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    Ryan Seacrest tops New Year’s Eve TV; Nielsen week in review

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1059 Views
    Ja Rule, Ashanti and Ryan Seacrest perform at the Times Square New Year's Eve celebration on Friday, Dec. 31, 2021, in New York. (Photo by Ben Hider/Invision/AP)

    By David Bauder, Media Writer

    NEW YORK (AP) --

    Ryan Seacrest is still the king of New Year's Eve television, no matter what Andy Cohen may think.

    Seacrest, inheritor of ABC's 50-year-old "New Year's Rockin' Eve" from Dick Clark, reached 19.6 million viewers between 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. last weekend, the Nielsen company said. During the 15-minute interval where the ball dropped in New York's Times Square, his audience jumped to 24.2 million people.

    It was the show's biggest audience in four years, Nielsen said.

    A drunken Cohen, who was co-hosting CNN's New Year's Eve special also from Times Square, attracted attention for referring to "Ryan Seacrest's group of losers." He said that people watching ABC had "seen nothing."

    Sobered up two days later, Cohen said on his SiriusXM show said that he really liked Seacrest. "He's a great guy, and I really regret saying that. I was just stupid and drunk and feeling it," he said.

    Cohen expressed no regret for calling former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio "a horrible mayor." He was scolded by CNN for saying it, however, although the network made a point of saying Cohen was invited back for the next New Year's Eve celebration.

    CNN's shot-filled celebration with Cohen and Anderson Cooper reached 3.3 million viewers between 11 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., outdoing Fox News Channel's Nashville-based show, which had 2.1 million people watching.

    NBC, which tried a new show with Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson, reached 6.3 million during the same time as Seacrest's fest, Nielsen said. CBS' country-oriented show had 5.2 million viewers.

    Among broadcast networks last week, NBC had the highest primetime average of 4.4 million viewers. CBS had 3.9 million, Fox had 3 million, ABC had 2.8 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 1 million and Telemundo had 890,000.

    Its schedule stuffed with college football bowl games, ESPN had the highest primetime average of any network last week, at 8.09 million. Fox News Channel was the second-ranked cable network at 1.72 million, Paramount had 1.59 million, Hallmark had 1.3 million and HGTV had 1.07 million.

    Evening news ratings were not immediately available.

    For the week of Dec. 27 to Jan. 2, the top 20 primetime programs, their networks and viewerships:

    1. NFL Football: Minnesota at Green Bay, NBC, 18.55 million.
    2. College Football Playoff: Georgia vs. Michigan, ESPN, 16.51 million.
    3. Rose Bowl: Ohio State vs. Utah, ESPN, 15.99 million.
    4. "College Football Studio" (Friday, 7:28 p.m.), ESPN, 15.97 million.
    5. "NFL Pregame Show," NBC, 14.68 million.
    6. "The OT," Fox, 14.25 million.
    7. "College Football Studio" (Friday, 7:11 p.m.), ESPN, 13.4 million.
    8. NFL Football: Miami at New Orleans, ESPN, 12.31 million.
    9. "Football Night in America, Part 3," NBC, 11.17 million.
    10. Sugar Bowl: Baylor vs. Mississippi, ESPN, 9.51 million.
    11. "Yellowstone," Paramount, 9.34 million.
    12. "Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve," ABC, 8.79 million.
    13. Peach Bowl: Pittsburgh vs. Michigan St., ESPN, 7.65 million.
    14. "College Football Studio" (Friday 11 p.m.), ESPN, 7.15 million.
    15. "60 Minutes," CBS, 7.09 million.
    16. "The Equalizer," CBS, 6.53 million.
    17. "Miley's New Year's Eve Party," NBC, 5.82 million.
    18. "Football Night in America, Part 2," NBC, 5.263 million.
    19. "The Price is Right 50th Anniversary," CBS, 5.258 million.
    20. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 5.17 million.

    Tags:ABCCNNNBCNew Year's Rockin' EveNielsen



    Christmas TV movies are in their Taylor Swift era, with 2 Swift-inspired films airing this season

    Friday, November 22, 2024
    This image released by Hallmark Media shows Hunter King, left, and Tyler Hynes in a scene from "Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story. (Joshua Haines/Hallmark Media via AP)

    Two new Christmas TV movies have a Taylor Swift connection that her fans would have no problem decoding.

    "Christmas in the Spotlight" debuts Saturday on Lifetime. It stars Jessica Lord as the world's biggest pop star and Laith Wallschleger as a pro football player, who meet and fall in love — not unlike Swift and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

    "It's clearly inspired by Taylor and Travis, but I don't know them and I don't know what is going on behind the scenes. I only know what's been put out there," said Eirene Tran Donohue, a longtime, devoted fan who jumped at the opportunity to write a script even loosely based on her favorite musician.

    She was inspired by the couple's support of each other's accomplishments, particularly Kelce's ease with dating the star despite the glare of the spotlight, adding, "I love the way that he celebrates her."

    Tran Donohue wants fellow Swift fans to know she wrote the script with them in mind.

    "There are so many Easter eggs," she said of little details added that a Swift fan would pick up on. "I put in as many as I could."

    Then, on Nov. 30, Hallmark will air "Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story." Instead of a nod to Swift, it's an ode to family traditions and bonding, like rooting for a sports team. Hallmark's headquarters is also in Kansas City, so it makes sense why the company chose the Chiefs to be highlighted.

    In this story, written by Julie Sherman Wolfe, sparks fly when a new employee for the Chiefs organization (Tyler Hynes) meets a woman — played by Hunter King — whose family's dedication to the team goes back generations.

    Sherman Wolfe, a San Francisco 49ers fan, said she got the call a week after Super Bowl LVIII, when the Chiefs... Read More

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