By Frazier Moore, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The news was awful again last week, but viewers found some refuge in TV’s fun-and-games.
In the Nielsen Top 20, no fewer than 11 programs were reality-competition and game shows (including the week’s most-watched series, two editions of “America’s Got Talent”). Add to that baseball’s All-Star Game, the Home Run Derby and “The ESPY Awards,” and clearly viewers were eager for some relief.
Boosted by “America’s Got Talent,” NBC led the networks overall with a prime-time average of 4.9 million viewers. Runner-up ABC had 4.7 million, while CBS had 4.4 million. Fox, with 3.3 million, got a much-needed shot in the arm with its All-Star Game telecast (which drew 8.71 million viewers).
Univision had 1.8 million viewers, Telemundo had 1.4 million, ION Television had 1.2 million, and the CW had 980,000 for the week.
Fox News Channel once again was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.75 million viewers during another busy news week. HGTV had 1.49 million, USA had 1.41 million and ESPN had 1.33 million.
In the evening news derby, NBC’s “Night News” regained the top spot with an average 7.9 million viewers, top-ranked every night including Friday, when it was the only newscast of the three to be anchored (by Lester Holt) from Nice following the terrorist attack. In second place was ABC’s “World News Tonight” with 7.6 million while the “CBS Evening News” had 6.5 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for July 11-17. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday), NBC, 11.85 million.
2. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 11.54 million.
3. MLB All-Star Game, Fox, 8.71 million.
4. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.17 million.
5. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 7.77 million.
6. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 7.22 million.
7. “The $100,000 Pyramid,” ABC, 7.16 million.
8. “The Bachelorette,” ABC, 6.87 million.
9. “American Ninja Warrior,” NBC, 6.34 million.
10. “Night Shift,” NBC, 6.28 million.
11. “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 6.18 million.
12. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 6.05 million.
13. “NCIS,” CBS, 5.91 million.
14. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 5.85 million.
15. “Match Game,” ABC, 5.66 million.
16. “ESPY Awards,” ABC, 5.60 million.
17. “Home Run Derby,” ESPN, 5.52 million.
18. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.39 million.
19. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 5.26 million.
20. “To Tell the Truth,” ABC, 5.15 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