Saturday Cable Ratings 5/19/18: Royal Wedding Coverage Dominates the Top 25

Below are the Top 25 programs on cable on Saturday, 5/19/18. Items of note include coverage of the Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the movie premiere of Fahrenheit 451 on HBO, and Trading Spaces on TLC.
(Note: Click any show with its name in red to be taken to its page in the TV Ratings Guide Cable Ratings Database.)

Show	Network	18-49 Viewers	Viewers (mil.)
NBA: Boston v. Cleveland	ESPN	2.54	6.83
Sportscenter	ESPN	0.95	2.23
NBA Pre-Game	ESPN	0.6	1.65
Sportscenter	ESPN	0.53	1.20
CNN Newsroom	CNN	0.46	2.43
Royal Wedding: Harry & Meghan	CNN	0.46	2.03
Dragon Ball Super	Adult Swim	0.45	0.88
NASCAR: All-Star Race	FS1	0.42	2.47
CNN Newsroom	CNN	0.4	2.40
CNN Newsroom	CNN	0.4	2.16
Royal Wedding: Harry & Meghan	CNN	0.39	1.91
Royal Wedding: Harry & Meghan	CNN	0.38	1.68
Royal Wedding: Harry & Meghan	CNN	0.38	1.93
Sportscenter	ESPN	0.37	0.88
CNN Newsroom	CNN	0.35	2.04
Dragon Ball Z Kai	Adult Swim	0.34	0.69
Sportscenter	ESPN	0.31	0.7
CNN Newsroom	CNN	0.31	1.66
UFC: Maia v. Usman	FS1	0.31	0.87
Royal Wedding: Harry & Meghan	CNN	0.29	1.54
Fahrenheit 451	HBO	0.26	1.11
CNN Newsroom	CNN	0.26	1.38
Sportscenter	ESPN	0.26	0.62
NASCAR	FS1	0.25	1.41
Royally Ever After	Hallmark	0.24	2.02
Highlights Below the Chart:
Royal Wedding: Harry & Meghan	BBC America	0.24	1.02
Royal Wedding: Harry & Meghan	Fox News	0.24	2.53
Trading Spaces	TLC	0.19	0.85
Royal Wedding: Harry & Meghan	E!	0.18	0.45
Royal Wedding: Harry & Meghan	Fox News	0.18	1.97
AM Joy	TLC	0.14
Royal Wedding: Harry & Meghan	MSNBC	0.13	0.99
Royal Wedding: Harry & Meghan	Lifetime	0.12	0.67
Royal Wedding: Harry & Meghan	MSNBC	0.12	0.91
Royal Wedding Live! With Cord and Tish	HBO	0.1	0.32
Royal Wedding: Harry & Meghan	HLN	0.07	0.26
Patrick Melrose	Showtime	0.03	0.19

Friday Cable Ratings 5/18/18: Real Time & Erin Burnett OutFront Soar, TLC Royal Wedding Specials Solid

Below are the Top 25 programs on cable on Friday, 5/18/18. Items of note include Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, Ducktales on Disney Channel, and Erin Burnett OutFront on CNN.
(Note: Click the name of any show with its title in purple or blue to be taken to its page in the TV Ratings Guide Cable Ratings Database.)

Show	Network	18-49 Viewers	Viewers (mil.)
NHL: Winnipeg v. Las Vegas	NBCSN	0.5	1.53
Real Time with Bill Maher	HBO	0.39	1.80
Bering Sea Gold	Discovery	0.28	1.09
BattleBots	Discovery	0.26	1.02
Situation Room	CNN	0.26	1.19
CNN Newsroom	CNN	0.25	1.35
The Rachel Maddow Show	MSNBC	0.25	2.50
Wolf	CNN	0.25	1.29
The Lead with Jake Tapper	CNN	0.25	1.25
The Five	Fox News	0.25	2.41
House Hunters International	HGTV	0.25	1.17
CNN Newsroom	CNN	0.24	1.30
Erin Burnett OutFront	CNN	0.24	1.10
Ancient Aliens	History	0.24	1.10
Inside Politics	CNN	0.24	1.16
Outnumbered	Fox News	0.24	2.06
My Lottery Dream Home	HGTV	0.23	1.20
Daily Briefing	Fox News	0.23	1.92
The Hitman's Bodyguard	HBO	0.23	0.62
House Hunters	HGTV	0.23	1.12
Anderson Cooper 360	CNN	0.23	1.16
The Story	Fox News	0.22	1.97
Tucker Carlson Tonight	Fox News	0.22	2.54
Hannity	Fox News	0.22	2.93
Shepard Smith Reporting	Fox News	0.22	2.09
Highlights Below the Chart:
The Last Word	MSNBC	0.21	1.94
DuckTales	Disney	0.21	0.87
Royal Wedding Countdown	CNN	0.21	0.91
Meghan Markle: A Royal Love Story	TLC	0.2	1.02
Secrets of the Royal Wedding	TLC	0.2	0.96
Royal Wedding Countdown	CNN	0.19	0.86
The Ingraham Angle	Fox News	0.19	1.98
Deadline: White House	MSNBC	0.16	1.32
Prince Harry: Wild No More	TLC	0.16	0.87
Velshi & Ruhle	MSNBC	0.13	1.00
Morning Joe	MSNBC	0.13	1.04

Saturday TV Ratings, 5/19/18: ’SNL’ Rises For Season Finale with Tina Fey & Nicki Minaj (UPDATED)

Here are the final broadcast ratings for Saturday, May 19, 2018. 

Photo: Tina Fey/NBC

Finals Update: NBC's hockey game (0.8, -0.1) adjusted down. 

Time	Show	18-49 Rating	Total Viewers     (In Millions)
8:00pm	NHL Hockey (NBC)	0.8	2.91
	Royal Romance (CBS)	0.6	4.69
	American Idol (R) (ABC)	0.3	1.99
	MasterChef Junior (R) (FOX)	0.3	1.03
9:00pm	Showtime At the Apollo (R) (FOX)	0.2	0.95
10:00pm	SNL Vintage (NBC)	0.7	2.29
	48 Hours (CBS)	0.5	3.89
	20/20 (R) (ABC)	0.5	3.54
11:30pm	Saturday Night Live (NBC)	1.9

(R) = repeat

NBC's showing of NHL Hockey (0.9) was the second-highest program of the night. It led into another strong airing of 'SNL Vintage' (0.7). At 11:30, NBC had the season finale of 'SNL' with host Tina Fey and musical guest Nicki Minaj (1.9). It rose a tenth in the Adults 18-49 demographic from last week's episode. 

CBS had a Prince Harry and Meghan Markle special (0.6) that performed significantly better than an average episode of 'Ransom'. At 10, an original episode of '48 Hours' (0.5) posted a rather atypical result. 

ABC had a low-rated encore of 'American Idol' (0.3) leading into a solid repeat of '20/20' at 10 (0.5). Surprisingly, this repeat of '20/20' matched Friday's original. 

FOX had repeats of 'MasterChef Junior' (0.3) and 'Showtime at the Apollo' (0.2).