A rundown of the top 20 rated shows this past week
By Frazier Moore, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Among the big winners from last week’s Republican presidential debates: Fox News Channel.
Its Thursday night airing of the A-list debate, which gathered the 10 highest-polling GOP hopefuls including Donald Trump, was by far the most-watched program of the week on either cable or broadcast, drawing 24 million viewers, according to the Nielsen company.
That was more than twice the audience for the week’s second-ranked show, NBC’s Hall of Fame Game, seen by 11 million viewers.
Following the debate, “The Kelly File,” hosted by debate co-moderator Megyn Kelly, was seen by nearly 11 million, ranking third for the week.
And even Thursday’s earlier GOP faceoff, spotlighting lesser-polling candidates, won Fox News Channel six million viewers (as the week’s 16th-highest-ranked show).
With a huge boost from those debates, Fox News Channel was easily the week’s most popular cable network overall, averaging 4.26 million viewers. Disney was next, averaging 1.82 million, followed by TNT with 1.62 million and USA with 1.57 million.
Among broadcast networks, NBC won the week in prime time, averaging 5.6 million viewers in its first victory week since May. Runner-up CBS had 5.2 million, followed by ABC with 3.6 million, Fox with 2.1 million, Univision with 1.9 million, Telemundo with 1.5 million, ION Television with 1.1 million and the CW with 1.0 million.
NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.9 million viewers. ABC’s “World News” was second with 7.5 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.6 million viewers.
Below are prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Aug. 3-9. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. Republican Presidential Debate, Fox News Channel, 24.00 million.
2. Hall of Fame Game, Pittsburgh vs. Minnesota, NBC, 10.98 million.
3. “The Kelly File,” Fox News Channel, 10.93 million.
4. “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 10.21 million viewers.
5. “NBC NFL Preseason Pre-Kick,” NBC, 8.98 million.
6. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.72 million.
7. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 7.17 million.
8. “NCIS,” CBS, 7.10 million.
9. “America’s Got Talent Best-Ofs,” NBC, 6.99 million.
10. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 6.62 million.
11. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 6.584 million.
12. “The O’Reilly Factor,” Fox News Channel, 6.581 million.
13. “American Ninja Warriors,” NBC, 6.52 million.
14. “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 6.23 million.
15. “Republican Presidential Debate,” Fox News Channel, 6.06 million.
16. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 6.02 million.
17. “Zoo,” CBS, 5.95 million.
18. “Mom,” CBS, 5.49 million.
19. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.40 million.
20. “CMA Music Festival,” ABC, 5.23 million.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More