‘Saturday Night Live’ scores high ratings with Hillary Clinton, Miley Cyrus

"Saturday Night Live" kicked off its 41st season strong, with help from host Miley Cyrus and a special guest: presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The season premiere scored a 4.5 household rating and 11 share in metered market households, up 13% versus last year's premiere, according to Nielsen. The Cyrus-Clinton episode earned a 2.0/10 in the desired 18- to 49-year-old demographic.

The episode marked the show’s highest household rating since Jan. 24, when it earned a 4.7/12 with host and musical guest Blake Shelton. 

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Final national ratings, including viewer totals, for last night’s episode will not be released by Nielsen until Thursday. However, viewership is expected to be up from last year’s premiere, which drew 5.56 million viewers.

Social buzz over the 41st season premiere centered on a sketch with "SNL" cast member Kate McKinnon (who played Clinton) and Clinton (who played down-to-earth bartender Val).  

Meanwhile, Taran Killam tackled another presidential candidate: Donald Trump. Fellow cast member Cecily Strong played Trump’s wife, Melania.

The episode sparked 69,377 tweets a couple of hours before, during and a couple of hours after the broadcast, according to Nielsen TV ratings.

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Of the tweets, 22,521 -- almost 33% -- contained "reactions," or tweets with emotions, according to Canvs, a social TV platform. The company uses relevant tweets, provided by Nielsen, to gauge what emotions people have about TV. The tweets are then broken down into reactions.

An estimated 32% of the reaction tweets were emotions of "love," much of that geared towards "SNL" kicking off strong with election-related skits. About 14% said the premiere was "good" and 12.4% said it was funny.

Viewers also lauded host Cyrus and guest Clinton. "Hillary" was mentioned in about 10% of the reaction tweets and "Miley" was included in about  9% of reaction tweets.  

Still, some people weren't fans of the show's kick off. About 16% of reaction tweets contained emotions of hate.

For more news on the entertainment industry, follow me @saba_h.

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