‘Saturday Night Live’ Season 42 News: Show To Air Completely Live Nationwide For The First Time

4:55 PM EDT 3/17/2017 by Irene Cabrera, Celebeat Reporter

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"Saturday Night Live" Season 42 will be airing live in all coasts for the first time. The show will have its first simultaneous broadcast beginning on April 15.

The live broadcasts will take place in the final four episodes of "Saturday Night Live" Season 42. Former cast member and current host of "The Tonight Show" Jimmy Fallon will host the first live episode. He will then be followed by Chris Pine, who will host on May 6. Melissa McCarthy will follow suit on May 13, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will host the live season-ender on May 20, according to Variety.

Each aforementioned episode will air live at the following times: 11:30 p.m. Eastern Time; 10:30 p.m. Central; 9:30 p.m. Mountain; and 8:30 p.m. Pacific Time. "Saturday Night Live" Season 42 will have replays in the Mountain and Pacific time zones at 11:30 p.m.

The network behind "Saturday Night Live" Season 42, NBC, made the announcement on Wednesday. In a statement, NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt said about the historic live broadcast, "That way, everyone is in on the joke at the same time." He went on to praise show creator Lorne Michaels and the producers for making the show "one of the most relevant and anticipated shows in the zeitgeist."

News of the show's shift to nationwide simultaneous airing comes after the "Weekend Update" segment of "Saturday Night Live" Season 42 will broadcast special editions over the summer in primetime, according to NBC News. The segment's hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost will still be hosting the four-episode half-hour special, which will air sometime in August.

The show has since enjoyed rating success after Presidential Donald Trump's controversial victory after the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential elections. "Saturday Night Live" Season 42 is the show's most-watched season in 24 years, currently gaining 19 percent viewership amongst adults aged 18 to 49 and 22 percent overall.

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