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What started as an experiment — “Saturday Night Live” airing live across the continental United States for the end of last season — is becoming more permanent in 2017-18



NBC says “SNL” will continue to air live coast-to-coast for the coming season, which begins Sept. 30. The show aired its final four episodes of last season fully live, and it resulted in a ratings bump.

An average of 8.3 million same-day viewers watched the last four episodes of the season. That’s an increase of 11 percent over the 7.5 million for the prior episodes.

“Saturday Night Live” will air at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time, 10:30 Central, 9:30 Mountain and 8:30 Pacific. A replay will air at 11:30 p.m. in the Mountain and Pacific time zones.

“SNL” last year enjoyed its best season since 2009-10 in adults 18-49 and its most-watched season since the mid-1990s. Toward the end of the run, NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt floated the idea of going live nationwide to executive producer Lorne Michaels.

Michaels agreed to give it a try, and went with it again for the coming season — provided there wouldn’t be any reins put on the show since it’s airing in primetime in part of the country.

“[Michaels] likes the idea — if we don’t put constraints on the show — because he loves the idea of being live everywhere,” Greenblatt tells AdWeek.

The season premiere of “Saturday Night Live” is set for Sept. 30. Ryan Gosling will host, with Jay-Z set as the musical guest.