Wednesday, May 20, 2026

“Saturday Night Live” Scores Second Highest Season Premiere Since 2012 with Anti-Trump, Kavanaugh Material,

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“Saturday Night Live” scored huge ratings last night.

The comedy program had its second highest season premiere since 2012. In metered Nielsen markets that had a 4.8.

In the key demo “SNL” did an impressive 2.3– which means half their audience as between 18 and 49.

The show had a killer opening, with Matt Damon playing beleaguered Supreme Court candidate Brett Kavanaugh. He was hilarious, as were Kate McKinnon as squirrel like Lindsey Graham and Aidy Bryant as prosecutor for hire Rachel Mitchell.

Later in the show, McKinnon was a hoot as Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The whole show was spot on with the exception of Kanye West, who was brought on at the last minute to replace Ariana Grande. The latter pop star wasn’t emotionally ready after the death of her ex-fiancee Mac Miller, and a lot of other upheaval.

Donald Trump made a disparaging Tweet about “SNL” after the show, but the ratings clearly show he was outnumbered.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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