By David Bauder, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Singing, dancing and Chicago was the formula NBC used for a weekly victory in the ratings.
“The Voice” returned from a hiatus and earned three of the top four slots in the Nielsen company’s list of the most-watched programs last week. The exception was “Little Big Shots,” the debut of another variety show, this one featuring talented youngsters with Steve Harvey as host.
NBC, rebooting for the midseason, also landed in the top 20 with all four of producer Dick Wolf’s Chicago-based dramas that aired last week, including the latest, “Chicago Justice.”
NBC averaged 7.3 million viewers in primetime for the week. CBS was second with 6.1 million, ABC had 3.2 million, Fox had 2.4 million, Univision had 2 million, Telemundo had 1.4 million, the CW had 1.39 million and ION Television had 1.3 million.
Fox News Channel was the most popular cable network, benefiting from its coverage of President Trump’s address to Congress. It averaged 3.38 million viewers in prime-time. ESPN had 1.75 million, HGTV had 1.63 million, USA had 1.56 million and MSNBC had 1.53 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.5 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 8.3 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.7 million viewers.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Feb. 27-March 5. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 13.03 million.
2. “Little Big Shots,” NBC, 11.72 million.
3. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 11.35 million.
4. “The Voice” (Thursday), NBC, 10.69 million.
5. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 10.68 million.
5. President Trump Address to Congress, Fox News, 10.68 million.
7. “The Walking Dead,” AMC, 10.16 million.
8. “Presidential Address Analysis,” Fox News, 10.15 million.
9. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 9.59 million.
10. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 9.46 million.
11. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 9.01 million.
12. “NCIS,” CBS, 8.92 million.
13. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 8.82 million.
14. “Chicago Justice,” NBC, 8.73 million.
15. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 8.68 million.
16. “Presidential Address Introduction,” Fox News, 8.66 million.
17. “Presidential Address Analysis,” NBC, 8.05 million.
18. “The Bachelor,” ABC, 7.72 million.
19. “Democratic Response,” Fox News, 7.69 million.
20. “Taken,” NBC, 7.45 million.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More