‘SNL’ Season 42 Premiere Record Show’s Highest Ratings In 8 Years
The Saturday Night Live (SNL) Season 42 premiere aired on October 1 was undoubtedly a hit among Americans after the show recorded the highest rating it posted since 2008.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the rating recorded by the politically-themed episode of SNL Season 42 had been the show’s highest in eight years since it was launched in September 13, 2008.
The outlet revealed that SNL‘s rating surged to a 5.8 household rating with 15 share in metered markets which was quite a jump from last year’s 4.5 and 11 season premiere telecasts.
While Nielsen’s national ratings report have yet to be released, Saturday’s SNL episode with Margot Robbie hosting almost beat the rating for show’s first episode where Michael Phelps hosted and Tina Fey made her mark with her infamous Sarah Palin impersonation which got a 7.5 rating in metered markets.
“From 25 markets with local people meters, the episode averaged a 2.7 rating, 14 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, increasing 35 percent from last year’s 2.0, making it the highest-rated SNL premiere in the 18-49 demo since Sept. 28, 2013.”
Aside from that, the sketch uploaded over SNL‘s official YouTube channel already got more than 5 million views in just three days.
Of course, there are several possible reasons behind this though entertainment media outlets like EW strongly believe that it was the politically-leaning theme as well as Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon’s sparring as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton that earned the show that rating.
And, as EW pointed out in another article, people got excited with this year’s SNL season considering that it began in the middle of the most interesting presidential race in American history.
“The best SNL political sketches don’t just point out funny things that happen in politics; they actually help us see our politicians in a new light, for better or worse (usually for worse).”
One of the highlights of this episode was the highly-watched first debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton which obviously gave SNL a lot of material to work with.
TV Line deemed Baldwin’s performance as Trump to be “terrific” and dubbed the 2016 Presidential Debate as one of the best sketches of the night.
“In between referring to moderator Lester Holt as ‘jazz man’ and ‘Coltrane,’ the Donald took time to blame Hillary Clinton for his non-stop sniffling and an allegedly broken microphone.”
The sketch also made fun of Clinton’s pneumonia diagnosis which was portrayed by Kate McKinnon—SNL‘s resident Hillary Clinton impersonator.
According to The Verge, the sketch “pointed straight to the ridiculousness of the evening” of the presidential debate and showcased the extreme contrast between the two candidates vying for the highest seat in the land.
For her part, McKinnon portrayed Clinton as the dishonest candidate as she is when she came out aided by a cane “only to leave it behind with a somersault.”
Of course, the SNL Season 42 premiere had more to it than election puns and presidential candidate mockery as TV Line deems the Mr. Robot and live report sketches as two other bests of that hilarious October 1 night.
Unfortunately, the musical performance of the Weekend Update was deemed the worst sketch of the night which the outlet described as “the weakest Update segments in recent memory.”
Either way, the show still managed to pull a high rating despite bidding farewell to three resident comedians including Taran Killam, Jay Pharoah, and Jon Rudnitsky. Of course, the show did get replacements namely Mikey Day, Alex Moffat, and Melissa Villaseñor.
Plus, more of Baldwin’s Trump and McKinnon’s Clinton duo is expected to reprise in future episodes of the Saturday Night Live airing every Saturday.
[Featured Image by NBC]
