‘Saturday Night Live’: The aftermath of Donald Trump’s appearance with other candidates
Going into this past episode of “Saturday Night Live” hosted by Donald Trump, one of the larger questions that we had was how NBC was going to get around the issue of equal time for Presidential candidates. This rule makes thing complicated for any broadcast network, since they have to make sure that everyone gets some representation in some form or another.
On Monday, we started to see just what NBC is having to do for the other candidates following this appearance by Trump. Per Deadline, a notice has been posted (required by the FCC) that candidates are entitled to 12 minutes and 5 seconds of time on the air after this appearance, proved that they meet two specific criteria.
1. They are viable candidates for the office in places that “SNL” was broadcast. In this case, that is all of America.
2. They realize that they are not necessarily getting to host “SNL” itself. Their appearance could come on any NBC program.
The question that we wonder now is this: Is the equal-time rule that important? It seems to us that they could stick Trump on a show that gets a huge 2.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic, and then put Marco Rubio in a show at 3:00 a.m. with almost no one watching. We are exaggerating without a doubt here, but what is the point of equal time if it does not measure up to similarly-equal ratings?
Since we love doing numbered lists, here are two more things to think about as we close this article.
1. It’s shocking in retrospect that Trump only appeared onscreen for a little over 12 minutes Saturday, but it does make some sense. He wasn’t in the cold open, the monologue was short, and his appearances in Hotline Bling, the live-tweeting sketch, and the family bit with Beck Bennett at the end were brief. The same goes for him and the laser harp. The show used him often without showing him.
2. We have a feeling based on the quality of this past “SNL” that other candidates can use their air time better than this.
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