‘Saturday Night Live’ ratings: Amy Adams, One Direction fail to boost numbers

Is this a sign that One Direction does not necessarily equal ratings increases? It is possible, though we would also say that this is further proof that Twitter buzz also does not equal it, either.

Despite having a high-profile guest and a pretty popular host in Amy Adams, the winter finale / Christmas episode of “Saturday Night Live” drew a 2.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic. This is a solid performance from the show, at least in that it is by a pretty large margin the top scripted program of the entire night.

However, at the same time we’ve seen past holiday episodes do far better, and the real thing we blame here is not booking a host who is a former cast member, or at least has a huge connection to the show. Amy is wonderful, but someone like an Amy Poehler or even the return of Jimmy Fallon (who hosted the show two holidays ago) would have been a little more in line with recent traditions. Viewers did not know in advance that you were getting a little bit of Kristen Wiig, who is practically a cast member with all of her cameos, or Fred Armisen before the episode aired.

“SNL” returns to the air early next year with Kevin Hart, who was decent the first time he hosted. Let’s just hope that this show fixes some of the nagging problems the series has with balance, and also using all of the cast members properly. Beck Bennett and Leslie Jones were both ghosts in this installment.

What do you think about these numbers? Share some of your thoughts with a comment, and be sure to see our review from this past episode if you haven’t already! Also, sign up now to grab some further TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)