Colin Cowherd discusses "Saturday Night Live" airing the 40th anniversary special on Sunday and why its ratings were so much better than the NBA All-Star Game, which aired at the same time. 
 
 The NBA All-Star Game faced stiff competition for eyeballs on Sunday night, as the "Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special" drew huge television viewership numbers. 
 
 The NBA All-Star Game drew a 5.5 rating, according to Nielsen, up 12 percent from last year's game. Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images 
 
 The special, which brought back some of the biggest names in the show's history, garnered a 14.2 household rating on NBC versus a 5.5 rating for the All-Star Game on TNT and TBS, according to the 56 markets monitored by Nielsen. 
 
 The rating for the SNL show translated into 23.1 million viewers from 8-11:30 p.m. ET. The program was shown on tape delay for the West Coast, which might have turned into a positive for the NBA. 
 
 Turner Sports averaged 7.2 million viewers, but the overnight rating was still up 12 percent versus last year's broadcast, the network said. 
 
 This year's NBA All-Star Game overnights still beat out the metered ratings for seven of the previous 10 games. 
 
 It was a closer battle on Twitter, where 1.3 million tweets were sent out about the SNL special versus 1.1 million on the NBA All-Star Game, according to Nielsen Social. 
 
 The SNL show counts as NBC's most watched prime-time entertainment telecast, in total viewers, since May 13, 2004. That night "ER" had 23.9 million viewers on the night of the "Frasier" finale. That number excludes post-Super Bowl programs. 
 
 The West beat the East 163-158 in the highest-scoring NBA All-Star Game. ||||| NEW YORK (AP) — The Nielsen ratings company says NBC's "Saturday Night Live" 40th anniversary bash has drummed up a huge audience. Preliminary figures indicate Sunday's retrospective special was seen by 23.1 million viewers. 
 
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 Jimmy Fallon, left, and Justin Timberlake attend the SNL 40th Anniversary Special at Rockefeller Plaza on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2015, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP) (Associated Press) 
 
 That makes it NBC's most-watched prime-time entertainment special since May 2004, when the network aired a "Friends" clips show the night of its series finale. 
 
 It's NBC's most-watched prime-time entertainment broadcast overall, excluding post-Super Bowl programs, since May 2004, for an episode of "ER" the night of the "Frasier" series finale. 
 
 The 3½-hour special looked back on the comedy series' four-decade run and featured more than 80 guest stars. 
 
 Nielsen says the preceding one-hour red carpet special was seen by 11.1 million viewers. ||||| NBC took Saturday Night Live out of Saturday late-night into Sunday primetime to mark its 40th anniversary. Actually, the veteran sketch show is not turning 40 for another eight months, until October 11, but the network has football then, and it’s sweeps now and there is blank slate on Sunday before NBC’s midseason lineup kicks in, so I guess why not. 
 
 And while many don’t celebrate the big 4-0, NBC is sure glad it did for SNL. Last night’s Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special delivered blockbuster ratings — a 7.8 fast national rating in 18-49 and 23.1 million viewers in primetime, from 8-11 PM (the special bled into late-night, with ratings for the 11-11:30 PM portion not yet available). 
 
 In 18-49, this marks NBC’s top-rated primetime entertainment telecast, excluding post-Super Bowl programs, in more than eight years, since the Will & Grace finale on May 18, 2006 (8.4). In total viewers, this is NBC’s most-watched primetime entertainment telecast, also excluding post-Super Bowl programs, in more than 10 years, since May 13, 2004 (23.9 million with ER on the night of the Frasier finale). 
 
 SNL 40 also is NBC’s top-rated and most-watched primetime entertainment special in 10 years, since the Friends clip show the night of the series’ finale on May 6, 2004 (16.7 in 18-49, 36.9 million viewers from 8-9 PM). 
 
 With an SNL red carpet special (3.0, 11.1 million) from 7-8 PM, the network averaged a 6.6 in 18-49 and 20.1 million viewers from 7-11 PM, NBC’s best Sunday numbers with entertainment programming in 11 years, since the 2004 Golden Globes. It won the night by a very wide margin. 
 
 Last night featured two finales. Against the SNL special, the abbreviated and possibly final Season 15 of CBS’ CSI wrapped with a series-low 1.1 rating among adults 18-49 for two back-to-back episodes at 9 PM and 10 PM. The Season 1 and series finale of Fox’s Mulaney at 7 PM matched a series low of 0.4. Its co-star Martin Short was seen by far wider audience on the SNL special. 
 
 CBS’ 60 Minutes, featuring the final report of late correspondent Bob Simon, logged a 1.2 in 18-49, down 20% from last week, and the largest audience on a network other than NBC last night, 10.4 million. At 8 PM, Undercover Boss (0.9) was down 25% from its Friday telecast and 50% its most recent Sunday episode. Fox’s The Simpsons (1.1) was down a tenth from last week. Brooklyn Nine-Nine, whose star, SNL alum Andy Samberg, was featured in the NBC special, was pushed to a low of 0.9, down 25% from last week. Family Guy (1.2) was down -14%, Bob’s Burgers (0.9) was down -10%. 
 
 On ABC, America’s Funniest Home Videos did best against the increased competition at NBC, matching last week’s 1.4 adults 18-49 rating at 7 PM. The Bachelor: Chris Tells All special logged a 1.5. It was followed by Part 1 of a two-night Bachelor episode, which logged a series-low 1.5, down -44% from the regular Monday episode. But because ABC’s ratings bar on Sunday has been so low from 9-11 PM this season, this represents the network’s highest rating in the time slot since the American Music Awards in November.
– Some 23.1 million Americans tuned in last night for Saturday Night Live's three-and-a-half-hour 40th anniversary tribute to itself, reports Deadline, in the biggest ratings coup for an NBC primetime entertainment special in the decade since a Friends clip show pulled in 36.9 million people on the night of the series finale. It's also NBC's most watched primetime entertainment show since ER scored 23.9 million on the night of Frasier's 2004 finale. Those numbers exclude post-Super Bowl programs, notes the AP. SNL's red carpet special alone hooked 11.1 million viewers. The 40th anniversary special gave last night's NBA All-Star Game some serious competition, notes ESPN, though final numbers aren't yet out.