Thanks to one of the most hotly-contested presidential elections in U.S. history and its unrelenting satire of Donald Trump and his administration, Saturday Night Live is enjoying some of the best ratings in the show’s history.
And SNL will be trying to ride that wave out with its next effort. According to Deadline, NBC will be launching a primetime version of the show’s Weekend Update segment, which is scheduled to run for four weeks during SNL’s summer break beginning Aug. 10 at 9 p.m. Weekend Update’s Colin Jost and Michael Che will reportedly host the half-hour broadcast, with other SNL cast members also making appearances.
The brass at NBC are unsurprisingly doing cartwheels over the ratings bump, which they say has given SNL its best numbers in over 20 years.
“SNL is having its best season in a quarter of a century — how many shows can say that?! — so we didn’t want them to take the summer off,” said Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment. “We’re thrilled to have Colin Jost and Michael Che continuing their unique brand of news with fresh Weekend Update shows in primetime this August.”
On average, SNL’s ratngs this season are up 21 percent from a year ago in the 18-49 demographic, and up 26 percent in total viewership.