How ‘Saturday Night Live’ managed to turn 2016’s chaos into TV gold
IT’S AN unusual time for latenight humour. Rarely has the news cycle been so ripe for comedic commentary and the landscape so saturated with options for viewers.
“Saturday Night Live” has done well in that arena, airing a midseason finale on Saturday that concluded months of high ratings and critical praise.
“SNL’s” ability to skewer Donald Trump, book hotly anticipated hosts and attract weeks of hate- tweets from the president- elect himself have all boosted the show’s relevance. The sketch show successfully took advantage of a bizarre political climate that has brought its own record- shattering television ratings and, at times, has felt more like a reality show than the conclusion of a campaign season.
Preliminary ratings show that “SNL” is on track to surpass last year’s numbers. That makes sense given that political humour has long served as the show’s staple material, and its most defining moments – Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, Will Ferrell as George W. Bush – have often come during election years. But this season also contrasts with last year, when “Saturday Night Live” ended up in a maelstrom of controversy for having thencandidate Trump on as host. That 2015 episode brought in record ratings and plenty of blowback, including concerns over whether “SNL” would break FCC rules on giving political candidates equal time on air. Protesters said the show’s producers and writers helped ‘ normalise’ Trump’s behaviour during the primaries. “I feel like the media has already normalised his behaviour,” “SNL” co- head writer Bryan Tucker said in an interview with Vulture a year after the episode aired. “Our job is not to promote one candidate or the other. Our job is to take what’s already happening and make fun of it.”
In the end, many tuned in to see just what would happen. Trump appeared on camera for a total of 12 minutes in an episode that earned terrible reviews.
This season started off differently, with Alec Baldwin debuting his biting Trump impersonation. About 8.3 million viewers tuned in, and the Oct 1 episode became “SNL’s” highestrated premiere since 2008.
The real-life presidential debate mocked during the premiere earned unprecedented ratings in its own right, drawing more than 84 million viewers. “SNL” apparently understood a parody’s potential for high ratings: The show rarely announces upcoming cameos, but it did just that when it released a trailer promoting Baldwin’s Trump impersonation to complement Kate McKinnon’s take on Hillary Clinton. ( McKinnon won an outstanding supporting actress Emmy this year for her work on the show.) — WP-Bloomberg