‘Saturday Night Live’ ratings: Drake’s show, Sasheer Zamata’s debut

Is “Saturday Night Live” on a ratings roll right now? It may be a little early to start proclaiming that, but the show is definitely going in the right direction now following the huge Christmas show with Jimmy Fallon at the end of 2013.

For its first show of 2014, hosted by Drake and with the debut of new cast member Sasheer Zamata, the show drew a 2.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic. Of course, that was enough to make it #1 on the night overall (which is pretty standard for the show), and it also outpaces the majority of the other shows of the season. It does fall far below what Fallon and Timberlake brought in, but those two are legends in the eyes of this show at this point, and they are expected to draw huge numbers.

Now, the challenge for “SNL” becomes trying to maintain that. Drake has a diehard following that probably tuned in to see him give a pretty good performance as a host, but what about next week with Jonah Hill? The only major thing that comes with the Oscar nominee doing the show again is that he may be able to bring some of his famous friends along. (If he can get Leonardo DiCaprio to do something, we would die with joy.) Following him on Super Bowl Weekend, the show hosted by none other than Melissa McCarthy could be another big one. She’s got a big following now as an “SNL” host, though not on the same sort of level that Timberlake or Fallon does just yet.

What do you think about some of these ratings: Are you surprised in any way, or happy since it means that Drake is likely to be hired again as a host in the future? Share below.