'Saturday Night Live' Is more valuable again, thanks to Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

Nautilus Entertainment News
By: Graciela J. Ayllon
Dallas October 8,2008

Once upon a time, TV viewers would have had to stay up late to watch Tina Fey do her Sarah Palin routines on "Saturday Night Live."

RELATED: PALIN SAYS INTERVIEW FLUBS WERE TO KEEP TINA FEY IN BUSINESS
These days, all they have to do is wake up on Sunday morning. If they don't see it replayed on a cable network, they can simply walk over to the computer and call up the "SNL" Web site. (SCROLL DOWN PAGE FOR VIDEO)

And they do. Fey's first two Palin sketches this season drew more than 5 million Web views within the first 48 hours, according to "SNL."

While Fey's Palin bits may not have sparked as much buzz as the Moose Dresser herself, they clearly became a hot media ticket. "SNL" ratings this season have leapt more than 40% over last year in Nielsen's metered markets.

RELATED: 'SNL' SENDS UP VP DEBATE
But even that doesn't fully reflect the dramatic increase in the number of people who have seen Fey's routines, or other TV "water cooler" moments, in this year's long election campaign.

TV broadcasts, once a one-time thing, are now a launching pad to seemingly eternal life. "See It Now," Edward R. Murrow's revered news program from the early 1950s, today would have to be retitled "See It Whenever You Want."

Anyone who doesn't watch tonight's live debate between Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Republican John McCain will be able to see it all over TV and the computer screen from almost the moment it ends.

Same with Michelle Obama's scheduled appearance tomorrow night on Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" over Comedy Central.

CBS' Katie Couric got no big bump in the live ratings when she interviewed Sarah Palin last month.

But after people started saying, "You gotta see this," it drew more than 7 million hits on YouTube, in addition to heavy viewing at the CBS News Web site.

Nor is that an isolated case.

David Letterman's cranky response to John McCain canceling a "Late Night" appearance has been viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube - a bigger number than Letterman's average nightly audience.

There have been more than 7 million YouTube viewings of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's controversial ex-pastor. That's more people than would see a live Wright sermon in a thousand lifetimes.

Web site hits aren't a true comparison to a broadcast audience, because someone who enjoys a Web excerpt often will run up the count by playing it multiple times or passing it around.

Web postings can also distort a subject by offering only an excerpt rather than the full context. That's been an issue with interview clips, though it works well with "Saturday Night Live" because the viewer who only wants the Fey skit can skip the rest.

Video posts are only one part of the near-saturation role the Web has played in this election campaign, from blogs to fund-raising to JibJab satire.

But they're also part of a time-shifting TV culture that began in the 1970s - for anyone who could figure out how to work the timer - and today has made TiVo and DVRs as common as $2 bottles of water.

If you didn't see Edward R. Murrow dissect the dangers of Sen. Joseph McCarthy on March 9, 1954, you missed it. As of March 10, you could only read news reports about it.

Tina Fey, conversely, is never more than a mouse click away.