Live from New York, it's Saturday night - on Thursday.
According to NBC's Web site, "Saturday Night Live" will run prime-time specials on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. in addition to its weekend showings to allow more coverage of the election season.
The decision came as a result of the recent attention garnered from several skits involving an imitation of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Comedian Tina Fey returned to the show to portray the Republican vice presidential candidate after leaving in 2006. Fey's copycat act has left TV watchers in stitches in the past weeks as she has made jabs at the politician's accent and Alaskan background.
Portraying Palin is not a problem as long as it's being done purely for entertainment, said Lynda Kaid, a UF telecommunications professor who is still undecided about her presidential vote.
"Tina Fey has certainly been good at the role," she said. "And this is an advantage that [the show] couldn't have hoped for."
Evidence has shown that people who watch these skits seem to have knowledge of the campaign, Kaid said. But in order to be well-informed, the viewers have to inform themselves.
She said the recent attention "SNL" has gained is stimulating people to seek out information, especially students and young voters.
Gators for McCain member Chris Dawson said he sees an obvious bias against Palin but isn't offended by the skits because they are just for fun. However, Dawson said the sketches can cause problems when they are the only source of election coverage students use.
"It's not the show's fault. It's our fault as youth for being misinformed," he said. "It's unfortunate because it's become trendy to support Obama."
Peter Laumann, volunteer coodinator for UF Students for Barack Obama, said students who receive their information strictly from the show's jokes are likely to be misinformed.
He said he thinks the skits are extremely entertaining, and he noticed that the show is somewhat biased. But he said the media's job is to say what's true and what's false.
He added that, although Palin is a very intelligent woman, politicians are always open for criticism.
