For the final four episodes of last season, Saturday Night Live broke tradition and aired the show live across the country after decades of tape delaying for the Mountain and Pacific time zones. The tape delay never mattered until the rise of social media, when East Coasters began spoiling sketches for folks out West.
On this week’s episode of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Awards Chatter podcast with host Scott Feinberg, show creator Lorne Michaels explained why the change occurred in the first place, and then went as far as he could without officially confirming that SNL will continue with live coast-to-coast broadcasts this season:
Michaels: There were two significant reasons. One was [NBC entertainment chairman] Bob Greenblatt wanted it. Two was that social media was so on the show that you couldn’t, if you were following Twitter, you were hearing about it before you could see it. We’d be divided into two days. There’d be a lot of action on Saturday, and then another group on Sunday. It just seemed like that’s what driving things. And to get people to stay tuned for a broadcast, it’s better if it’s live and they’re seeing it at the same time.
Feinberg: Is there going to be the way of the future?
Michaels: I think so. Yeah, I think it is.
Although numbers were also boosted by election season, the episodes that were broadcast live across all time zones broke the show’s ratings records. Last season’s SNL was the most-watched season in 23 years, according to The Hollywood Reporter. SNL also received a show-record 22 Emmy nominations.
