also featured new bits, which Bertram said he mostly appreciated.

“If the purpose were to sort of encapsulate the show’s history in three and a half hours, it didn’t necessarily do that,” Bertram said. “But I think that’s not really the point anymore. It is to have a fun evening with people from different eras, acknowledging contributors throughout the years, and previous great hosts.”

For SNL fans, the anniversary special delivered great new content and proved that the show is alive and well, something Bertram said is good for society.

“There’s nothing else like it, and there will never be anything like it again,” Bertram said. “Trying to pitch what SNL is today wouldn’t make any sense. So when it’s gone, it’s gone.”