Theforty-second season of theNBC sketch comedy seriesSaturday Night Live premiered on October 1, 2016, during the2016–2017 television season, with hostMargot Robbie and musical guestThe Weeknd,[1] and concluded on May 20, 2017, with hostDwayne Johnson and musical guestKaty Perry.[2] The season removed two commercial breaks per episode in order to increase programming time.[3] Episode 18 on April 15, 2017, was the first episode to be broadcast live in all four time zones within the contiguous United States. Until this episode, the show aired live only in theEastern andCentral time zones, and was tape-delayed in theMountain andPacific time zones.[4]
NBC announced prior to the season thatSNL would contain 30% less advertisement time starting with this season. Additionally, select NBC advertising clients will be given the opportunity to have their brand appear in promotional sketches, called "pods". Six of these pods will air each season.[5]
Prior to the start of the season, longtime cast membersTaran Killam andJay Pharoah, as well as featured playerJon Rudnitsky, were released from the cast.[6][7] Killam, despite having signed a seven-year contract that would have taken him to the end of this season, was dropped from the cast due in part to issues concerning his work directing the filmKilling Gunther, which would have limited his time on the show.[8] Following Killam, Pharoah, and Rudnitsky's departures, the show added three new featured players:SNL staff writer andWild 'n Out alumMikey Day ofThe Groundlings,[9] Chicago improviserAlex Moffat, and stand-up comedian and impressionistMelissa Villaseñor.[10][11] Contrary to rumors, stand-up comedianChris Redd was not hired this season, but he did join the show as a featured player duringthe following season.[12][13]Michael Che,Pete Davidson, andLeslie Jones were all upgraded to repertory status.[14]
On June 24, 2016,Lorne Michaels announced thatMichael Che andColin Jost would continue as the anchors of "Weekend Update".[15] Both were featured on SNL special editions of "Weekend Update" for the Democratic and Republican Conventions.
In August 2016, writing duoChris Kelly andSarah Schneider (who had been writing for the show since2011; and writing supervisors for the pasttwoseasons) were promoted to co-head writers, replacing Rob Klein in the role, whileBryan Tucker remained.[19] In addition, eight new writers were hired for the upcoming season: Kristen Bartlett, Zack Bornstein, Joanna Bradley,Anna Drezen,Julio Torres, Nick Kocher, Brian McElhaney, and Drew Michael.[20][21] After tweeting a controversial joke about Barron Trump in January 2017, writerKatie Rich was suspended indefinitely.[22]
Also in January 2017, writing supervisor Kent Sublette (who's been writing for the show since2007; and had been a writing supervisor for the past 3½ seasons, and the sole writing supervisor the first-half of the season) was elevated to head writer bringing the head writing team to four.[23]
This was Kelly and Schneider's final season writing for the show, and their only season as head writers, as the duo (who had been writing for the show for six years since 2011) left the show.[24]
This was also the final season for longtime writer Rob Klein (who Kelly and Schneider replaced as head writer; and who had overall been a writer for 10 years since2007), as he left the show at the end of the season. It was also Bornstein and Bradley's only season as writers.[25]
The Weeknd performs "Starboy" and "False Alarm" and also appears onWeekend Update during a bit titled "The Weeknd Update".
Alec Baldwin takes over impersonatingDonald Trump fromDarrell Hammond, who continues on as the show's announcer.[16] He appears in the show's cold open, a parody of the first presidential debate.
Chance the Rapper performs "Finish Line/Drown" withNoname and "Same Drugs" withFrancis Farewell Starlite. He also appears in the pre-recorded "Jingle Barack" and the "New York Now" sketch.
Harry Styles performs "Sign of the Times" and "Ever Since New York" and appears in the opening monologue, asMick Jagger in "Celebrity Family Feud", and in "Civil War Soldiers".
This is the firstSNL episode ever to be broadcast live in all four time zones within the contiguous United States. Previously, the show aired live only in theEastern andCentral time zones, and was tape-delayed in theMountain andPacific time zones.[4]
A 15-year-old boy namedRussell Horning appeared in Perry's first musical performance, performing his signature arm-swinging dance move known asthe Floss while wearing a backpack on stage. The performance gained social media attention with many dubbing him as the "Backpack Kid", and his dance move becoming an imitating trend among children, teens, and celebrities.
The forty-second season ofSNL had a larger-than-usual ratings bump, partially due to sketches surrounding the2016 presidential election and later thepresidency of Donald Trump. According toForbes writer Madeline Berg, the program "had its best season in 24 years, with an average of 11.3 million viewers in live-plus-seven-day ratings, which marks an increase of 26% from [the previous season]."[58] TheDave Chappelle/A Tribe Called Quest episode saw the highest ratings for the show sinceDonald Trump's hosting the previous season, and highest in the 18-49 rating demographic since December 2013.[33] The show received its best ratings for an October broadcast in eight years with theTom Hanks/Lady Gaga episode,[30] while theAlec Baldwin/Ed Sheeran episode in February received the best overall ratings for the season thus far, posting its highest metered-market household rating in six years.[16]
Republican candidateDonald Trump — who hostedSNL the previous season and eventually secured the presidency in November — was unhappy with his portrayal on the show by recurring guest Alec Baldwin. On multiple occasions, both before and after winning the election, Trump usedTwitter to publicize his thoughts on the impersonation, as well as the show: "WatchedSaturday Night Live hit job on me. Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks," he tweeted the morning after theEmily Blunt/Bruno Mars episode on October 16, 2016.[59] "It is a totally one-sided, biased show —nothing funny at all. Equal time for us?", he posted on November 20 after theKristen Wiig/The xx episode, suggesting the show follow theequal-time rule, despite the presidential race being over.[60] His criticism continued preceding hisinauguration: he dubbed it "unwatchable" on December 4,[61] and tweeted "Saturday Night Live is the worst of NBC. Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television!" after theFelicity Jones/Sturgill Simpson episode on January 15, 2017.[62]
