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    “SNL” Gets Ratings Boost From Will Ferrell’s Return; Nielsen Week In Review

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments3378 Views
    Actor Will Ferrell holds up a toy wombat during a press conference at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018. (Fiona Hamilton/Tennis Australia via AP)

    By David Bauder, Media Writer

    NEW YORK (AP) --

    Judging by the ratings, NBC will be happy to invite old friend Will Ferrell back to “Saturday Night Live” whenever he wants.

    The late-night comedy show reached 7.47 million viewers for this past weekend’s show with Ferrell as host, the Nielsen company said. It was the most-watched episode of “Saturday Night Live” this season. Chris Stapleton was the musical guest on the night before he won three Grammy Awards.

    The news wasn’t so good for the Grammys, which saw its audience slip to 19.8 million viewers for CBS on Sunday. That’s down 24 percent from last year.

    Music’s big night was missing some of its biggest stars, with popular mainstream artists Adele, Beyonce and Taylor Swift not a part of the broadcast. Bruno Mars was the top winner with six Grammys.

    The two network feel-good series, ABC’s “The Good Doctor” and NBC’s “This is Us,’ showed their strength with original episodes and finished among Nielsen’s top five for the week.

    CBS easily won the week in prime time, averaging 8.5 million viewers. ABC had 4.6 million viewers, NBC had 4.2 million, Fox had 3 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Telemundo had 1.6 million, the CW had 1.3 million and ION Television had 1.1 million.

    Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.79 million viewers in prime time as it celebrates 16 consecutive years atop the cable news ratings. MSNBC had 1.8 million, HGTV averaged 1.63 million, USA had 1.57 million and History had 1.48 million.

    ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9.6 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 9.3 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.9 million.

    Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Jan. 22-28. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.

    1. “Grammy Awards,” CBS, 19.8 million.
    2. “NCIS,” CBS, 13.97 million.
    3. “Bull,” CBS, 11.08 million.
    4. “The Good Doctor,” ABC, 9.61 million.
    5. “This is Us,” NBC, 9.38 million.
    6. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 9.31 million.
    7. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 8.62 million.
    8. “Ellen’s Game of Games,” NBC, 7.57 million.
    9. “Kevin Can Wait,” CBS, 7.37 million.
    10. “Grammy Awards Red Carpet,” CBS, 6.96 million.
    11. “The Big Bang Theory,” 6.9 million.
    12. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 6.85 million.
    13. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 6.848 million.
    14. “Man With a Plan,” CBS, 6.74 million.
    15. “911,” Fox, 6.57 million.
    16. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 6.54 million.
    17. “The Bachelor,” ABC, 6.37 million.
    18. “The Amazing Race,” CBS, 6.18 million.
    19. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 6.17 million.
    20. “The Goldbergs,” ABC, 6.09 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.




    Trump Names Brendan Carr To Lead The FCC

    Monday, November 18, 2024

    President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday named Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, as the new chairman of the agency tasked with regulating broadcasting, telecommunications and broadband.

    Carr is a longtime member of the commission and served previously as the FCC's general counsel. He has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate three times and was nominated by both Trump and President Joe Biden to the commission.

    The FCC is an independent agency that is overseen by Congress, but Trump has suggested he wanted to bring it under tighter White House control, in part to use the agency to punish TV networks that cover him in a way he doesn't like.

    Carr has of late embraced Trump's ideas about social media and tech. Carr wrote a section devoted to the FCC in " Project 2025," a sweeping blueprint for gutting the federal workforce and dismantling federal agencies in a second Trump administration produced by the conservative Heritage Foundation.

    Trump has claimed he doesn't know anything about Project 2025, but many of its themes have aligned with his statements.

    Carr said in a statement congratulating Trump on his win that he believed "the FCC will have an important role to play reining in Big Tech, ensuring that broadcasters operate in the public interest, and unleashing economic growth."

    "Commissioner Carr is a warrior for Free Speech, and has fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans' Freedoms, and held back our Economy," Trump said in a statement on Sunday. "He will end the regulatory onslaught that has been crippling America's Job Creators and Innovators, and ensure that the FCC delivers for rural America."

    The five-person commission has a 3-2 Democratic... Read More

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