'Quarterlife' Equals 1/22 of a Season on NBC

Did Carrie Underwood (right, with Amy Poehler, left, and Tina Fey) carry "Saturday Night Live" to big numbers? (Associated Press)

And suddenly the ugly stepchild sitcom is looking like the prettiest comedy in the room.

Never a ratings juggernaut, it already is considered to have been one of the most batted-about series since its start in the 2001-02 TV season. In its first five seasons it had seven different time slots on NBC.

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Because we like to get it right: The final numbers on last weekend's triumphant return of "Saturday Night Live" are in at last, and they're a little less, well, triumphant, but pretty good nonetheless.

Yes, the show clocked 7.5 million viewers and 3.2 percent of the nation's 18-to-49-year-olds. This may not sound like a lot of 18-to-49-year-olds until you stop to consider that's a larger collection of people in that age bracket -- the one the network targets -- than was amassed by 14 of NBC's prime-time programs last week.

But this performance, hosted by "SNL" alum and "30 Rock" star-executive producer Tina Fey, with guest Carrie Underwood, was not the late-night show's biggest audience since a February '06 episode hosted by Steve Martin, as early, metered-market numbers had suggested.

It was, instead, the show's best ratings performance since March 24 last year, when Peyton Manning hosted and -- hey, what's this? -- Carrie Underwood was music guest. Which raises the question, did viewers flock to the show to witness its first original broadcast since being forced into reruns by the writers' strike, or did viewers flock to the show to see Carrie Underwood?

Anyway, the "SNL" return was the No. 1-rated telecast on any network Saturday night -- including prime time. In fact, NBC notes, among those younger viewers, it outrated every Saturday non-sports prime-time telecast on every network in more than two years.

Which is kind of damning with faint praise if you look at what the networks are putting on Saturday nights these days. This past Saturday, for instance, you had your choice of the gajillionth broadcast of "Forrest Gump," a rerun of "48 Hours Mystery," another rerun of "48 Hours Mystery," a repeat of "My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad," a repeat of the new "Knight Rider" made-for-TV flick, "Cops," another "Cops" and, let's not forget, "AMW: America Fights Back."

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ABC announced it's bringing back some of its reality series next season.

No surprises here: The list includes "Dancing With the Stars," "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Supernanny," "Wife Swap" and "America's Funniest Home Videos" -- the longest running prime-time show in ABC history (now in its 18th season).

Noticeably missing: freshman series "Dance Wars," which did lackluster numbers on Monday in the "DWTS" time slot.

ABC already had announced "The Bachelor" is coming back.