“Saturday Night Live” season 43 opener fell short in the ratings of last year’s premiere and finale, according to Deadline Sunday.
The season premiere hosted by Ryan Gosling with musical guest Jay-Z brought in 7.02 million viewers with a 1.91 rating in the coveted demographic of ages 18-49 and was aired live across the country. (RELATED: Alec Baldwin Returning To ‘SNL’ To Mock Trump In Season Premiere)
Saturday Night Live
(photo: YouTube Screenshot)
Compare those numbers to the finale of the 2016-2017 season 42, hosted by Dwayne Johnson with 8.27 million viewers tuning in and a 2.32 ratings in the 18-49 demographic. As well as last year’s opener, hosted by Margot Robbie with The Weeknd as musical guest and the first appearance of Alec Baldwin playing President Donald Trump, which brought in 8.29 million viewers and a 2.34 rating in the same age demo.
Even though the show came in less than last year, it still was the second highest season premiere for the show behind last year’s, since the “SNL” episode on September 10, 2015 hosted by Amy Poehler with music by Katy Perry.
Season 42 was the late-night sketch comedy’s highest ratings in 23 years with an average viewership of 10.88 million viewers and a 3.48 in the coveted demographic. Those numbers earned the program 9 Emmy’s during last month’s 69th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Last night’s show opened with Baldwin reprising his role of Trump while mocking his response to the hurricane aftermath in Puerto Rico.