The upcoming 43rd season of Saturday Night Live will be broadcast live from coast-to-coast, NBC has announced.
This is the first time SNL will be broadcast live for an entire season, though the final four episodes of the last season – the 42nd – aired live in every time zone.
Executive producer Lorne Michaels had previously discussed the broadcasting strategy, saying NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt ‘wanted it’, and that social media also played a role.
This is the first time SNL will be broadcast live for an entire season. Pictured above, Lorne Michaels and the cast of SNL accept the award for outstanding variety sketch series for Saturday Night Live at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday
Each episode of the new SNL season will air live at 11.30pm Eastern; 10.30pm Central; 9.30pm Mountain and 8.30pm Pacific. Pictured above, Alec Baldwin and Melissa McCarthy portray President Donald Trump and Sean Spicer, respectively, on an episode of SNL last season
‘Social media was so [focused] on the show that if you were following Twitter you were hearing about it before you could see it,’ he told The Hollywood Reporter. ‘It’s better if it’s live and they’re seeing it at the same time.’
SNL’s live and same-day viewership rose 11 per cent during coast-to-coast broadcasting last season, according to NBC.
Each episode of the new SNL season will air live at 11.30pm Eastern; 10.30pm Central; 9.30pm Mountain and 8.30pm Pacific.
An encore presentation of the latest episode will air in Mountain and Pacific time zones each Saturday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Saturday Night Live announced that the 43rd season would be live coast-to-coast in a Twitter post on Wednesday
The show took home nine Emmys on Sunday, including the Outstanding Variety Sketch Series category. Alec Baldwin won an Emmy for portraying President Donald Trump on the show, and Kate McKinnon took one home for Outstanding Supporting Actress. McKinnon and Baldwin are pictured above portraying Hillary Clinton and Trump on show last season
This is the latest new development for SNL, which aired summer content for the first time this August, with four editions of the Weekend Update.
The show took home nine Emmys on Sunday, including the Outstanding Variety Sketch Series category.
Alec Baldwin won an Emmy for portraying President Donald Trump on the show, and Kate McKinnon took one home for Outstanding Supporting Actress.
Dave Chappelle and Melissa McCarthy took home Emmys for Best Guest Actor and Actress respectively for their appearances on the show.
Season 43 kicks off on September 30, with Ryan Gosling as host and Jay-Z as a musical guest.
NBC has a series of live content coming to the network, including a live performance of Jesus Christ Superstar and the Aaron Sorkin play A Few Good Men.