Sport accounts for 11 of the 20 most-watched programs last week
By David Bauder, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Television’s fall season is already in full swing — the football season.
Fresh entertainment programming doesn’t begin until next week, after the Emmy Awards. Football is so dominant now that 11 of the 20 most-watched primetime programs last week were either games or shows about the games. The top non-football event in the rankings, CBS’ “60 Minutes,” is there in large measure because it comes directly after an NFL game.
The Thursday night kickoff game to the NFL season, between Pittsburgh and New England, was seen by 27.4 million people. Only one other game — in 2010 between Minnesota and New Orleans — had more viewers in the 14 years that the NFL has done this season opening game.
Similarly, the New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game was seen by 26.8 million, second only to a 2012 Pittsburgh-Denver for the most-watched first Sunday night game in the 10 years NBC has been televising them, the Nielsen company said.
In an oddly compelling competition on Sunday night, AMC’s “Fear the Walking Dead” narrowly beat ABC’s coverage of the annual “Miss America” pageant, 7.2 million to 7.1 million viewers.
Thanks to the two primetime NFL games, NBC trounced the competition with an average of 11.3 million viewers last week. CBS had 5.9 million viewers, ABC had 4.3 million, Univision had 2.4 million, Fox had 2.1 million, Telemundo had 1.4 million, ION Television had 1.1 million and the CW had 1.05 million.
ESPN was the most popular cable network in prime time, averaging 3.69 million viewers last week. Fox News Channel had 1.7 million, USA had 1.62 million, the Disney Channel had 1.55 million and HGTV had 1.43 million.
NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.2 million viewers. ABC’s “World News” was second with 7.8 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.3 million viewers.
Here are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Sept. 7-13. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. NFL Football: Pittsburgh at New England, NBC, 27.4 million.
2. NFL Football: N.Y. Giants at Dallas, NBC, 26.77 million.
3. “NFL Pregame Show” (Thursday), NBC, 20.99 million.
4. “NFL Pregame Show” (Sunday), NBC, 20.03 million.
5. “Football Night in America” (Sunday, 7:57 p.m.), NBC, 14.89 million.
6. “NFL Today Post-Game Show,” CBS, 14.31 million.
7. “NFL Opening Kickoff Show,” NBC, 12.56 million.
8. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 11.46 million.
9. College Football: Ohio St. vs. Virginia Tech, ESPN, 10.59 million.
10. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 10.53 million.
11. “Football Night in America” (Sunday, 7:30 p.m.), NBC, 9.89 million.
12. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday), NBC, 9.46 million.
13. “NCIS,” CBS, 8.42 million.
14. College Football: Oregon at Michigan St., ABC, 7.9 million.
15. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 7.68 million.
16. “Fear the Walking Dead,” AMC, 7.19 million.
17. “Miss America,” ABC, 7.1 million.
18. “College Football Post-Game Show” (Monday), ESPN, 7.07 million.
19. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 7.02 million.
20. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 6.56 million.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More