THE SEASON PREMIERE OF 'SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE' DELIVER GAINS VERSUS ITS YEAR-AGO DEBUT IN NIELSEN'S METERED MARKETS

HOSTED BY AMY POEHLER AND FEATURING MUSICAL GUEST KATY PERRY, THE 36TH SEASON PREMIERE OF 'SNL' SCORES THE #1 RATINGS OF THE NIGHT AHEAD OF ALL PRIMETIME TELECASTS ON ALL MAJOR NETWORKS

EXCLUDING THE ELECTION-BOOSTED DEBUT IN 2008, 'SNL' MATCHES ITS HIGHEST SEASON-OPENING RATING SINCE 2005

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. � September 26, 2010 � The 36th season premiere of "Saturday Night Live" has delivered a 15 percent increase on its season-opening rating of one year ago, according to in-home viewing figures from the 56 local markets metered by Nielsen Media Research. Note that current metered-market averages are based on Nielsen "live plus same day" data while ratings for earlier years were drawn from "live only" results.

With a telecast hosted by Amy Poehler and featuring musical guest Katy Perry, last night's "Saturday Night Live" averaged a 5.3 household rating, 13 share in the metered markets, up from last year's 4.6/11 for the September 26, 2009 season-opening telecast.

Excluding the 2008 premiere, which was boosted by interest in that year's Presidential election and featured a guest appearance by Tina Fey as Gov. Sarah Palin, last night's 5.3 household rating in the metered markets matches the show's highest debut since 2005 (with host Steve Carell and musical guest Kanye West, 5.8/14 on October 1, 2005). The 5.3 ties the 2006 season opener (with host Dane Cook and musical guest The Killers, 5.3/13 on September 30, 2006).

Last night's telecast of "Saturday Night Live" was the #1 program of the night, topping all primetime telecasts on all major networks in metered-market household ratings.

In the 25 markets with local people meters, "Saturday Night Live" averaged a 3.2 rating, 14 share in adults 18-49, also making it the #1 telecast of the night ahead of all primetime programming on all major networks. Versus the year-ago debut (2.8 rating), "SNL" is up 14 percent in the local people meters.

The September 25 telecast of "Saturday Night Live" featured guest appearances by Justin Timberlake, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch and Jimmy Fallon in the opening monologue, Maya Rudolph in a reprise of Amy Poehler's "Bronx Beat" sketch and New York Gov. David Paterson in Weekend Update, taking "SNL" to task for its past depictions of him.

National ratings, including viewer totals, for last night's "Saturday Night Live" are due from Nielsen on Thursday, September 30.