By David Bauder, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --"Downton Abbey” said goodbye to an estimated 9.6 million viewers on Sunday night, lowering the curtain on PBS’ most successful series in ages with its fourth most-watched episode.
Only the premiere episodes of the last three seasons had larger audiences, topped by the 10.2 million in 2014, the Nielsen company said. The numbers will rise when time-shifted viewing is taken into account; the 2014 season premiere reached 15.5 million viewers after a month.
“These six seasons of ‘Downton Abbey’ have truly been a fantastic ride for all of us in the public television family,” said Paula Kerger, PBS president and CEO.
The household help on “Downton Abbey” proved no match for Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio as television stars. Fox News Channel’s telecast of last Thursday’s GOP presidential debate was the week’s most-watched program with just under 17 million viewers.
Fox News had the unusual achievement of beating Fox’s broadcast network in the weekly ratings, Nielsen said.
CBS won the week in prime-time, averaging 7.7 million viewers. NBC had 6.4 million, and won among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic most attractive to advertisers. ABC had 4.4 million, Fox had 3.6 million, Univision had 1.8 million, ION Television had 1.3 million, the CW has 1.19 million and Telemundo had 1.16 million.
The GOP debate led Fox to the top as the most popular cable network, averaging 4.14 million viewers in prime-time. CNN had 2.08 million, AMC and HGTV tied at 1.64 million and USA had 1.58 million.
On the week of Super Tuesday, NBC’s “Nightly News” (8.924 million) and ABC’s “World News Tonight” (8.917 million) essentially tied for the top of the evening new ratings. The “CBS Evening News” had 7.3 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Feb. 29-March 6. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. Republican Presidential Debate, Fox News, 16.83 million.
2. “NCIS,” CBS, 15.45 million.
3. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 13.33 million.
4. “The Walking Dead,” AMC, 12.82 million.
5. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 12.29 million.
6. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 11.73 million.
7. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 11.44 million.
8. “Madam Secretary,” CBS, 10.19 million.
9. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 10.08 million.
10. “Criminal Minds,” CBS, 9.32 million.
11. “Survivor,” CBS, 9.24 million.
12. “Scorpion,” CBS, 9.23 million.
13. “American Idol” (Thursday), Fox, 8.74 million.
14. “Life in Pieces,” CBS, 8.4 million.
15. “Modern Family,” ABC, 8.22 million.
16. “The Bachelor,” ABC, 8.17 million.
17. “Mom,” CBS, 7.98 million.
18. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 7.94 million.
19. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 7.67 million.
20. “Mysteries of Laura,” NBC, 7.44 million
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting — quite literally — into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat — who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival — has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive — a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
The one rule to follow is that... Read More