re: #71 Eclectic Cyborg

Womp womp. Saturday Night Live’s season premiere, hosted by Owen Wilson with musical guest Kacey Musgraves, drew in 4.9 million total viewers—down 41% overall from SNL’s Chris Rock-hosted Season 46 premiere. These numbers make this premiere the all-time lowest rating for a SNL season premiere in the series’ 47-year history, as per Deadline.

However, it’s important to note these numbers only reflect live viewings on cable. This is the first season SNL is available to stream live on NBC’s Peacock, and since streaming numbers are typically kept under lock and key, there’s no telling how this affected the rating.

The live sketch variety show isn’t alone in its struggle when it comes to network ratings. But even with this new low, SNL remains a leader in cable viewership. Wilson’s episode still ended up with the second-highest ratings number in the 18-49 demographic for any comedy during this year’s Fall TV Premiere Week, behind another long-running titan, The Simpsons.

(Source: AV Club)

Says a lot about TV and American culture I think. SNL has generally been poor to bad for years and The Simpsons regressed into a similar mode at least a decade ago.

Anecdotal only, but in the US there is a pretty solid attachment to watching the TV, regardless of quality of content, as a pastime. My brother and I both pretty much gave up on it a long time ago. Though I transitioned into a lot more on-line activity and computer gaming whereas my brother simply uses something else as background, like music or sportscasts, as he works.