The race to the chair of the most powerful man in the world has just concluded, and Senator Barack Obama has made history as the first black president of the United States. But the spoils of victory in the nail-biting countdown were shared in no mean measure by late-night comedy flicks that dominated national television.
"For the last eight months everyone's been completely — I won't say obsessed — but fascinated by (the election). Every little turn is reported," says SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels. "We just caught the break that the country has been this focused. We were in perfect harmony with the audience. Interest has never waned," he added.
Monday saw NBC airing its highly popular Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash, featuring comic election spoofs by stars like Amy Poehler as Hilary Clinton, Fred Armisen as Barack Obama, and others. The audiences lapped up the show, powered by all-time favorite clips picked from past campaigns.
Tuesday, it was time for Comedy Central's election night special, Indecision 2008, co-hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. "We're going to have our election spooktacular — it's the scariest election of all time," Colbert had remarked prior to the show.
A visit from Senator Obama brought in the highest ratings of 3.6 million viewers for Stewarts Daily Show last week. The Colbert Report also struck a record 2.4 million as television audiences watched him endorse Obama.
The run-up to the US presidential elections had TV ratings sky-rocketing to new highs. SNL recorded its largest TV audience (15 million) in 14 years for the Oct. 18 broadcast in which Tina Fey impersonated Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin with élan.
The McCain/Palin combo scored high in the Nielsen TV Ratings. Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain's appearance on the last Saturday Night Live raked in an average of a 9.0 household rating/20 share in the metered markets, according to preliminary figures.
McCain's appearance, however, was outdone by his Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Her appearance on the October 18th show of SNL accounted for a 10.7 rating- SNL's highest since 1994.
Tina Fey was also well-received in her role as Palin in the show's opening. She hosted a mock QVC special, where election commemorative items, such as John McCain Pork Knives, and William Ayres Fresheners were released.
SNL is up 69% in the ratings compared to last year.
The enthusiasm spilled over to the web with Palin-related SNL skits viewed more than 63 million times, per figures from tracking firm Visual Measures. SNL has made it as the top TV show on the Web, with online users sharing its videos through e-mail and postings on other sites, according to Matt Cutler of Visual Measures.
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