Saturday Night Live ratings: Dwayne Johnson, Katy Perry finale wins big
The final episode of the season, which also featured cameos from Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin, and Scarlett Johansson, ended up drawing a 2.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic. This is the best rating for a finale since 2013 when Ben Affleck hosted, and it also was the most-watched finale in six years. You have to go back to the Justin Timberlake – Lady Gaga episode for some sort of ample comparison there.
One more amazing fact about this episode — it was the #1 primetime show over the past week, and performed better than everything from The Voice to Empire to Grey’s Anatomy and beyond. This is a further indication of the massive pop-culture appeal of this show, but also the struggles of other network programming to go along with it.
Following the finale, we do know that the time is now done for both longtime cast members Bobby Moynihan and Vanessa Bayer. It could also be the last one for Baldwin as Trump, depending on whether or not this is a role he does want to continue playing moving forward into season 43. Over the summer it’s possible that there may be one or two more cast members who depart, and then a few cast members who join the show. It would benefit them greatly to get a cast member from an Asian background to touch on a part of the country they’ve long struggled with, but it also doesn’t feel right to make a blanket statement without seeing specific names. Hopefully, they audition a good many people and the hire the right people both from the standpoint of comedy and also speaking to as many different people in the country as possible.
New episodes of SNL will likely premiere in September, but it is a little too early to project who the host will be. It’d be fun to see someone like an Amy Poehler or a Bill Hader come back to host; given that Amy does have a new movie coming out this summer, maybe she does have an outside chance at the gig.
Are you surprised at all by the SNL finale ratings? Be sure to share your thoughts below!
Meanwhile, head over to the link here in the event you do want to read our full review from the finale and all of the sketches contained within. (Photo: NBC.)