‘Saturday Night Live’ considering ‘Weekend Update’ spin-off in primetime

Are we going to see “Saturday Night Live” move into network primetime? Based on some of the earliest reports that are out there, it certainly seems possible.

According to Politico, the NBC show is considering a 30-minute “Weekend Update” spin-off that would air during the week — something that sounds similar to when there was a “Weekend Update Thursday” that aired in the past. This new iteration would air on Thursday night, but there’s still a question that we’re wondering: Why?

Ratings-wise, we understand why the network would want to go in this direction. Viewership is up massively both in terms of total viewers and the 18-49 demographic from where it was at this point last year, with one of the biggest reasons for that being the political landscape that is inspiring so many headlines and parodies.

The biggest thing that we wonder and are concerned about is whether or not we could get too much of a good thing. This is a show that has done a tremendous job, but if you dilute your brand too much, things start to become less great. One of the other interesting things about this news is that “Weekend Update” as of late has not been the best part of the show; Michael Che and Colin Jost have improved significantly as a team since they first debuted as the anchors a number of years ago, but this segment still pales in comparison to his heyday when we had Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler as the anchors.

In the end, we’ll see if this happens, but for the time being we do have to wait and see if this season of the show can close out as strongly as it started. Alec Baldwin is coming on board to host this coming weekend, and that should make for a big show given the fact that he’s one of the reason for the stronger numbers as of late.

What do you think about this idea? Share your thoughts in the comments! Also, be sure to head over here in the event you want some other news, including our recent review for this past installment. (Photo: NBC.)