‘Weekend Update’ Will Air Four Thursday Night Episodes This Summer

Live from New York, it’s Thursday night. TVLine confirmed that the Weekend Update segment of Saturday Night Live will have a four-episode long run Thursday night edition this summer, starting on Aug. 10.

The news comes a little over a month after reports first surfaced in the beginning of February.

SNL is having its best season in a quarter of a century — how many shows can say that?! — so we didn’t want them to take the summer off. We’re thrilled to have Colin Jost and Michael Che continuing their unique brand of news with fresh Weekend Update shows in primetime this August,” NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt said in a statement.

As Greenblatt referenced in his statement, current Weekend Update co-hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che will continue their hosting duties during the summer run of the show. There’s also a chance that other Saturday Night Live comedians will also be making appearances during the summer episodes.

This isn’t the first time that the segment has been featured in primetime over the years. During the 2008 presidential election, former co-hosts Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler had a limited primetime run. They did another six episodes in primetime in 2009. The Weekend Update also had a mini primetime run in 2012 as well.

This past season of Saturday Night Live has done exceptionally well in the ratings, making this season one of its best in 27 years. The episode from March 4, which featured Octavia Spencer as host, garnered a 5.2 in the household ratings and a 2.3 rating in the 18 to 49 demographic, according to Deadline.

The data for the most recent episode, which featured Scarlett Johansson as host, hasn’t been released as the Nielson data center in Florida lost power over the weekend and has been behind on releasing same day ratings since then, according to Deadline.

The primetime edition of Weekend Update will air four 30-minute episodes starting Aug. 10 at 9 p.m. on NBC.

Lauren Fitz: Lauren is a graduating senior at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, who is majoring in multiplatform journalism and is minoring in popular culture. She has been a member of the mxdwn Television team since February 2016 and was promoted to editor in October 2016. In addition to being part of the mxdwn team, she is a columnist and general entertainment reporter for her college's student-run paper, The BG News. In her free time, Lauren likes to read, watch TV and meet up with friends over coffee, where she will inevitably end up talking about TV. You can reach out to Lauren by email: lauren@mxdwn.com.
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