Lin-Manuel Miranda-Hosted SNL Sets 12-Year High Record for Program

Last week's SATURDAY NIGHYT LIVE, hosted by Broadway's Lin-Manuel Miranda, has delivered its most-watched Week 2 telecast in 12 years , according to "live plus same day" official-national ratings from Nielsen Media Research. (Click here for photos and video clips from the broadcast!)

The Oct. 8 edition of "Saturday Night Live," with host Miranda and musical guest Twenty One Pilots, averaged 7.140 million viewers, highest for the second "SNL" of a new fall season since Oct. 9, 2004, when an episode featuring host and musical guest Queen Latifah averaged 7.640 million.

The 7.140 million viewers is a jump of +24% or 1.4 million persons over the 5.749 million "SNL" averaged last year with October originals.

In adults 18-49, last weekend's "Saturday Night Live" has averaged a 2.11 rating, 10 share in L+SD, best for a Week 2 "SNL" since Oct. 5, 2013 (2.66 with host and musical guest Miley Cyrus). Versus the show's October 2015 average for originals, the Oct. 8 telecast is up +21% (2.11 vs. 1.75).

The show's Oct. 1 season premiere, hosted by Margot Robbie and featuring musical guest The Weeknd as well as the first appearance by Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump, averaged 8.297 million viewers overall and a 2.34 rating, 11 share in adults 18-49 in "live plus same day" Nielsens.

In "live plus seven day" ratings, the Oct. 1 season premiere grew to 12.194 million viewers overall, best for an "SNL" debut in 22 years (since Sept. 24, 1994, 12.201 viewers with host Steve Martin and musical guest Eric Clapton). In 18-49, the season premiere has grown to a 3.84 rating in L+7, best for an "SNL" opener in eight years (since Sept. 13, 2008, 4.94 with host Michael Phelps, musical guest Lil Wayne and Tina Fey as Gov. Sarah Palin).

Lin-Manuel Miranda will soon begin filming MARY POPPINS for Disney, opposite Emily Blunt. He recently composed original music for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, and his original music will be featured in Disney's upcoming animated film MOANA.

Miranda wrote the music and lyrics for the musical In the Heights, which opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in March 2008. His written work for the show earned him numerous accolades, including the 2008 Tony Award for Best Original Score and the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Miranda's performance in the show's lead role of Usnavi earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

This year, Miranda received multiple TONY AWARDS for his work on HAMILTON, as well as the Pulitzer Prize. He is a 2015 recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Award, and received the 2016 Edward KENNEDY Prize for Drama.

Photo by: Will Heath/NBC