Saturday Night Live finale ratings solid; what needs to change for season 44?

The first Saturday Night Live finale ratings are in, and it really shouldn’t come as much of a shock that the series performed very well once again.

Last night, the NBC show delivered a 1.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic for the show, hosted by Tina Fey and with musical guest Nicki Minaj. (Read our full review here.) We do think that, by and large, this was a fun episode, even if it was lacking any big comedic moment viewers will be talking for quite some time.

Moving into season 44, we do think that this episode exposed what some of the biggest problems are with the series, starting with the fact that SNL really does have a cameo problem on their hands. The show openly mocked some of the criticism by featuring a number of A-list celebrities in its monologue, but that doesn’t change the fact that the problem is still there. We’ve got such an abundance of famous faces stopping by Studio 8H that it does keep you from getting to know the newcomers. Even though they’ve been there for a while now, can the average fan really even recognize either Melissa Villasenor or Alex Moffat? We’re not sure they can, let alone some of the newer featured players this season. We want to see more trust put into the main cast, given that they were ultimately hired to be a part of the show for a reason.

Meanwhile, we do also want to see the show try to navigate a little more towards new, original ideas for sketches rather than relying solely on ones featuring political figures or things we’ve seen a dozen times before. While many of the impressions and political commentary is funny, it’s also been done to death at this point. There’s not as much juice in it anymore and we need some time to refresh. Also, it’s dangerous to just assume that there’s going to be enough comedy to come via political headlines that you don’t need to rely on anything else to keep your show going.

If you do want to see more of our take on last night’s new episode in video form, all you have to do is watch below! Meanwhile, be sure to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube to get some more videos whenever you want them.

What did you think about last night’s ratings, and what would you change for season 44? Share below!

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