In late-night metered-market households Saturday night:
- Saturday Night Live, hosted by Gerard Butler and featuring musical guest Shakira, averaged a 4.8/11 in metered-market households, SNL's highest result in the metered markets so far this season.
- Saturday Night Live delivered the #1 non-sports rating of the night in the metered markets, topping all primetime entertainment telecasts on all the major networks. In fact, SNL outscored every Saturday primetime non-sports telecast on every major network over the past five months (since May 16).
I was actually surprised that they gave Butler some material to work with. Meagan Fox and Ryan Reynolds seem to take a backseat to the skits with cast only (and the huge amount of time they spent on Lady Gaga, in the Reynolds case).
Saturday’s SNL (10/17/09) was one of the best SNL of late. The dress rehearsal out takes were great. I hope they incorporate those more.
Not surprising at all! Fox is such a non talent and Reynolds, ugh!! Butler is amazing…he can and does do it all. He is a natural comedian and carried the show. I see him now as a regular on SNL!!!!
Great news for him. Big Movie this weekend, Big TV ratings!!!! YAH!!!!
The ratings for SNL on 10-17 were because of one Gerry Butler!! His skits were the best I’ve seen in a very long time. Plus he sang!
Butler has natural charm and charisma that translated well to both the live studio audience and the at-home viewer, in addition to his considerable talents as an actor. Add to this his extensive fan base, and frankly, SNL couldn’t lose.
Gerry did a great job! Some of the writing was a little lame but he put his all into every skit.
Gerry was AWESOME!!!!!! Hands down one of the best guests on there in the past few seasons. He’s just so darlin and funny. It’s about time they put him on the show.
Gerry was Great on SNL. I have not been a big fan of SNL for awhile because it is just not as funny as it used to be (sorry). But I would not miss seeing Gerry! Again, not all the skits were that well written but Gerry did a great job with what he was given. The opening was the best! Having Gerry sing AND fight…two of the many things he is good at!
If they can get Gerry to be a reoccurring guest, like Justin Timberlake, I would watch it more! 
I haven’t watched SNL in a long time and watch only occasionally now and used to be a pretty regular viewer but some seasons the show just seemed lack luster. Gerard Butler hosting made it all worth watching again! I hope to see him host again on the show. He has the talent for taking an otherwise blah skit and making it enjoyable! Hey, is that the mark of a truly great actor? And that voice!
I only tuned in to see Mr Butler. The writing of SNL is horrible. Kudos to GB for doing his best and making it look like he was really enjoying himself! I guess he’s finally “made it!” It’s been about 15 years since I watched an episode – it’ll be 15 more unless they have him back to host. I agree that the funnier moments of the show were the dress rehearsal footage of prior years.
I haven’t watched SNL for years, but really enjoyed Gerard Butler’s appearance on the show. How can you miss with a man as charming, sexy, funny and talented as Mr Butler? I enjoyed the cleaver way his film roles were parodied in the sketches and was thrilled to hear him sing again. Please invite him on the show again!
Gerard Butler succeeded because the audience could tell he is so real-not an actor with a huge ego. Gerard was so excited to be there the audience picked up on it and gave a great response especially to the monologue. The writing was not top notch, but Gerard made them work.
Kudos to you Gerard!
The show can never rely on the host (you get a different one every week), so they seem to over-rely on Kristen Wiig. She is good, but there are other talented cast members and not every sketch is going to be saved with a nervous/spastic/psycho character. The writers need to step up!
Been watching SNL on and off ever since it started and Saturday’s show was one of a handful that held up from beginning to end. Butler was fantastic and for once the skits did not go too long (nothing ruins a good SNL bit than wearing out it’s welcome). I usually just make it to or through Weekend Update but this was so good I saw the whole thing.
Good cameos from Dwayne Johnson as the Rock Obama and James Franco (who was a good comedic prop just sitting there).
I too thought SNL’s last episode with Gerard Butler was way above average from start to finish. The “Beauty and the Beast” and the “300″ spoofs were lol funny. The cast seems to have found their chemistry this season. Hope they stick around for a while. Nice to have SNL back again and contrary to both political party’s extremes SNL is poking fun at BOTH parties. The outtakes were great too! Glad the ratings are reflective of the show’s quality.
SNL is the worst it’s ever been and those ratings likely reflect Shakira’s appearance. People may not realize it, but Shakira’s extremely popular. I saw a chart about a month ago that showed she had something like 4 of the top 10 selling singles of the last decade.
SNL probably skimmed off some of the Univision/Telemundo ratings. NBC could actually increase their ratings if they switched over to all Spanish all the time.
I’d attribute the bounce to Shakira, not Butler. Not to take anything away from him, but he’s definitely not a bigger draw than the three guest hosts who came before him this season.
Why don’t they move SNL to Saturday Primetime and a rerun at 11:30 NBC has reuruns
I, too have not watched SNL in years due to poor writing (my brothers and sons could out write the writers ANY day!), but I watched due to Gerard Butler hosting the show. Mr. Butler is a natural comic and did a fantastic job! KUDOS to SNL and NBC for finally producing a winner!
Gerard Butler was the reason I tuned in but I was entertained the whole show through. I was laughing out loud at the Daveheart…afraid of the goat/dragon. The goofy new secretary (Wiig) was a hoot. And I
loved the twist regarding Beauty and the Beast. Good show. SNL needs to have him back as a host, soon.