From Easy A to Crazy, Stupid, Love., we've gotten used to Emma Stone being the best thing about the mediocre movies she appears in. That was definitely the case with her sophomore hosting gig on Saturday Night Live this past weekend. Sketch for sketch, it was a sub-par week, but Stone kept us smiling with the sheer force of her goofy charisma, handling some truly terrible material with good-natured aplomb. Here are her five best characters in otherwise lame skits (minus "Les Jeunes des Paris").

Hey! That wasn't half bad. I mean, sure, I completely zoned out and lost all interest during two sketches ("Dolphin Movie" and "Getting Freaking With Cee Lo") but overall, "Charlie Day/Maroon 5" was maybe the most enjoyable episode of Saturday Night Live I've seen in recent memory. The ratings say that I'm not alone: It drew the best ratings the show has had in over a month, which is especially impressive considering that Charlie Day is significantly less famous than Melissa McCarthy. While I credit some of my satisfaction to fast-forwarding through the bulk of Adam Levine's screentime, it was mostly just a tight, well-written episode. Here are the sketches that worked the best:

Any Anna Faris fan who saw What's Your Number? (or didn't because of its terrible reviews) and watched Saturday Night Live this weekend probably went into the show with the hope that it wouldn't suck -- after all, we don't just like her in vain, right? I personally got affirmation watching the episode, and laughed more than I have at SNL in a while. That's not to say a few sketches failed from a sore lack of editing (looking at you, "Wyndemere" and "GOP Debate II"), but all in all, the episode was a relieving surprise. In the spirit of Ms. Faris, here at the sketches that delivered more laughs than her entire last movie did.

This was one of the most painful television experiences I've had in a long time, and I watched two episodes of Whitney. I don't know why I had any expectations for this one; perhaps it was because I adore Melissa McCarthy and was hoping that the writers here would have some fun stuff for her. But honestly, she's better served on Mike & Molly, where at least she gets some actual really good lines without having to be "that crazy person." This episode was so terrible that Lady Antebellum, who I am normally not a fan of (the ways I hate that "I'm a little drunk" song are too long to even count), doesn't even make this list of the worst things about the night.

Saturday Night Live returned for Season 37 this past weekend, kicking off with an Alec Baldwin-hosted episode (this was Baldwin's sixteenth time as host, which makes him the record holder... at least until his "nemesis" Steve Martin returns to Studio 8H for his sixteenth stint) and Radiohead as the featured musical artist. Which sketches had us laughing hardest? Read on.

We love Tina Fey. There's just something about her that makes us willing to sit through lukewarm movies like Baby Mama or even pick up a book. And watching 30 Rock for some reason makes us remember her time as SNL's head writer as actually being funny. So the moment we heard she and her unborn child were going to host this week we were stoked. Thankfully, even with higher expectations, this weekend's episode wasn't any more of a disappointment than usual (mostly because of the special appearances by other former SNL cast members Maya Rudolph and Darrell Hammond). Here's the best and worst of this week's sketches:

Helen Mirren was the special guest on last night's SNL, and it was... a mixed bag, as it so often is. I guess when there's an hour and a half to fill, you let some go through that aren't as strong to fill out the time. But Mirren showed a complete lack of reserve by really going for it in her sketches, playing an old stripper, a Fox News caller and Helena Bonham Carter. These are the best and worst of the night.

Elton John did double duty as SNL host and musical guest this weekend, and while it was at times an unmitigated disaster, for the most part it was just dull, despite a few bright spots. One thing is for sure, though: Elton's forte is not stand-up, as his opening monologue was filled with predictable and corny jokes about being gay and not being able to get pregnant.

Why is it that this show has trouble doing funny sketches with actual comedians? Like the episode with Bryan Cranston, this one had a solid opening and a few entertaining moments, but it mostly fell flat. Even Zach bizarrely shaving his head just in time for the sign-off couldn't save an episode that fittingly closed with a sketch about the Titanic.

Saturday Night Live was strange this week. It was actually pretty awesome. Not only was it a good week for topical humor, thanks to an injection of tiger blood, but the writers actually seemed to know how to write for the host. It probably also didn't hurt that Miley Cyrus seems totally game for anything that seems like good clean fun, whether it's Biebering it up or making fun of herself and her dad. For all of you SNL apologists out there, this is your proof that the show can be awesome, even if it has to rely on fake celebrity talk shows and fake commercials most of the time. Of course, even Miley couldn't save every sketch.