Saturday Night Live Premiere Delivers Ratings Gold
Lil Wayne, Michael Phelps, and Amy Poehler by Dana Edelson/NBC
Michael Phelps' winning streak continues. Though the Olympic gold-medalist host more or less treaded water while Tina Fey's return and a cameo by William Shatner generated the biggest and best buzz,
Saturday Night Live this weekend delivered its best premiere ratings in seven years, netting a 7.4 household rating/18 share in the 55 metered markets. It also marked
SNL's most-watched installment since Dec. 17, 2002 (when former vice president Al Gore hosted).
The sketch show's 34th season opener - whose ratings do
not include New Orleans or the Hurricane Ike-targeted Houston, Texas - was up 64 percent compared to last year's Lebron James-fronted premiere. -
Matt Mitovich
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