An exclusive poll conducted for Newsweek has revealed that 50 percent of TV viewers don't miss the absence of Saturday Night Live (SNL) "at all."
Before its most recent season drew to a close, the NBC show was abruptly pulled from schedules, along with several others, after the Writers Guild of America (WGA) announced its strike.
As SNL remains off the air until at least the fall as a result of the strike, a large proportion of viewers appear to be unmoved by its absence, new polling for Newsweek by Redfield & Wilton Strategies shows.
Of the 1,500 American adults polled online on July 6, 50 percent said that they didn't miss SNL "at all."
Among the younger age groups, Generation Z is the least enthusiastic about the show. Thirty-eight percent of the 18 to 24 age group don't miss the show, while 22 percent of people in the 25 to 34 age group feel the same. Thirty percent of viewers aged 35 to 44 said they were not missing SNL.
When the ages go up from there, the indifference to SNL increases dramatically, with 61 percent of those aged 45 to 54 not missing the show, followed by 55 to 64 (63 percent) and 65+ (74 percent).
Of all the age groups, Gen Z spends less time watching traditional linear TV, having essentially grown up in an era of streamed programming. With SNL's format being a live broadcast, this can clash with Gen Z viewing habits.
As the show has built its brand on skewering political figures—much to the ire of frequent critic Donald Trump—it is noteworthy that of those who don't miss the show in all age groups, 53 percent voted for the former president in the 2020 election. Democrat President Joe Biden got 41 percent of the vote from those who don't miss SNL.
On the positive side of the poll, 18 percent of respondents said that they missed SNL a "significant amount." Those aged 35 to 44 led the pack of fans, with 36 percent missing the show, followed by 25 to 34 (29 percent), 18 to 24 (22 percent), 45 to 54 (14 percent), 55 to 64 (8 percent), and 65+ (3 percent).
In November, polling for Newsweek by Redfield & Wilton Strategies showed that just one in five people found the show to be funny. That said, 48 percent of those polled said that SNL was sometimes funny.
Newsweek contacted a representative of SNL via email for comment on Tuesday.
The long-running NBC comedy show, which was created by Lorne Michaels and debuted in October 1975, is famous for its sketches that often parody headline-making events and figures from politics and pop culture.
In 2022, SNL went through a major transition after losing four veteran performers—Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon and Kyle Mooney. In addition, four others last year announced they would not be returning for another season. They were Chris Redd, Melissa Villaseñor, Alex Moffat and Aristotle Athari.
Over the years, countless celebrities have guest-hosted the program, including Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Drew Barrymore, Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck.
Rob Schneider—who worked on SNL between 1988 and 1994, going from writer to cast member in 1990—hit out at the long-running comedy show during an appearance on The Glenn Beck Podcast in August 2022.
The comedian said that a November 2016 sketch featuring Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton after her election loss to Trump was the moment he decided the show was "over."
"I hate to c*** on my own show," Schneider told Beck. "When Hillary Clinton lost—which is understandable why she lost. She's not exactly the most logical person in the room.
"Then when Kate McKinnon went out there on Saturday Night Live in the cold opening and all that, and she's dressed as Hillary Clinton, and she started playing 'Hallelujah'. I literally prayed, 'Please have a joke at the end. Don't do this. Please don't go down there,'" Schneider continued. "And there was no joke at the end, and I went, 'It's over. It's over. It's not gonna come back.'"
Alec Baldwin, who holds the record for hosting SNL the most times with 17 stints, responded to Schneider's complaints about the show in a video posted on Instagram some days later.
Taking aim at Schneider's criticism of SNL, Baldwin noted that the comic had criticized "someone's judgment and you leave out the idea that you had no problem with their judgment when they hired you[...] And of course, Rob Schneider had a great run and he's funny. I think he's funny. Rob's very, very funny."
Baldwin, who won an Emmy Award for his impersonation of Trump on SNL, accepted that not all of the show's episodes are good, as is the case with many bodies of work.
"SNL is a live TV show[...] They're in an office at a meeting on a Monday and the show is live by Saturday. It's not easy. Of course, I'm going to defend them. They're my friends, they're old, old pals of mine," Baldwin said.
"I divide the episodes of SNL the way I divide everything else. You look at an actor's career, you look at a director's career," Baldwin continued. "I divide it into thirds. A third of it is good, a third of it is so-so and a third of it is not very good. And a third of the episodes of SNL have been good, and a third of them so-so and a third not so good. Everybody's batting through 33 [percent].
"It's no different than any other program. It is topical, they discuss what's going on. It's what's expected of us and it's worked. In a couple more years, they're going to be doing their 50th season, so they must be doing something right. Of course, I love Lorne. I love the institution that is SNL, I've had a lot of fun with them.
"But you've got to be careful. Someone taught me this in this business; that is you've got to be careful when you criticize people for their judgment and you turn around and pause for a moment and realize, well that judgment of theirs led them to hire you once upon a time."
