Ratings Analysis: Neither host Kieran Culkin nor musical guest Ed Sheeran could keep NBC's 'Saturday Night Live' (0.88, -0.15) from losing ground in the Adults 18-49 demographic. This was more than a tenth behind the last time the sketch-comedy series aired (1.03) and marked its second-lowest rating of the season. The peacock network's luck was even worse in primetime as the '2021 Breeders' Cup Classic' (0.14) completely bombed in the 8pm timeslot. A repeat of 'Dateline' (0.18) and 'SNL Vintage' (0.26) picked up the slack from there. It was a photo-finish at 8 as Fox's 'IN v. MI' college football game (0.55) narrowly eclipsed ABC's 'OR v. WA' telecast (0.53). Behind meager reruns of 'Bull' (0.17) and 'NCIS: LA' (0.16), CBS's '48 Hours' (0.29, -0.04) lost a few hundredths from its last original episode (0.33). On the CW, 'Whose Line Is It Anyway? (0.11, +0.06) more than doubled the rating it posted the previous Saturday but 'World's Funniest Animals' (0.06, -0.01) actually ticked down. As usual, encores of 'Whose Line' and 'Funniest Animals' (0.08/0.05) populated the 8:30 and 9:30pm slots respectively.
Finals Update: 'College Football: OR v. WA' (+0.1), 'College Football: IN v. MI' (+0.1), and the repeat of 'NCIS: LA' (+0.1) adjusted up. '2021 Breeders' Cup Classic' (-0.1) and the repeat of 'Dateline' (-0.1) adjusted down.
(R) = repeat
