By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The surest sign of how the coronavirus shutdown has devastated the television industry is the fourth-place finish of CBS in what was nominally the first week of a new fall season.
The network's viewership was down a whopping 61% from the premiere week last year, the Nielsen company said.
CBS has essentially been America's favorite television network for two decades. But that success was built primarily on its scripted dramas and comedies, particularly crime procedurals like "NCIS." The shutdown in TV production because of the pandemic means CBS is struggling to cobble together a competitive schedule each week.
ABC, NBC and Fox were all down from last year, too. But between pro football and the return of some popular unscripted shows like "The Masked Singer" and "Dancing With the Stars," they weren't hurt as much as CBS. Fox's animated series, including the ageless "The Simpsons," are also back.
Overall television viewing was down 13% compared to the same week last year, with the decline more pronounced among younger viewers, Nielsen said.
Some scripted series have resumed production and are expected to gradually return to the air. CBS' "FBI" will start fresh episodes on Oct. 6, for example, with NBC's "This is Us" due back Oct. 27.
Technically, CBS was actually the fifth-place network last week, with Fox News Channel reaching more viewers in primetime. Fox News recorded an important milestone as the first cable network to beat all of the broadcast networks in viewership over a three-month period, Nielsen said. That's testament to the popularity of Fox's political programming and the summer cupboard being barren for the broadcasters.
NBC led the season-opening week, averaging 5.5 million viewers in primetime. Fox had 3.9 million, ABC had 3.8 million, CBS had 2.7 million, Univision had 1.14 million, Ion Television had 1.11 million, Telemundo had 1 million and the CW had 570,000.
Fox News Channel dominated the cable networks, averaging 3.73 million. ESPN had 2.91 million, MSNBC had 1.9 million, TNT had 1.82 million and CNN had 1.2 million.
Nielsen has also begun releasing a list of the top shows on streaming services, based on the total number of minutes watched, although the timing lags behind the TV ratings. For the last week of August, Nielsen said Netflix's "Lucifer" was the most popular streamed show, with 2 million minutes watched, followed by "Cobra Kai" and reruns of "The Office."
ABC's "World News Tonight" won the evening news ratings race, averaging 8.4 million viewers for the week. NBC's "Nightly News" had 7 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.1 million.
For the week of Sept. 21-27, the top 20 shows, their networks and viewership:
1. NFL Football: Green Bay at New Orleans, NBC, 17.8 million.
2. NFL Football: New Orleans at Las Vegas, ABC and ESPN, 15.96 million.
3. "NFL Post-Game," Fox 14.44 million.
4. "NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 12.07 million.
5. "60 Minutes," CBS, 7.56 million.
6. "Football Night in America, Part 3," NBC, 6.7 million.
7. "America's Got Talent" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), NBC, 6.57 million.
8. "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday), NBC, 6.16 million.
9. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 6.1 million.
10. "The Masked Singer," Fox, 5.92 million.
11. "Monday Night Kickoff," ABC, 5.62 million.
12. "America's Got Talent" (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), NBC, 5.48 million.
13. NFL Football: Miami at Jacksonville, NFL Network, 5.43 million.
14. "Celebrity Family Feud," ABC, 5.27 million.
15. NBA Playoffs: Denver vs. L.A. Lakers (Tuesday), TNT, 4.89 million.
16. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Wednesday), Fox News, 4.87 million.
17. NBA Playoffs: Denver vs. L.A. Lakers (Saturday), TNT, 4.79 million.
18. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Monday), Fox News, 4.76 million.
19. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Thursday), Fox News, 4.75 million.
20. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Tuesday), Fox News, 4.74 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