By Lynn Elber, Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Nothing beats athletes clashing on the field for impressive TV ratings, but the skirmishes of CNBC’s Republican debate came close.
NFL programming and baseball’s World Series dominated last week’s ratings, taking seven of the top 20 spots, the Nielsen company said Tuesday,
Viewers also were drawn to the debate with leading GOP presidential candidates. It was the week’s top-ranked cable show with an audience of 14 million – a record for CNBC – and was among TV’s top 10 overall despite competition from Game 2 between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets.
Even CNBC’s post-debate show attracted an audience of 10.5 million.
As solid as the debate viewership was compared to previous years, it was down sharply from the 24 million who saw the first GOP contest on Fox News Channel in August and the 23 million viewers who tuned in to CNN’s event.
The CNBC debate wasn’t limited to fireworks among the candidates. Some of the moderators’ questions drew rebukes from candidates who labeled them as unfair and, at one point, lightweight.
Baseball-powered Fox won last week in prime time, averaging nearly 13 million viewers. CBS had 9.7 million; NBC had 8.2 million; ABC had 6 million; Univision had 2.3 million; Telemundo had 1.9 million; the CW had 1.5 million, and ION Television had 1 million.
ESPN was the week’s most popular cable network with an average 2.9 million. AMC, with the heft of hit series “The Walking Dead” on its side, had 2 million, and Fox News Channel and USA each had 1.62 million.
“The Walking Dead” was the week’s No. 2 cable program with 13.3 million viewers.
NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.51 million viewers. ABC’s “World News Tonight” was a close second with 8.5 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 7.2 million viewers.
Here are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Oct. 26 to Nov. 1. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. NBC Sunday Night Football: Green Bay at Denver, NBC, 23 million.
2. “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC, 18 million.
3. “The OT,” Fox, 17.9 million.
4. NFL Football: Miami at New England, CBS, 17.5 million.
5. World Series Game 5, Fox, 17.3 million.
6. “NCIS,” CBS, 16.8 million.
7. World Series Game 5 preshow, Fox, 16.6 million.
8. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 16.3 million.
9. World Series Game 1, Fox, 14.9 million.
10. Republican presidential debate, CNBC, 14 million.
11. World Series Game 2, Fox, 13.7 million.
12. World Series Game 4, Fox, 13.6 million.
13. “The Walking Dead,” AMC, 13.3 million.
14. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 13.29 million.
15. World Series Game 3, Fox, 13.2 million.
16. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 13.1 million.
17. “Supergirl,” CBS, 13 million.
18. NFL: Baltimore at Arizona, ESPN, 12.2 million.
19. “The Voice,” NBC, 11.88 million.
20. “Dancing with the Stars,” ABC, 11.86 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