By David Bauder, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The zombies on “The Walking Dead” may be starting to stagger.
An estimated 14.6 million viewers watched the season premiere of the hit AMC series on Sunday, the Nielsen company said. That’s down from the 17.3 million who saw last year’s season opener and the 16.1 million people who watched in 2013.
Last year’s season premiere was a viewership record for the series, so this year’s numbers may be an indication that the show has peaked in popularity.
AMC points out that “The Walking Dead” was up against a Sunday-night football game between San Francisco and the New York Giants that was competitive to the last play. This year’s season premiere was 90 minutes long, instead of an hour, and the extra time may have turned off some viewers, AMC said.
Last season’s full season average was 14.4 million viewers on the night of an episode’s first showing, up to 20 million when time-delayed viewership was figured in. Time-delayed numbers for this week aren’t immediately available. Among the 18-to-49-year-old viewers that AMC most actively seeks, Sunday’s telecast had 9.42 million viewers, down from 11 million in 2014.
Still, “The Walking Dead” was second in popularity only to “NCIS” among television dramas this past week. The 2.8 million younger viewers that “NCIS” attracted, however, was less than a third of the count of “The Walking Dead.”
CBS easily won the ratings crown for the week, averaging 10.3 million viewers. NBC averaged 7.7 million, and won among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic. ABC averaged 6 million viewers, Fox had 3.7 million, Univision had 2.4 million, the CW had 1.6 million, Telemundo had 1.4 million and ION Television had 1.1 million.
ESPN was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 4.03 million viewers. TBS had 3.43 million, AMC had 2.3 million, Disney had 1.79 million and Fox News Channel had 1.71 million.
NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.3 million viewers. ABC’s “World News Tonight” was second with 8 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.7 million viewers.
Here are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Oct. 5-11. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. NFL Football: San Francisco at N.Y. Giants, NBC, 19.59 million.
2. “NCIS,” CBS, 16.87 million.
3. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 15.41 million.
4. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 15.4 million.
5. NFL Football: Indianapolis at Houston, CBS, 15.08 million.
6. “The Walking Dead,” AMC, 14.63 million.
7. NFL Football: Detroit at Seattle, ESPN, 14.4 million.
8. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 14.18 million.
9. “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Game,” NBC, 13.94 million.
10. “Empire,” Fox, 13.1 million.
11. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 12.15 million.
12. “Dancing With the Stars,” ABC, 11.82 million.
13. “Madam Secretary,” CBS, 11.15 million.
14. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 10.74 million.
15. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 10.57 million.
16. “Scorpion,” CBS, 9.95 million.
17. “Limitless,” CBS, 9.57 million.
18. “Criminal Minds,” CBS, 9.08 million.
19. “Survivor,” CBS, 9.07 million.
20. “Blindspot,” NBC, 9.06 million.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More