Saturday Night Live Ratings 1975-2017

Written Foregoing a Weekend Ratings Update by Bridger Cunningham.

Saturday Night Live made its debut on NBC on October 11, 1975 amidst NBC's first ratings depression from 1975-84.  It had seen its share of ups and downs in its 43 seasons, with the 1985-86 season viewed as a creative lull.  However, like Grey's Anatomy, SNL manages to reinvent itself as creative powerhouses come and go. 

The first 5 seasons featured continual growth, peaking at its Household Ratings Peak.

Please note data throughout this rich time capsule varies, with only Household Ratings being tracked from 1975-87.  Beyond that, 1988-2008 featured only live data, and from 2008-present, this data is Live+7 DVR viewing.  Follow the color bars, as the purple bar follows the pre-election years and the salmon color highlighted years with elections.

This, along with other diverse entries of ratings data can be found in the TVRG Ratings Library, located at the following link: http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/2018/01/tvrg-ratings-library.html 

Sources:

1. http://www.thewrap.com/snl-40-saturday-night-live-tv-ratings-nbc-lorne-michaels/

2. http://www.vulture.com/2017/05/saturday-night-live-ratings-this-season-are-unprecedented.html

3. http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/saturday-night-live-premiere-ratings-miley-cyrus-1201609711/

4. https://www.yahoo.com/tv/saturday-night-live-flexes-post-election-ratings-muscle-193450560.html

1970s Historical TV Ratings

Welcome to the landing page for the 1970s TV ratings! Click on the year names below to be redirected to the pages.

1970-71
1971-72
1972-73 Top 30
1973-74
1974-75
1975-76 Top 30
1976-77 Top 30
1977-78
1978-79
1979-80 Top 30

Historical Ratings Database--1950s

This is the new landing page for 1950s Historical Ratings. The ratings are the same as the ones previously reported, but there are a few changes.

First, we have added a couple more columns to the table. First, we added a column that reports a show's rating from the year prior if applicable. We also added a column that breaks down show rankings not just overall, but also by network.

The tables also have a more basic look, and are embedded from Google Sheets. For now, we are focusing on recreating ratings tables as quickly as possible for the sake of providing everyone with the ratings content.

For now, we have ratings tables throughout the entire 1950s. More years are expected to come in the near future. To go to each ratings page, click on the season listed below.

1950-51
1951-52
1952-53
1953-54
1954-55
1955-56
1956-57
1957–58
1958-59
1959-60

Game Day #1–UPDATED with Answers and Standings

STANDINGS

Rebecca Bunch: 2

HV: 2

JB: 2

Miguens: 2

Full Boyle: 1

GotPortugal: 1

Bridger: 1

There were a lot of different answers for the second question, though only one was right. Props to those of you who found one that was so close to the answer, though none matched the final part of that criteria.

__________________

Welcome to the second installment of Game Day! In this series, three prompts will be given and it will be your task to come up with the answer. 1 point is rewarded for each correct answer.

These prompts were all formed using the data compiled by our own Bridger Cunningham, meaning all answers can be found in his work. Therefore, looking through those resources is one of the more efficient ways to get the right answer. I've linked the landing pages here:

Soaps: http://www.tvratingsguide.com/1971/09/soap-ratings-database.html
Historical Ratings: http://www.tvratingsguide.com/2017/11/tvrgs-ratings-history.html
Sitcom Scorecards: http://www.tvratingsguide.com/2017/12/tvrgs-sitcom-scorecard-library.html

Below are the prompts. Place your answers in the Google Form below; if you are stuck, you can guess or simply leave it blank, as no answers are required for submission. The deadline to submit is Saturday, February 10 at 11:59pm Eastern Time.

Prompt #1
This soap opera was canceled after coming in last place amongst all daytime soaps. Coincidentally, the ratings rank it had that season was also the number of seasons it finished with.

ANSWER: Passions

Prompt #2
This year was a struggle for a certain Big 4 network; so much so that they only placed ONE scripted show in that season's top 50. And yeah, their lowest-rated show had just 37% of that season's league average. Which network and season am I describing?

ANSWER: ABC, 2003-04

Prompt #3
This sitcom got canceled due to low ratings in its second season. Being the 8th-highest rated show on broadcast television, and the 6th-highest rated sitcom, just wasn't enough?

ANSWER: The Single Guy

1981-82 TV Ratings