By David Bauder, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --NBC’s decision to air a live version of “Saturday Night Live” in every time zone has paid immediate dividends.
The network’s telecast last weekend, with host Jimmy Fallon, musician Harry Styles and with Alec Baldwin and Melissa McCarthy delivering their hit impersonations of Donald Trump and Sean Spicer, was seen by 7.87 million people, or 21 percent more than the previous week’s telecast, the Nielsen company said.
For the first time, NBC decided to air the show live from New York in the Mountain and Pacific time zones — then repeat it in the show’s customary 11:30 p.m. time slot. Nielsen did not immediately have exact numbers on how much this decision boosted viewership. But counting both airings, overnight ratings among young viewers in the two Western time zones more than doubled over the previous week’s telecast.
Among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic last week, “Saturday Night Live” had more viewers than all prime-time shows except “The Big Bang Theory” and “Empire.”
It has been a banner year for NBC’s comedy institution. When people who record the show and watch within a week are counted in, the typical “Saturday Night Live” edition is seen by 10.9 million people each week, Nielsen said. That doesn’t even count the way many people view late-night comedy these days, through clips spotted online.
The television viewership is up 29 percent over last year and, NBC said, is the show’s best season since 1993-94.
The show typically does well in election years. What makes this season different is the audience has remained strong after the election, fueled by Baldwin’s indelible Trump impersonation and McCarthy’s instant-classic take on the president’s press secretary.
CBS won the week in primetime, averaging 6.6 million viewers. ABC had 4.5 million, NBC had 4.4 million, Fox had 2.5 million, Univision had 1.5 million, Telemundo had 1.2 million, ION Television had 1.1 million and the CW had 900,000.
Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.33 million in prime-time. Boosted by the NBC playoffs, TNT had 1.66 million viewers, HGTV had 1.47 million, MSNBC had 1.466 million and ESPN had 1.31 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.61 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.56 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.2 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for April 10-16. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 11.89 million.
2. “Dancing With the Stars,” ABC, 10.31 million.
2. “Stayin’ Alive: Grammy Salute to the Bee Gees,” CBS, 10.31 million.
4. “The Voice” (Monday, 8 p.m.), NBC, 9.88 million.
5. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 9.43 million.
6. “NCIS,” CBS, 9.06 million.
7. “Hawaii Five-0,” CBS, 8.49 million.
8. “Survivor,” CBS, 8.32 million.
9. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.16 million.
10. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 7.76 million.
11. “Bull,” CBS, 7.42 million.
12. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 7.19 million.
13. “Mom,” CBS, 6.84 million.
14. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 6.61 million.
15. “Empire,” Fox, 6.59 million.
16. “MacGyver,” CBS, 6.57 million.
17. “Scorpion,” CBS, 6.41 million.
18. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 6.36 million.
19. “The Great Indoors,” CBS, 6.11 million.
20. “Kevin Can Wait,” CBS, 6.05 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