By Lynn Elber, Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --A Bee, Peacock and Monster’s vocal stylings and fashion sense gave Fox’s “The Masked Singer” a strong finish to its debut season.
The reality show, based on a South Korean format, stuffs celebrities into outlandish, uncomfortable looking costumes and then requires them to sing their hearts out.
Embraced by viewers since its debut, “The Mask” was the second most-watched show last week, topped only by CBS’ long-running drama “NCIS,” according to Nielsen figures released Tuesday.
The audience’s reward: to watch the fuzzy Monster win and be revealed as T-Pain, with runners-up Gladys Knight (Bee) and Donny Osmond (Peacock) also unmasked.
“The Mask” which had a brisk, 10-episode run and posted its highest ratings with the finale, was renewed for a second season, Fox said.
Other new shows continuing to attract attention were CBS’ “The Neighborhood” and “God Friended Me,” both of which landed in the top 20 and helped the network claim the week’s ratings crown.
CBS averaged 5.9 million viewers, followed by NBC with 5.4 million. ABC had 4.8 million, Fox had 3.4 million, Univision had 1.3 million, ION Television had 1.28 million, Telemundo had 1.1 million and the CW had 740,000.
Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.4 million viewers. MSNBC had 2 million, USA had 1.3 million, HGTV had 1.26 million and CNN had 1.15 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” led the evening newscasts with an average of 9.4 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 9.4 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.3 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Feb. 25-March 3. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. “NCIS,” CBS, 11.8 million.
2. “The Masked Singer” (9 p.m. ET), Fox, 11.5 million.
3. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 10.8 million.
4. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 10.6 million.
5. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 10.2 million.
6. “FBI,” CBS, 9.5 million.
7. “American Idol,” ABC, 8.7 million.
8. “The Masked Singer” (8 p.m. ET), Fox, 8.6 million.
9. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 8.5 million.
10. “Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 8.29 million.
11. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 8.27 million.
12. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 7.19 million.
13. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 7.1 million.
14. “Survivor,” CBS, 7 million.
15. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 7.07 million.
16. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 6.99 million.
17. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 6.97 million.
18. “God Friended Me,” CBS, 6.8 million.
19. “The Bachelor,” ABC, 6.7 million.
20. “Bull,” CBS, 6.7 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.
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this year’s AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmy® winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Award® nominee Chloë Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More