I don't know if Sarah Palin will be doing good for the country, but she certainly did good for NBC. The episode in which the Alaskan governor appeared helped Saturday Night Live score its highest ratings in 14 years. Given the fact that it was "slipped" beforehand to the media that she was appearing, I'm sure a lot of people tuned in to see if it would go as well as her Katie Couric interview.Our own Annie Wu has already done a review of the episode and put up a bunch of clips (which I encourage you to watch). I watched it live and it was pretty much the best SNL episode I've seen in a while. The writing and performance was certainly better than the Michael Phelps season premiere (the only highlight of which was the first Tina-Fey-as-Sarah-Palin sketch).
Amy Poehler was in rare form, between her rap song about Palin (complete with anthropomorphic moose) along with the white trash perfume sketch in which she used her pregnancy for laughs. Her kid has already been on national television and he/she hasn't even been born yet.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-19-2008 @ 4:17PM
Paul said...
You kinda forgot to actually use Amy Poehler's name in those last 2 fragmented sentences.
But yeah, what I refer to as "The World's Funniest Child" (coming from the genes of 2 of the funniest people on the planet) is already famous.
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10-19-2008 @ 5:05PM
Andrew said...
You also failed to mention what the actual rating or number of viewers was.
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10-19-2008 @ 8:36PM
No1Dad said...
Palin's convention speech drew more viewers than Obama's. Her debate drew more viewers than Obama's. And her SNL appearance drew the biggest audience in 14 years. One could be excused for thinking Americans actually like this woman. Palin 2012?
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10-19-2008 @ 8:41PM
Doctor Professor said...
Reasonable people like watching Palin they same way they like watching a trainwreck.
10-19-2008 @ 9:05PM
0megapart!cle said...
Uhm, honey, American's are always interested in a spectacle, but the fact is that Palin's favorability ratings have plummeted since her premiere onto the national scene, along with McCain's poll ratings, which shows the true picture of what kind of political power she is going to wield after Obama enters the White House. She will go back to her little state, win re-election, and then go home and take care of her babies (and her babies' babies), while she raises money for Republicans in her spare time.
10-19-2008 @ 8:47PM
Jimmy said...
I can't help but wonder how many people tuned out after the cold open.
By the way, Brad, this episode was better than the season premiere, but it wasn't the best of the year.
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10-20-2008 @ 12:04AM
JeansLady said...
I watched SNL because Palin was going to be on, but I have no intention of voting for the McCain-Palin ticket. My watching was in no way an endorsement of her; I just like watching a train wreck.
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10-20-2008 @ 1:15AM
Ned said...
I think I read that this episode charted 3rd on the Nielson ratings for the entire week, including prime time shows. That's crazy. I figure they actually want you to click on that link telling you the numbers, instead of posting it themselves. This episode wasn't as strong as Anne Hathaway/The Killers, but it was pretty solid. SNL is back on top, and funnier to boot.
I also think it would be interesting to see how far that number dropped after the midnight hour. 14 million is impressive, but I don't think they kept 14 millions until 1 A.M.
Although, does posting videos from Hulu and reviewing them really count as an episode review? What about all those other sketches that aired? Just because they weren't deemed Internet worthy, does that mean they aren't review worthy?
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10-20-2008 @ 12:40PM
Willmore2000 said...
Too bad it was probably the worst SNL in 14 years as well. Even the political sketch at the start, which were pretty good this season was weak. I don't think I laughed over the course of the entire episode.
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10-20-2008 @ 9:09PM
eirik said...
You know, perhaps it's because there's an element of conservatives that have tuned out shows like SNL over the years because they find their views being bashed by liberals non-stop over the years. Perhaps people tuned in to see someone touted as a conservative icon and see how she would hold up, perhaps even see if SNL might take a knowing swipe at itself.
Maybe, just maybe, deliberately offending about 50% of the population is perhaps a rather poor business decision the part of the major TV networks.
Naw, their viewership is through the ceiling. They must know what they are doing.
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