By David Bauder, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Those who believe it’s impossible for a broadcast network to make new hits anymore probably isn’t a fan of “This is Us.”
The heartwarming NBC series was second only to CBS’ “NCIS” for the most popular show of the week for its debut season finale last week. The show reached 12.8 million viewers on the night it first aired, with the audience swelling to 16.9 million when people who watched via time delay over three days is added in, the Nielsen company said.
The vast majority of new television series’ fail, but “This is Us” also proved that there’s still no matching broadcast television when it comes to finding the best chance of reaching the biggest audience.
Add in two editions of “The Voice,” and NBC had three of last week’s four most popular programs.
CBS still won the week in primetime, averaging 7.2 million viewers. NBC had 6.4 million, ABC had 4.6 million, Fox had 2.6 million, Univision had 1.6 million, Telemundo had 1.33 million, ION Television had 1.29 million and the CW had 1.1 million.
Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.48 million viewers in prime time. Bolstered by March Madness, TNT was second with 2.42 million, TBS had 1.98 million, MSNBC had 1.72 million and USA had 1.71 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.43 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 8.36 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.8 million viewers.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for March 13-19. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. “NCIS,” CBS, 14.16 million.
2. “This is Us,” NBC, 12.84 million.
3. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 12.18 million.
4. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 11.71 million.
5. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 10.85 million.
6. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 10.43 million.
7. “The Walking Dead,” AMC, 10.32 million.
8. “Little Big Shots,” NBC, 9.58 million.
9. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 9.1 million.
10. “The Bachelor,” ABC, 8.41 million.
11. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 7.91 million.
12. “Survivor,” CBS, 7.87 million.
13. “Bachelor: After the Final Rose,” ABC, 7.86 million.
14. “The Voice” (Wednesday), NBC, 7.63 million.
15. “Madam Secretary,” CBS, 7.62 million.
16. “Criminal Minds,” CBS, 7.5 million.
17. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 7.35 million.
18. “Kevin Can Wait,” CBS, 6.79 million.
19. “Scorpion,” CBS, 6.61 million.
20. NCAA Basketball: St. Mary’s vs. Arizona, CBS, 6.51 million.
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this year’s AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmy® winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Award® nominee Chloë Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More