Saturday Night Live is still in the midst of a transition, but if the ratings are any indication, the audience is growing restless. Ratings so far this season are down a couple of ticks from last year, which was down a couple of ticks from the previous year. So far, the 2014-2015 season hasn’t even seen one of those huge, break-out episodes ratings-wise, the kind that Jimmy Fallon, Justin Timberlake, Betty White, and Melissa McCarthy have delivered in past years.
Interestingly, though, the two highest rated episodes of the season were also the two worst episodes, based on both my opinion and Mike Ryan’s running scorecard of the season.
Here’s how Mike has rated the season’s episodes, so far, in terms of quality:
1. Martin Freeman 6.89
2. Woody Harrelson 6.75
3. Bill Hader 6.73
4. Amy Adams 6.52
5. Kevin Hart 6.39
6. Chris Pratt 5.99
7. Jim Carrey 5.94
8. Cameron Diaz 5.92
9. James Franco 5.89
10. Sarah Silverman 5.86
11. Blake Shelton 5.58
12. Chris Rock 5.38
See the bottom two? Chris Rock and Blake Shelton? They also happen to be the two highest rated episodes of the season by a wide margin. Chris Rock’s was the highest with a 4.9, Blake Shelton’s was next with a 4.7, and third on the highest rated episodes was actually James Franco with a 4.4. He also hosted the fourth worst episode of the season. All the other episodes scored in the 3.9 – 4.1 range, even Jim Carrey, who once delivered the second highest rated episode of the decade back in 2011 with a 7.8.
I’m sure there’s something you could say here about the split between critics and audiences on Saturday Night Live, but I’m not sure what that is, except that when broad-audience celebrities come on the show, like Blake Shelton and Jim Parsons, the writers definitely cater to that broader audience, which is to say: Those shows are safer, more conservative, and sadly not as funny.
Based on that, and the fact that this week’s host, Oscar nominee J.K. Simmons, is one of the least known hosts in a very long time, expect low ratings and one hell of a great show.