By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --It has the makings of a blue Christmas for Leah. She's turning 30 on Christmas Eve, the same day she'll be a bridesmaid at her brother's wedding.
But wait — her childhood crush is back in town. Sounds like a movie premise guaranteed to tug at heartstrings, and no one knows how to do that this time of year like the Hallmark Channel.
That movie with Emily Osment in the starring role, "A Very Merry Bridesmaid," and another premiere last weekend, "Sister Swap: Hometown Holidays," are part of an assembly line of holiday fare at Hallmark. Both reached nearly 3 million viewers, the Nielsen company said.
Hallmark was the most-watched entertainment cable channel last week, as it often is as the holidays approach. The network scores particularly well among its target audience of women ages 25-to-54.
Broadcast networks are rolling out their own holiday fare, with NBC's special surrounding the Christmas tree lighting in Rockefeller Center the most popular last week.
NBC reached 5.3 million people for its live production of "Annie!" Live television musicals are losing their pull ever since becoming a semi-regular feature when a production of "The Sound of Music" surprised people by drawing more than 18 million viewers in 2013. "Annie! Live" did beat ABC's interview with Alec Baldwin on the "Rust" movie set shooting, which was a direct competitor.
Meanwhile, Fox rode football to a win in the weekly ratings, averaging 6.4 million viewers in primetime last week. NBC had 6.1 million, CBS had 5.3 million, ABC had 2.9 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 930,000 and Telemundo had 900,000.
Fox News Channel led cable networks with an average of 2.42 million viewers in prime time. ESPN had 2.05 million, Hallmark had 1.53 million, MSNBC had 1.16 million and Freeform had 1.02 million.
ABC's "World News Tonight" led the evening news ratings race with an average of 8 million viewers. NBC's "Nightly News" had 7.4 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.2 million.
For the week of Nov. 29-Dec. 5, the 20 most-watched programs in primetime, their network and viewerships.
1. NFL Football: Denver at Kansas City, NBC, 17.51 million.
2. NFL Football: Dallas at New Orleans, Fox, 16.7 million.
3. "NFL Pregame," NBC, 12.12 million.
4. College Football: Michigan vs. Iowa, Fox, 11.66 million.
5. NFL Football: Seattle at Washington, ESPN, 10.9 million.
6. "NFL Postgame," Fox, 10.46 million.
7. "60 Minutes," CBS, 10.3 million.
8. "College Football Pregame," Fox, 9.74 million.
9. "NFL Pregame," Fox, 9.73 million.
10. "Football Night in America, Part 3," NBC, 9.34 million.
11. "NCIS," CBS, 7.34 million.
12. "Yellowstone," Paramount, 7.28 million.
13. "College Football Postgame," CBS, 7.23 million.
14. "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC, 6.76 million.
15. "Young Sheldon," CBS, 6.59 million.
16. "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 6.48 million.
17. "Christmas in Rockefeller Center," NBC, 6.18 million.
18. "Blue Bloods," CBS, 5.81 million.
19. "Survivor," CBS, 5.63 million.
20. "Ghosts," CBS, 5.46 million.
“Scandal” cast will reunite for online script reading for hurricane relief in western North Carolina
The cast of ABC's hit political drama "Scandal" may need to brush up on their snappy, speedy delivery known as "Scandal-pace," because they're reuniting for a good cause. Its stars including Kerry Washington, Tony Goldwyn and Bellamy Young will take part in a live virtual script reading on Nov. 17 to raise money for hurricane relief in western North Carolina.
Beginning Friday, fans can go online and donate to reserve a spot for the online reading. Proceeds will benefit United Way of North Carolina. Everyone who donates will be able to take part in a virtual pre-event with the cast and Shonda Rhimes will give an introduction.
Additional guest stars will also be announced. The online fundraising platform Prizeo is also holding a contest where one person who donates online via their site will be selected to read a role from the script with the actors. The winner should not worry about the "Scandal"-pace, assured Young over Zoom.
"Whomever the lucky reader is can read at whatever pace they want," she said.
Young, who played Mellie Young, the first lady and later Republican presidential nominee on "Scandal," was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. She came up with the idea for the effort with a friend and took it to her fellow "Scandal" actors, who all jumped on board. Young said this is the first script reading the cast has all done together since the show ended after seven seasons in 2018.
Which episode they will be reading has not been announced yet.
Young said it's "been devastating" to see so many parts of her hometown badly damaged by Hurricane Helene, which ravaged western North Carolina one month ago.
To research the best use for donations, Young spoke with numerous political leaders, including North... Read More