Saturday Night Lives Weekend Updatewill air four primetime episodes starting August 10th at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. The half-hour episodes will feature co-anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost, as well as additional SNL cast members.
The long-running news satire segment has been spun off into various primetime specials over the years. In 2008, Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday aired three episodes in the run-up to the election, with an extended version of the news rundown preceded by a cold open sketch.
Weekend Update Thursday returned in 2009 for three more episodes, while two additional episodes aired in 2012. During the 2016 election, Weekend Update did not air any stand-alone episodes, but Che and Jost recorded two special installments from the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.
The new Weekend Update spinoff comes as SNL continues to score its best ratings in years. The bump comes amidst a flurry of politically-charged sketches, anchored by Alec Baldwins recurring turn as President Donald Trumpand Melissa McCarthys occasional appearances as Press Secretary Sean Spicer.