I am – Hercules!! UPDATE!! Preliminary estimates give the alumni-rich Betty White SNL a 5.1 rating in adults 18-49. That beats every late night or PRIMETIME show aired last week except "American Idol." Last week's top primetime shows:

18-49 finals (repeats in gray; previous weeks in parentheses): 6.5 (6.7) (5.9) (6.8) (6.7) (6.7) (7.2) (6.8) (7.5) (8.5) (8.7) (7.0) (9.5) (7.8) (9.5) (9.9)(10.1)(----) American Idol (Wed) 6.2 (6.9) (6.9) (7.1) (7.3) (7.7) (8.4) (8.1) (8.2) (8.6) (9.0)(9.2)(10.1) (9.0)(9.0)(10.1)(11.8)(----) American Idol (Tue) 4.9 (5.2) (5.3) (5.6) (----) (-----) (----) (----) (2.9) (----) (----) (-----) (----) (-----) (----) (-----) (----) (1.3) Glee 4.6 (3.6) (4.1) (5.1) (2.2) (3.5) (5.2) (3.9) (5.9) (5.9) (3.3) (3.6) (6.0) (5.4) (4.0) (5.3) (5.7) (3.5) Big Bang Theory 4.1 (4.4) (4.8) (4.9) (5.1) (5.6) (6.4) (----) (-----) (----) (----) (-----) (----) (----) (----) (----) (-----) (----) Dancing With The Stars (Mon) 4.1 (4.1) (3.6) (3.8) (3.8) (3.5) (3.4) (----) (3.6) (3.8) (3.7) (3.9) (4.5) (-----) (----) (----) (----) (----) Survivor 4.0 (1.8) (3.7) (3.9) (3.9) (4.1) (4.0) (3.9) (4.2) (4.1) (4.6) (4.5) (5.0) (5.5) (1.4) (----) (----) (----) Lost

That also makes SNL the week's top-rated scripted show. 5.1 means also the best rating for an SNL episode since Nov. 1, 2008. That was the last Saturday before Barack Obama was elected president. NBC has made available cut SNL dress-rehearsal sketches in the past, but never in my memory this many from a single show: ORIGINAL POST:
As I remember it: Right after Betty White’s Super Bowl Snickers commercial aired, a group of (presumably attention-starved) young men started tweeting furiously that Betty White simply must host SNL. And somehow that worked and tonight she is doing precisely that. Now the same fellows should tweet that Al Queda must be wiped from the planet. Announced way back on March 11:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LEGENDARY EMMY WINNER BETTY WHITE HOSTS NBC'S 'SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE' ON MAY 8 NEW YORK, NY - March 11, 2010 - Legendary and multiple Emmy Award winner Betty White will take her long-anticipated turn at hosting NBC's "Saturday Night Live" on May 8. White will make her first appearance in Studio 8H. The six-time Emmy winner and cultural icon will host "SNL" for the first time in her illustrious seven-decade-long career. White is best known for her performance as Rose Nylund on NBC's "The Golden Girls," the beloved comedy series that aired from 1985 to 1992. Previously, she co-starred as Sue Ann Nivens in the classic comedy series "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." In January, White was the proud recipient of the 2010 SAG Lifetime Achievement Award. White appeared in the 2009 romantic-comedy feature film "The Proposal," alongside Ryan Reynolds and Oscar winner Sandra Bullock, and can be seen again this fall in the film "You Again," starring Kristin Bell. "I can't think of a better way to spend Mother's Day weekend than with Betty White ” said Lorne Michaels, Creator and Executive Producer of SNL. "Saturday Night Live" is from SNL Studios in association with Broadway Video. The creator and executive producer is Lorne Michaels. Steve Higgins and Marci Klein are producers. Ken Aymong is supervising producer. Seth Meyers is head writer. Don Roy King directs.

As the first clip demonstrates, the episode will also serve to reunite a number of past female SNL cast members from the Will Ferrell era, among them Molly Shannon, Ana Gasteyer, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey. If one discounts installments that followed big-deal NFL or Olympic events, Fey hosted the top-rated episode of SNL of this season. (It drew a bigger 18-49 audience than any episode of “30 Rock” aired in primetime this year.) From TV By The Numbers:

Here are the top 3 rated SNL’s this season for reference: Charles Barkley (NFL Wild Card game lead-in) 4.4 adults 18-49 rating Jennifer Lopez (Olympics lead-in) 3.6 adults 18-49 rating Tina Fey/Justin Bieber (standard NBC Saturday lead in) 3.3 adults 18-49 rating.

Alec Baldwin hosts next week’s 35th SNL season finale, and in doing so ties Steve Martin’s 14-show record for most times hosting. Martin and Baldwin appeared together in “It’s Complicated” and co-hosted this year’s Oscars, so it’s not inconceivable that Martin could stop by. Musical guests will be Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. My favorite sketch from April’s last new show: 11:30 p.m. Saturday. NBC. Follow Herc on Twitter!! Follow Evil Herc on Twitter!!

The amazing third season of “Mad Men” is momentarily $17.99!! 64% Off!!

58 Blu-rays Under $10!!