By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Football and mayhem in Chicago, unrelated to the NFL’s Bears, dominated the top of the television rankings last week.
While NBC’s Sunday night football game was the most-watched program of the week, producer Dick Wolf’s trio of Windy City-set dramas all finished among the Nielsen company’s list of the top television programs. “Chicago Med,” ‘’Chicago PD” and “Chicago Fire” were all seen by more than 8 million viewers.
That led NBC to victory in the weekly ratings race. Fox, with a Thursday night football game between Kansas City and Denver, finished second.
Since Nielsen’s weekly list measures only same-day viewership, the top of the rankings is dominated by live sports and competition shows like “The Voice” and “The Masked Singer.” ‘’NCIS” remains the top scripted program.
CNN’s coverage of the latest Democratic presidential debate was seen by 8.6 million viewers, Nielsen said.
NBC averaged 7 million viewers for the week, with runner-up Fox grabbing 6.1 million. CBS had 5.7 million, ABC had 4.3 million, Telemundo had 1.4 million, Univision had 1.3 million, ION Television had 1.2 million and the CW had 860,000.
ESPN was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.82 million viewers. Fox News Channel had 2.6 million, CNN had 1.96 million, TBS had 1.8 million and MSNBC had 1.79 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.2 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 7.4 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.2 million viewers.
Here are Nielsen’s top primetime programs for Oct. 14-20:
1. NFL Football: Philadelphia at Dallas, NBC, 21.45 million.
2. “NFL Pregame Show,” NBC, 16.28 million.
3. NFL Football: Kansas City at Denver, Fox, 14.02 million.
4. NFL Football: Detroit at Green Bay, ESPN, 14 million.
5. “NFL Postgame Show,” Fox, 11.97 million.
6. “NCIS,” CBS, 10.88 million.
7. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 10.36 million.
8. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 8.94 million.
9. “FBI,” CBS, 8.76 million.
10. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 8.63 million.
11. Democratic Presidential Debate, CNN, 8.61 million.
12. “NFL Pregame Show,” Fox, 8.54 million.
13. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 8.24 million.
14. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 8.13 million.
15. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 7.97 million.
16. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 7.95 million.
17. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 7.66 million.
18. American League Championship Series: N.Y. Yankees at Houston, Game 6, Fox Sports, 7.47 million.
19. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 7.44 million.
20. “The Masked Singer,” Fox, 7.42 million.
ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co.; CBS is a division of CBS Corp.; Fox is owned by Fox Corp.; NBC is owned by NBC Universal.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More