By Andrew Dalton, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --“The Big Bang Theory” edged out “Game of Thrones” as the two beloved TV behemoths again topped the ratings as they approach their finales.
CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory” drew 12.6 million live viewers last week, while HBO’s “Game of Thrones” had 12.5 million, the Nielsen company said.
It was the second week in a row atop the ratings for “The Big Bang Theory,” whose 12-season run of nerdy comedy ends with a May 16 finale episode that by that time will have no competition from “Thrones” and should win the week running away.
With HBO available in far fewer homes than CBS and the other networks, the past week was still a big win for “Game of Thrones,” which continues to break its own viewership records.
The series’ penultimate episode, titled “The Bells,” which brought a new level of fiery, dragon-fueled destruction, drew 18.4 million viewers if reruns later that night and streaming services views are included. That breaks its record of 17.8 million set for an episode earlier in the season, and makes it the most-watched episode of any show in HBO history.
Next week’s series finale, whose title has not been revealed, is likely to crush those numbers.
The second round of the NBA playoffs made it a big week overall for cable, with four games on ESPN and TNT among the top 20 shows, three of them in the Golden State Warriors-Houston Rockets series.
CBS rode “The Big Bang Theory” and six other shows in the top 10 to again win the week in primetime, with an average of 5.9 million viewers. NBC averaged 4 million, ABC had 3.6 million, Fox had 2.5 million, Telemundo had 1.3 million, ION Television had 1.24 million, Univision had 1.22 million and the CW 750,000.
TNT used the NBA playoffs to become the week’s most popular cable network with a primetime average of 3.4 million viewers. Fox News Channel had 2.3 million, ESPN had 1.8 million, MSNBC had 1.7 million and HGTV had 1.2 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.1 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 7.5 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.6 million viewers.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for May 6-12. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 12.6 million.
2. “Game of Thrones,” HBO, 12.5 million.
3. “NCIS,” CBS, 11.7 million.
4. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 10.5 million.
5. “FBI,” CBS, 8.8 million.
6. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 8.5 million.
7. “Mom,” CBS, 8 million.
8. “American Idol” (Sunday), ABC, 7.9 million.
9. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.82 million.
10. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 7.8 million.
11. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 7.7 million.
12. NBA Playoffs: Golden State at Houston, ESPN, 7.32 million.
13. “Survivor,” CBS, 7.3 million
14. “The Voice,” NBC, 7.27 million.
15. NBA Playoffs: Golden State at Houston, Turner, 7 million.
16. NBA Playoffs: Philadelphia at Toronto, Turner, 6.9 million.
17. NBA Playoffs: Houston at Golden State, Turner, 6.86 million.
18. “Hawaii Five-0,” CBS, 6.8 million.
19. “NCIS: New Orleans, CBS, 6.7 million.
20. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 6.4 million.
ABC and ESPN are 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; Turner is owned by WarnerMedia.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More