Christoph Waltz-Hosted SNL Encore Posts On Par Ratings

An Encore telecast of "Saturday Night Live," with host Christoph Waltz and musical guest Alabama Shakes, averaged a 3.3/8 in metered-market households, equaling its overnight rating for the same night last year.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, last night's "Saturday Night Live" averaged a 1.8 rating, 8 share in adults 18-49. "SNL" delivered the top rating of the night among ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX in the Local People Meters, out-rating all primetime programming on those networks. The 1.8 is "SNL's" highest LPM 18-49 rating for an Encore since March 16 (1.8 for a telecast hosted by Jennifer Lawrence with musical guest The Lumineers) and matches "SNL's" top rating for an Encore since January 12, 2013 (2.0 for a telecast hosted by Christina Applegate with musical guest Passion Pit). Versus the same night last year, "SNL" is up 6 percent in the Local People Meters (1.8 vs. 1.7).

Since its inception in 1975, "SNL" has launched the careers of many of the brightest comedy performers of their generation; and, as The New York Times noted on the occasion of the show's Emmy-winning 25th Anniversary special in 1999: "In Defiance of both time and show business convention, 'SNL' is still the most pervasive influence on the art of comedy in contemporary culture." At the close of the century, "Saturday Night Live" placed seventh on Entertainment Weekly's list of the Top 100 Entertainers of the past fifty years.

The program has won 36 Emmy Awards and now holds the title for the most nominated television show in Emmy history with 156 nominations. "SNL" has been honored twice, in 1990 and 2009, with the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award and cited as "truly a national institution." "Saturday Night Live" was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame by the National Association of Broadcasters, and the show continues to garner the highest ratings of any late-night television program, entertaining millions each week.

"Saturday Night Live," which premiered Oct. 11, 1975, is broadcast live from NBC's famed Studio 8H in New York City's Rockefeller Center. The program is a production of Broadway Video in association with SNL Studios. Lorne Michaels is the executive producer.