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NBC’s Saturday Night Live returned this weekend from an extended, pandemic-related, five-week break to its second-best numbers of the season, trailing only Eddie Murphy’s much-ballyhooed December visit.

Featuring material produced remotely by the cast and crew and with recovering COVID-19 patient Tom Hanks serving as the surprise host, SNL at Home averaged 6.7 million total viewers and a 1.46 rating, placing (a distant) second for the season behind Eddie Murphy’s Dec. 21 hosting turn (which drew just shy of 10 mil along with a 2.5 rating).

Excepting former cast member Murphy’s return to Studio 8H (with musical guest Lizzo), SNL at Home delivered the sketch series’ best results since the May 4, 2019 episode, featuring host Adam Sandler and musical guest Shawn Mendes (6.8 mil/1.61).

Among primetime programming airing this Saturday on the Big 4, SNL was easily the No. 1 show of the night in both total viewers and in the demo.

SNL at Home earned an overall TVLine reader grade of “B,” while Weekend Update specifically averaged a “B+.”