If you haven't heard yet the first 5 hosts are scheduled for next season of Saturday Night Live.
https://twitter.com/nbcsnl/status/1166033629929254912
Of course, everyone is talking about Eddie Murphy's long awaited return to the show on December 21. He famously wanted nothing to do with the show ever since David Spade made a joke about him in 1995 during the Hollywood Minute segment of SNL's Weekend Update. Murphy had just put out a couple of movies that bombed so Spade showed a photo of Murphy and simply said: “Look, kids, a falling star! Quick, make a wish . . .”
https://www.salon.com/2015/10/20/dav...ay_night_live/
This pissed off Eddie something fierce. He finally returned to SNL for the 40th Anniversary of SNL in 2015 but it was very stilted and awkward. He wasn't funny at all and he basically just walked on stage and said 'sup.
But now, Eddie Murphy returns to SNL for real for the first time in 35 years and people are jacked up. Well, I should say mostly men over the age of 35 are excited. Personally, I can't wait. I'm a super fan of the show, having seen every episode since about 1990. I've been through all the ups and downs. Recently, the show has been bad and that has been reflected in the ratings. The cast next season will be mostly unchanged except Leslie Jones is leaving which I think will be addition by subtraction (I find her wildly unfunny and I think Lorne Michaels leaned on her one-note humour way too much).
Now for the prop bet. My friend and I are wagering on the tv ratings for the Eddie Murphy episode.
Here are some numbers for context: (first number in parentheses is ratings: % of households with tv watching the show; second number is share: % of households currently watching tv who watched the show)
-the highest rated episode in the past 11 years is Oct. 2008 (Josh Brolin/Adele) when Sarah Palin was on the show - (10.7/24)
-the highest rated show last season was May 4, 2019 (Adam Sandler/Shawn Mendes) (4.8/12)
-the highest rated show in 2017-2018 was January 27, 2018 (Will Ferrell/Chris Stapleton) (4.9/11)
-the highest rated show in 2016-2017 was February 11, 2017 (Alec Baldwin/Ed Sheeran) (7.2/18) *note that I couldn't find the ratings for the last 4 episodes, only average US viewers which was 10.4 M for Melissa McCarthy/HAIM on May 13, 2017
Some potential confounds: December 21 is going to be a Saturday during X-mas party season, is Eddie Murphy still relevant?, do people just rewatch clips online the day after the show now?, who will be the musical guest? (imagine if they make it Eddie Murphy!)
So for the Eddie Murphy episode we have set the line at a
5.75 rating.
Would you bet over or under?