Saturday Night Live to Air Live Coast-to-Coast Again

NBC has confirmed that its Emmy-winning sketch-comedy series Saturday Night Live will once again air live simultaneously across the country. The show returns for season 43 later this month.

Each episode of SNL will air at 11:30 p.m. Eastern, 10:30 p.m. Central, 9:30 p.m. Mountain and 8:30 p.m. Pacific. Episodes will also repeat at 11:30 p.m. Mountain and Pacific. There will be a quiz on this once you’re finished reading.

SNL’s live coast-to-coast airings began near the end of season 42 in April, bumping up NBC’s “live plus same day” viewership 11 percent higher than its early-season average (from 7.5 million to 8.3 million, per Nielsen Media Research). Apparently, viewers in formerly tape-delayed markets prefer to see it live … Saturday Night Live.

Sorry.

SNL took home nine Emmys this year, with Sunday night wins for Best Variety Sketch Series, Best Directing for a Variety Series (Don Roy King), Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Kate McKinnon) and Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Alec Baldwin), plus five Creative Arts Emmys. That brings the show’s all-time Emmy total to a whopping 64.

Between its coast-to-coast airing and the return of David S. Pumpkins, our excitement for SNL season 43 is slowly but surely ramping up.

SNL’s new season premieres at 11:30 p.m. EDT (and 10:30 p.m. CDT, and so on) on Sept. 30, with host Ryan Gosling and musical guest Jay-Z.