Did it matter that “Saturday Night Live” had no cast, audience, or musical guest on Saturday night?
Apparently not.
Put together on the fly because of COVID, “SNL” scored 3.7 million viewers in overnight ratings on Saturday, the same as it got on the previous two Saturdays with Billie Eilish and Simu Liu.
Paul Rudd was the nominal host. Tom Hanks and Tina Fey helped out. Only Michael Che and Kenan Thompson came into the studio. Charlie XCX, the musical guest, did not perform.
There were taped clips and clips from the past. Steve Martin participated but only by Zoom.
I know it was a yeoman effort so NBC could sell ads, but it was a depressing episode.
Still, 3.7 million watched in real time. The final numbers could be a little higher. The 18-49 demo was 1.5 million, slightly higher than the week before.
The show was a lot cheaper to produce than usual. With only two cast members, a guest host, and two guests, “SNL” scored the same number as it got with superstars, an audience, and so on. Maybe this is the future!
Anyway, it’s over, What’s done is done. Looking forward to new episodes in 2022.
