By David Bauder, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Viewership at each of the six largest broadcast networks was down last week compared to the same week a year before. But given how television is changing, it’s hard to say whether that means viewers are rejecting the programming choices.
Declines at ABC, Fox, Univision and the CW were all double-digit, the Nielsen company said. NBC was down 6 percent and CBS, off 1 percent, was relatively flat.
Nielsen’s measurement, however, reflected people who watched programs the same night they aired. That doesn’t take into account people who recorded shows to watch at a later date, people who watched on demand or those who streamed episodes onto their devices.
“Logically, if you have an opportunity to watch a show on your schedule as opposed to the network’s schedule, you’re going to watch it on your schedule,” said Brad Adgate, an analyst for Horizon Media. “The opportunities to do that continue to expand.”
Some new shows, like NBC’s “Blindspot,” are obvious new successes. Others – think the premiere of NBC’s comedy “Truth Be Told” last week – have a pretty clear negative verdict already. For many programs, networks will need more information from more sources before they know whether or not they made a good investment.
Increasingly, the weekly list of Nielsen’s top programs is weighted toward programming that rewards live viewing. Twelve of Nielsen’s 20 most-viewed programs last week were either live sports, news or competition programs like “The Voice.” Two others – “Empire” and “The Walking Dead” – are the type of water-cooler shows that fans are anxious to see as quickly as they can.
For the week in prime time, CBS averaged 10.4 million viewers and NBC had 8.4 million. ABC had 6.1 million, a drop of 23 percent primarily because its Saturday night college football game wasn’t nearly as popular as last year’s. Fox had 4.2 million, Univision had 2.1 million, the CW had 1.53 million, Telemundo had 1.51 million and ION Television had 1.1 million.
Buoyed by postseason baseball, TBS led cable networks with an average prime-time viewership of 5.14 million, ESPN had 3.1 million, CNN had 2.12 million, the Disney Channel had 1.64 million and Fox News Channel had 1.56 million.
NBC and ABC were in a virtual dead heat in the evening news ratings, the closest ABC has been since Lester Holt took over as the full-time NBC “Nightly News” anchor. NBC’s newscast averaged 7.84 million viewers, ABC’s “World News Tonight” had 7.81 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.6 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Oct. 12-18. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. NFL Football: New England at Indianapolis, NBC, 22.82 million.
2. “NFL Pre-Game Show,” NBC, 16.3 million.
3. “NCIS,” CBS, 16.04 million.
4. Democratic Presidential Debate, CNN, 15.79 million.
5. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 14.96 million.
6. NFL Football: Atlanta at New Orleans, CBS, 14.78 million.
7. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 13.79 million.
8. “Democratic Debate Preview,” CNN, 12.69 million.
9. “Democratic Debate Analysis,” CNN, 12.67 million.
10. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 12.47 million.
11. “Empire,” Fox, 12.22 million.
12. “The Walking Dead,” AMC, 12.183 million.
13. NFL Football: Pittsburgh at San Diego, ESPN, 12.182 million.
14. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 12.01 million.
15. “The Voice” (Monday, 8 p.m.), NBC, 11.96 million.
16. “Dancing With the Stars,” ABC, 11.64 million.
17. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 10.61 million.
18. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 10.14 million.
19. “Madam Secretary,” CBS, 9.61 million.
20. “Scorpion,” CBS, 9.41 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