‘Saturday Night Live’ ratings: Melissa McCarthy show down from Justin Timberlake

Even though Melissa McCarthy may have hosted the best edition of “Saturday Night Live” all season long (complete with appearances from “Game of Thrones” actor Peter Dinklage and impersonations of all the coaches on “The Voice”), the “Bridesmaids” and “Mike & Molly” star simply cannot compare right now with legendary host Justin Timberlake when it comes to drawing big ratings.

Overall, the show this weekend ended up pulling a 2.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which is better than many of the shows but about average for the season as a whole. The numbers may have been kept down slightly from everyone celebrating the NCAA tournament, which was airing a final four doubleheader over on CBS. (If this show had aired on the same network as basketball, it would have probably had over a 3.0.)

Nonetheless, we have a feeling that NBC is thrilled with this rating, especially since it is literally better than anything on its network in the past week not named “The Voice.” This is one of the few things that the network has gotten right over the years, and we suspect that as people read the positive reviews of McCarthy’s show and watch some of the video clips online, the next show hosted by her (since there has to be a next time, right?) will probably pull in even larger numbers than this one.

Next week, “SNL” has a real challenge with a show hosted by Vince Vaughn, a big-name star in the last decade that has started to see his career slide. Will enough people be interested in him to watch? We’ll find out very soon.

What do you think about the numbers for McCarthy’s show? If you want to read some more of the latest “Saturday Night Live” news, you can do so by heading on over to the link here.

Photo: NBC