‘Saturday Night Live’ ratings: James Franco, Nicki Minaj show rises versus Cameron Diaz

Good news for all of those wondering if “Saturday Night Live” was just going to slide for the rest of the fall; the show continues to buck some trends in its 40th season and surprise us!

We were admittedly a little worried about the show last night ratings-wise; James Franco is not someone we really consider to be a huge ratings draw in this modern day and age, but the show did still get a 2.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic. Maybe this is a combination of Franco’s presence alongside Nicki Minaj, who is one of the more high-profile musical guests that we’ve seen on the season. She also appeared in nearly enough sketches to be considered the host of the show herself, but it’s not like anyone would have known that in advance to watch.

The next two shows will have the challenge of trying to match that.

Next week’s one hosted by Martin Freeman and with musical guest Charlie XCX should be pretty interesting. The “Sherlock” and “The Hobbit” star is probably not a household name for many in America, but he also happens to have a devoted following. We count ourselves as one of them, and we’re therefore more interested in next week’s show than probably any other in some time. He is also one of the only hosts this season to not have any prior connection to the series; while Chris Pratt had never hosted or been a cast member before, he at least worked alongside Amy Poehler and is married to former host Anna Faris.

Following that, we have the Christmas show featuring Amy Adams, who we are sure will do a great job. We’re a little surprised that this show was not one hosted by a Poehler, a Maya Rudolph, or a Kristen Wiig, mostly because former cast members tend to do the last ones of the fall these days.

We’ll have more “SNL” scoop soon as always, but you can sign up now to get some further TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)