The SNL Effect

Recently NBC's "Saturday Night Live" has been receiving increased ratings due to the coming 2008 Presidential Election. Without a doubt, the most dynamic addition to the SNL cast of parodies this year has been Tina Fey's immitation of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. It can be easily argued that leading up to the Vice-Presidential Debate there were very low expectations of Sarah Palin. While the reason behind those low expectations has its origin in her performance in early interviews, the problem was exacerbated by Tina Fey's SNL impersonation of Sarah Palin.

The first skit where she unveils her Palin impersonation was a joint interview where SNL compares Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. The fodder for this skit came from an interview that Governor Palin did on ABC with Charlie Gibson. This interview and her early interview with Katie Couric on NBC gave Fey plenty of material to use in making the unflattering impersonation.

How much of an effect did this impersonation have on the general public's mood? The answer to that question depends upon many factors. If you have an initial pre-disposition, you are likely to view it from that perspective and react either positively or negatively based on that predisposition. If you are one of the ever popular and highly sought after "undecided" voters, then it likely had a highly prejudicial effect on you. Palin was painted as being simpleminded and unsophisticated. She was parrodied for giving what seemd to be simplistic, even dangerous, answers to tough questions such as the economy and foreign policy.

While you can debate whether these impressions of Sarah Palin had a positive or negative impact on the Republican campaign, what cannot be debated is the amount of viewership generated by these impressions. According to the Neilson ratings, SNL took in 40% mor viewers than the same time the previous year. Good or bad, people are watching but what effect is it having?