The ‘SNL’ 50 Campaign Kicks Off with the Most-Watched Season Premiere Since 2020

Host Jean Smart and musical guest Jelly Roll were overshadowed by the introduction of the show's Tim Walz, Doug Emhoff, and JD Vance.

“Saturday Night Live‘s” 50th season got off to a good start this past weekend.

Though Jean Smart (“Hacks”) and Jelly Roll were the host and musical guest, respectively, the real stars of “SNL” Episode #1865 were the new character assignments ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

Former “SNL” cast member (1986-1993) Dana Carvey is our absent-minded (and just generally absent) outgoing commander-in-chief Joe Biden, Maya Rudolph is of course back as Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, Andy Samberg returned to Studio 8H as her husband — the second gentleman who could become the first gentleman come January — Doug Emhoff, standup comedian Jim Gaffigan as her running mate Tim Walz, Bowen Yang as the Republican VP candidate JD Vance, and of course James Austin Johnson as former president Donald Trump.

The September 28 season premiere landed 5.3 million viewers, the most for a season premiere episode since 2020, when Chris Rock opened the season as host. IndieWire asked an NBC spokesperson for the last non-premiere episode to have more viewers, but we did not immediately get that information.

The official “SNL 50” celebration is slated for mid-February. It will culminate with a three-hour live primetime special on Sunday, February 16 from 8-11 p.m. ET

Up next is Nate Bargatze, a standup comic who in his “SNL” debut last season put on a standout show. Coldplay will join Bargatze as musical guest on October 5.

Ariana Grande and Stevie Nicks share the October 12 show as host and musical guest, respectively. The day before their episode is the release of Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” a fictionalized biopic that takes place over the course of one evening on October 11, 1975 — the night of the sketch-comedy show’s series premiere. Gabriel LaBelle stars as “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels; Rachel Sennott, Cooper Hoffman, Dylan O’Brien, Cory Michael Smith, Lamorne Morris, Matt Wood, Willem Dafoe, Matthew Rhys, Nicolas Braun, J.K. Simmons, Kim Matula, Andrew Barth Feldman, Emily Fairn, Tommy Dewey, Kaia Gerber, and Jon Batiste round out the cast.

On October 19, Michael Keaton will host “SNL” for a fourth time; Billie Eilish is his musical guest. A surely-exhausted cast then gets two weeks off before John Mulaney and Chappell Roan take the reins mere days before Election Day.

“Saturday Night Live” airs live coast-to-coast (11:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. PT) and streams live on Peacock. “SNL” is produced in association with Broadway Video.