‘Saturday Night Live’ ratings: Ryan Gosling – Leon Bridges show draws solid numbers

While “Saturday Night Live” was not going to equal the ratings posted for Matthew McConaughey and Adele this weekend, the best thing that they could hope for was getting reasonably close to them. With that, we’re happy to say that the show succeeded.

Over all, the installment hosted by Ryan Gosling and with musical guest Leon Bridges scored a 2.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic, right in line with the season average, which is inflated somewhat thanks to the Adele appearance and Donald Trump’s hosting gig. We feel like some of the extra viewers likely came for Gosling, who proved himself to be someone who breaks character easily and someone who likes to take his time with the cue cards. We’re not going to hate him too much for this, though, given that he did seem to be enjoying himself and was game for some of what the show threw at him.

So can the series replicate this next week with Chris Hemsworth? We thought he was pretty solid on his last appearance as a host, but given that it is the middle of three shows and this is the holiday season, our optimistic estimate is a 1.9. We’re expecting bigger numbers (think around a 2.5) for the winter finale on December 19, given that you are getting both Tina Fey and Amy Poehler returning to the show to host together. They’re not doing the Golden Globes early next year, but at least you still have a rather nice venue to see them.

For those wondering, the first promo for Hemsworth’s show should be released either late Tuesday night or early Wednesday. We’ll have it for you when it comes out.

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