The Saturday Night Live season 46 premiere—which aired Saturday—was the most-watched season premiere of the series in the last four years. SNL's ratings have been gradually declining ever since the greats of the 2000s like Jimmy Fallon, Tracy Morgan, Maya Rudolph, Horatio Sanz, and Amy Poehler left the show. SNL since had hit its lowest ratings of all times with occasional surges during years leading up to a presidential election.
According to Deadline, the trend has continued as SNL earned its highest ratings in four years exactly one month before the 2020 election on November 3. Over 7.7 million viewers tuned into the season 46 premiere. Chris Rock hosted this episode along with musical guest Megan Thee Stallion. Additionally, this premiere was the second most-watched for the series in 12 years behind the premiere leading up to the 2016 election. It was also the #1 watched entertainment telecast of the week.
The season 46 premiere featured Jim Carrey playing Joe Biden for the first time along with Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris and Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump. SNL tackled the most recent presidential debate as well as Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis. The name "Edith Puthie" even trended on Twitter in honor of the "Superspreader Event" sketch featured in the premiere.
During SNL, a famous guest host stars in parodies and sketches created by the cast of this witty show. The current cast includes Beck Bennett, Aidy Bryant, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Colin Jost, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Chris Redd, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson, and Melissa Villaseñor, along with featured players Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Lauren Holt, Punkie Johnson, and Bowen Yang.
Source: Deadline