Tuesday, June 23, 2026

“Saturday Night Live” Craters to Lowest Ratings Ever with 3.5 Million Despite Olivia Rodrigo Singing “Driver’s License”

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Saturday Night Live fell 27% from last week to its lowest ratings ever, just 3.5 million last night.

That’s a disaster but the show was terrible despite a very talented host, Keegan Michael Key, and a teen singing sensation, Olivia Rodrigo.

Rodrigo sang her novelty hit, “Driver’s License,” but it had no sales bounce on iTunes. The song is turgid in reality. Rodrigo is pretty and delivers material well, but this stuff won’t make a career.

Key really had problems with poorly written material. The show had some of the worst sketches I’ve ever seen. I doubt many people stuck with it beyond Weekend Update.

Next week finishes the season with Anya Taylor Joy and Lil Nas X. Then we’ll see who re-signs for next season. Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong are at the point where they should launch on their own, but there may be no place to go. Lorne Michaels should get them their own sitcom already.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame 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. 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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