'SNL’s ‘Weekend Update’ Gets Prime Slots

Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” has a four-episode primetime engagement. It starts in prime on NBC Thursday, Aug. 10, at 9 p.m. 

The half-hour telecast will feature “Weekend Update” anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che. Additional Saturday Night Live cast will also make appearances.

SNL is having its best season in a quarter of a century—how many shows can say that?!—so we didn’t want them to take the summer off,” said Robert Greenblatt, chairman, NBC Entertainment. “We’re thrilled to have Colin Jost and Michael Che continuing their unique brand of news with fresh ‘Weekend Update’ shows in primetime this August.”

News satire “Weekend Update” has consistently ranked as one of the most popular segments of Saturday Night Live throughout the show’s 42-year history. 

This season, Saturday Night Live originals are averaging a 3.57 rating in adults 18-49 and 11.022 million viewers overall in “live plus seven day” averages from Nielsen. This makes it the show’s top-rated season at this point in eight years in 18-49 (since 2008-09) and most-watched season in 24 years (since 1992-93).

Versus year-ago averages, SNL is up 21% in adult 18-49 rating (3.57 vs. 2.94). 

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.