By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Brett Kavanaugh is no Neil Gorsuch — at least as a television draw for their first night on the national political stage.
The Nielsen company said that 25.6 million people watched President Donald Trump’s primetime announcement Monday that Kavanaugh is his nominee for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. That compares to 32.4 million who saw Trump’s similar unveiling of Gorsuch, his first nominee, last year.
Television viewership is general is lower in the summer than in the winter, when the Gorsuch nomination was made.
Fox News Channel was the network of choice for most viewers of the announcement, with an audience of 6.6 million people. Sean Hannity hosted Fox’s coverage of the event. ABC, with 5.25 million, led the four broadcast networks; ABC interrupted an episode of “The Bachelorette” for its coverage.
Nielsen said NBC had 4.9 million viewers, CBS had 3.3 million, MSNBC had 2.05 million, Fox broadcasting had 1.93 million and CNN had 1.59 million.
In primetime last week, NBC won among total viewers for the first time since the Winter Olympics. The week with the Fourth of July is traditionally among the least-watched television weeks of the year. NBC was helped by its airing of the Macy’s fireworks display from New York City.
NBC averaged 4.1 million viewers for the week, CBS had 4 million, ABC had 3.1 million, Fox had 1.6 million, ION Television had 1.4 million, Univision had 1.2 million, Telemundo had 1 million and the CW had 740,000.
Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 1.97 million viewers in prime time. HGTV had 1.38 million, USA had 1.33 million, MSNBC had 1.31 million and History had 1.28 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.7 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 7.3 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.4 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for July 2-8. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.45 million.
2. “Macy’s July Fourth Fireworks” (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), NBC, 7.41 million.
3. “Little Big Shots,” NBC, 6.51 million.
4. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 6.34 million.
5. “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 6.29 million.
6. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 5.89 million.
7. “NCIS,” CBS, 5.71 million.
8. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 5.64 million.
9. “The Bachelorette,” ABC, 5.3 million.
10. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 5.11 million.
11. “The $100,000 Pyramid,” ABC, 5.06 million.
12. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 5 million.
13. “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 4.97 million.
14. “Bull,” CBS, 4.93 million.
15. “Code Black,” CBS, 4.83 million.
16. “Macy’s July Fourth Fireworks” (Wednesday, 10 p.m.), NBC, 4.53 million.
17. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 4.49 million.
18. Auto Racing: Nascar Cup Series, Daytona, NBC, 4.44 million.
19. “American’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 4.39 million.
20. “Mom,” CBS, 4.06 million.
ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co.; CBS is a division of CBS Corp.; Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox; NBC is owned by NBC Universal.
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