By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Every time a popular HBO series ends, the network faces a round of stories essentially asking, “is there life for HBO after (fill in the blank). This time, it was “Game of Thrones.”
Based on early indications, its executives shouldn’t worry too much.
The series “Big Little Lies” returned for its second season, adding Meryl Streep to the cast, and reached 2.5 million people across HBO’s various platforms on Sunday. The Nielsen company said that beat the show’s premiere episode by 34 percent.
HBO had an even bigger success with the miniseries “Chernobyl,” which averaged 8 million viewers per episode.
The NBA Finals continued on ABC with drab ratings, at least in the United States. The third game between the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors was down 25 percent from the similar contest last year, while Game 4’s viewership was down 22 percent.
The NBA likes to point to Canada, which is not included in the Nielsen numbers. The first international NBA Finals is a hit up north, where 4.9 million people watched the fourth game, compared to 700,470 Canadians who watched the fourth game in 2018.
Monday’s one-point Warriors victory in Game 5 is also doing well in preliminary ratings, meaning the series can recover somewhat if it goes deeper.
Behind all of its games, ABC won the week in primetime, averaging 5.4 million viewers. NBC had 4.8 million, CBS had 4.3 million, Fox had 2.1 million, ION Television had 1.4 million, Telemundo had 1.14 million, Univision had 1.1 million and the CW had 600,000.
Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.28 million viewers in primetime. MSNBC had 1.54 million, HGTV had 1.27 million, USA had 1.07 million and TNT had 1.06 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.8 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 6.9 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.3 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for June 3-9. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. NBA Finals: Toronto at Golden State, Game 3, ABC, 13.35 million.
2. NBA Finals: Toronto at Golden State, Game 4, ABC, 12.79 million.
3. “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 9.82 million.
4. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.47 million.
5. NHL Stanley Cup Final: Boston at St. Louis, Game 6, NBC, 6.47 million.
6. “NCIS,” CBS, 6.16 million.
7. “Celebrity Family Feud” (Sunday), ABC, 6.06 million.
8. “Celebrity Family Feud” (Thursday), ABC, 5.56 million.
9. “The Bachelorette,” ABC, 5.53 million.
10. NHL Stanley Cup Final: St. Louis at Boston, Game 5, NBC, 5.47 million.
11. “The $100,000 Pyramid” (Sunday), ABC, 5.46 million.
12. “Tony Awards,” CBS, 5.4 million.
13. NHL Stanley Cup Final: Boston at St. Louis, Game 4, 5.15 million.
14. “FBI,” CBS, 5.04 million.
15. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 5.02 million.
16. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 4.84 million.
17. “Amazing Race,” CBS, 4.68 million.
18. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 4.65 million.
19. “The Code,” CBS, 4.64 million.
20. “The $100,000 Pyramid” (Thursday), ABC, 4.54 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.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More