‘Saturday Night Live’ ratings: Was Donald Trump’s hosting gig worth it for NBC?

Let’s face it – there was one reason and one reason only why this weekend’s episode of “Saturday Night Live” was hosted by Donald Trump: Ratings. NBC wanted to see how big the numbers could be for the show with the business mogul / Presidential candidate on board, and in their eyes, the controversy really only worked in their favor.

For the most part, NBC has to be feeling pretty good about themselves commercially. The 2.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic for the show last night is the second-best for any network comedy this past week (behind only “The Big Bang Theory”), and was the highest rating for the show, 40th Anniversary Special excluded, since the show hosted by Melissa McCarthy in February 2014. In terms of household rating, the 6.6 rating is the best since a January 2012 show hosted by Charles Barkley, one that was inflated thanks to college football.

So commercially, there’s no doubt that NBC got what they wanted to out of the show and may think about bringing on more controversial guests in the future because of it.

Now let’s talk about how the show was creatively? Based on our review last night, we’re saying that it was a stinker. Trump can be funny at times as a performer, but the entire event felt very safe and boring, like Trump dictated everything with conservative viewers in his mind. The cast tried their best to make it work, but it was really just a giant reminder to the viewers that if you are running for President, the most that you should be allowed to do on this show is a cameo similar to what Hillary Clinton did in a sketch earlier this season. It really doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat or a Republican – if you have a certain image that you want to protect, being on a show like “SNL” isn’t the right move.

Next weekend, the show will be back with Elizabeth Banks in as host. She’s wonderful, so we have little doubt things will start to return to form.

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