“Saturday Nught Live” dropped back to Earth this past weekend ratings-wise.
The second episode of Season 50 was down 12% from the premiere with Jean Smart and Jelly Roll.
Numbers for comedian Nate Bergatze and the group Coldplay were 4.76 million, which isn’t bad for “SNL” but a drop off certainly from the previous week’s 5.39 million.
This week, Ariana Grande and Stevie Nicks — Stevie Nicks! — should send the numbers up again. Will they perform a duet? That would send the ratings soaring.
A couple of things missing from last week: James Austin Johnson did not do his Trump impression, which you would think would be in every episode until the election. That was a surprise. Also, the Please Don’t Destroy trio’s short film was MIA for the second week in a row. Are they coming back? No announcement has been made.
Stevie Nicks has a new single out. Also, at 76, she’s the oldest musician in years to take the “SNL” stage. The show has not given much attention to legacy artists at all in years with the exception of Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, and Bruce Springsteen. So this is quite a coup and a big deal. I hope it signals more actual rock stars coming to the “SNL” stage.