'SNL' Has Its Best Ratings in 22 Years, Despite Certain Criticism

Despite some people referring to Saturday Night Live as "boring," "unwatchable," "unfunny," and "terrible" in recent months, fans don't agree that person's assessment.

In fact, NBC has told The Huffington Post that Saturday Night Live has its highest viewership in 22 years. That puts this season, with all its Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway, and Sean Spicer impersonations, above seasons that featured well-loved cast members like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Will Ferrell, and Jimmy Fallon.

The last season that had better ratings was the 1994-95 season when the cast featured Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Molly Shannon, Chris Farley, and now Senator Al Franken.

The Huffington Post reports that viewership is up 22 percent compared to this point last season and up 19 percent in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic. TV Line puts those numbers at 10.6 million this year versus 8.7 million last year. Other shows have received a similar ratings bump since Trump took office. Last week, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert beat out Fallon's politics-free The Tonight Show for the first time since 2015.

So while some people are tired of SNL's political bent under the Trump administration, some people can't get enough of Alec Baldwin (who hosts this weekend), the ghoulish Steve Bannon, the shirtless Vladimir Putin, or Melissa McCarthy's rather irritable Spicer.

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