For the first time in its 42-year history, NBC’s Saturday Night Live will be broadcast live simultaneously across the country for its final four shows of the season. That includes the April 15 and May 6, 13 and 20 episodes as the west and mountain time zones air in conjunction with the east and central zones.
“SNL—enjoying its most popular season in two decades—is part of the national conversation, and we thought it would be a great idea to broadcast to the west and mountain time zones live at the same time it’s being seen in the east and central time zones,” said Robert Greenblatt, chairman, NBC Entertainment. “That way, everyone is in on the joke at the same time. Kudos to Lorne Michaels, the producers and cast for making SNL one of the most relevant and anticipated shows in the zeitgeist.”
Each episode will air live at 11:30 p.m. Eastern, 10:30 p.m. Central, 9:30 p.m. Mountain and 8:30 p.m. Pacific.
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Jimmy Fallon hosts April 15, Chris Pine hosts May 6, Melissa McCarthy does so May 13 and Dwayne Johnson runs the show May 20.
Saturday Night Live is having a winning year, with originals averaging a 3.57 rating in adults 18-49 and 11.022 million viewers overall in “live plus seven day” averages from Nielsen Media Research. This makes it the show’s top-rated season at this point in eight years in 18-49 and most-watched season in 24 years (since 1992-93).
Versus year-ago averages, SNL is up +21% in adults 18-49 (3.57 vs. 2.94) and up 2.2 million persons or +26% in total viewers with 11.022 million.
