'SNL' is going live nationwide for the first time in history
Closing out its highest performing season in 20 years, Saturday Night Live will air live from coast-to-coast for the first time ever.
The final four episodes, hosted by Jimmy Fallon, Chris Pine, Melissa McCarthy and Dwayne Johnson, will air simultaneously across the country, instead of 11:30 P.M. in each respective time zone, NBC confirmed to Mashable Thursday.
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As NBC Entertainment Robert Greenblatt pointed out in a statement, SNL "is part of the national conversation, and we thought it would be a great idea to broadcast to the west and mountain time zones live at the same time it’s being seen in the east and central time zones. That way, everyone is in on the joke at the same time."
In the Mountain and Pacific time zones, which will air the show at 9:30 and 8:30 P.M. respectively, there will be a rerun in the show's usual time slot.
Fallon was an SNL cast member in the early 2000s, while McCarthy has been one of the season's breakout characters with her impression of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Chris Pine will arrive one month before the release of Wonder Woman (was Gal Gadot busy, or ... ?) and Johnson just in time to promote Baywatch.
"Kudos to Lorne Michaels, the producers and cast for making SNL one of the most relevant and anticipated shows in the zeitgeist," Greenblatt added.
