‘Saturday Night Live’ ratings: Peter Dinklage – Gwen Stefani show posts so-so numbers

For those of you out there wondering whether or not Peter Dinklage was going to bring some sort of “Game of Thrones” ratings bump to “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, we now have a firm answer for you: Not so much.

This weekend’s new episode, which also featured Gwen Stefani as a musical guest, ended up posting a 1.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic. This is lower than some other 2016 episodes of “SNL” that we’ve written about, but we’d say it’s on the average-to-lower-average end of episodes. It’s not a rating that NBC is going to cry about by any means, given that there are few comedies on TV aside from “The Big Bang theory” and “Modern Family” that consistently draw better.

Will the ratings surge next week? That’s a little hard to figure out right now since Russell Crowe is a little bit of an unknown quality as an “SNL” host. If this was on the heels of “Gladiator” and “A Beautiful Mind,” when he was considered one of the biggest names in Hollywood, we’d anticipate huge ratings. Now, he tends to be a little bit more under-the-radar, and this is shockingly the first time that he has ever hosted the show.

Following this show, there’s a chance for big ratings once more on April 16 when Julia Louis-Dreyfus returns to the show to host once more. With her history on the “SNL” stage and NBC in general, we certainly anticipate that this will be a rather big show, and generate some pretty nice numbers as a result of it.

If you missed it, head over here to read our review of this weekend’s new episode! Also, sign up over here to get some other TV news on all we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)