NBA All-Star Game Slaughtered in Ratings by Saturday Night Live

Last night was a gigantic night of television across the country. There were many high profile events and shows on, including the NBA All-Star Game, but it wasn't anywhere close to the main event of the evening.

The 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Live aired last night in a four and a half hour special, commemorating one of the longest running weekly shows on cable television. SNL pulled in a 14.2 household rating, and was viewed by 23.1 million people from 8:30-11:00 PM, one of NBC's highest rated programs of all time (excluding all Super Bowls).

The NBA All-Star Game is a presentation of the fans' favorite players, showcasing their talents for one game all-together in a East vs. West Conference showdown. However, as with the NFL Pro Bowl, the game is often watered down, mostly with a complete lack of defense, and more or less bores any viewer.

Maybe the NBA planned the All-Star Game to be played at the same time as the SNL special, so as not to embarrass itself, or maybe this was just smart scheduling on NBC's part.

Basketball is the third most popular sport in the country, according to a recent Harris Poll, but with the brutally awful all-star game that the NBA produces, the television numbers from Sunday night reflect that something much worse.

The NBA All-Star Game gathered a 5.5 household rating (which is good ratings typically), and beat seven out of the last ten All-Star Games in ratings. However, this number could have been much higher had one of the most famous shows in the history of television not been celebrating its 40th birthday.

Along with these two shows, other programs that aired last night in the same time frame were The Walking Dead on AMC, CSI on CBS, the series finale of Mulaney on Fox, and the longest running show on cable television 60 Minutes also aired on CBS, all logged in lower ratings than normal.