Ratings: ‘Saturday Night Live’ 40th anniversary special draws enormous ratings

Live from New York, it’s … enormous ratings!

Really, you should not be that shocked that “Saturday Night Live” drew big numbers for its 40th anniversary special. You had a roster of stars so huge, this may have well been the Academy Awards. Not only that, but you had the whole surprise factor where anything could happen, and the show aired at a time when almost everyone could watch it. This differs from it starting at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time, which has been more of the tradition for decades.

As a whole, the episode drew a massive 7.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic, and also more than 23 million viewers. Just for a comparison, this was almost double the performance of every other broadcast network combined. When you remember that this aired against “The Bachelor” and “The Walking Dead,” which is typically a ratings monster in its own right, this is something that really does have to be celebrated even further.

Will this translate to higher ratings for the rest of the season? Probably not. As good as this special was, it was really just a one-time thing. The next show hosted by Dakota Johnson is probably going to see the numbers fall back more or less to normal, which is around the 2.0 level. Still, there is no indication that “SNL” is as a series going anywhere, given that it is the most-watched program in the demo on Saturdays, despite not airing until almost midnight.

Just for those wondering, “The Bachelor” drew just a 1.5, down considerably from the last new episode. Think of this as further proof that ABC is insane for thinking that airing a new episode at this time was going to be a wise idea.

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