Palin on SNL Is A Ratings Hit

The entertainment summit of the season — Sarah Palin and her impersonator, Tina Fey — earned "Saturday Night Live" its best ratings in 14 years. But if you blinked, you might have missed it.
Fey was answering questions at a news conference, something Palin hasn't done yet as the Republican vice presidential nominee, when Palin walked on the stage. Fey beat a hasty retreat in the opening segment, walking past the real Palin with a barely perceptible nod.
If anyone was hoping for a side-by-side photo of the identically dressed women, they were out of luck.

Palin's guest shot, widely anticipated since Fey began imitating her a month ago, led "Saturday Night Live" to its highest mark in overnight Nielsen Media Research ratings since March 1994, when assaulted skater Nancy Kerrigan was guest host.
Although a complete audience estimate for the rest of the country won't be available until later in the week, it is likely to be around 14 million.
For the first half-hour, when Palin first came out, the audience was about 17 million. That's pretty impressive for a TV program around midnight. The week before, only two other shows in prime time had a bigger audience, Nielsen said.