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    Olympic trials pique viewer interest in Tokyo Games; Nielsen week in review

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1567 Views
    Graphic designer Asao Tokolo, left, and graphic designers group GOO CHOKI PAR members Q Asaba, third from right, Kent Iitaka, second from right, and Rei Ishii, right, unveil their posters during a presentation event in Tokyo Tuesday, June 22, 2021. The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games unveiled two iconic posters hat will be used to promote the Tokyo 2020 Games. (Franck Robichon/Pool Photo via AP)

    By Lynn Elber, Television Writer

    LOS ANGELES (AP) --

    Amid all the back-and-forth about the feasibility of holding the Tokyo Olympics during the pandemic, there are early indications of viewer interest in the summer games.

    U.S. Olympic team trials in swimming and track and field that aired Sunday on NBC fell short of gold-medal ratings but won enough viewers to edge into the top 20, according to Nielsen figures released Tuesday.

    NBC's coverage of the trials to date is down 26% compared to viewership for comparable Olympic trials in 2016 on the network. Basketball and hockey playoffs are one potential reason: It's the first time the NBA and NHL events have overlapped with the trials.

    The NBA playoffs accounted for a lion's share of the most popular shows last week and helped make TNT the most-watched outlet on cable or broadcast.

    The Olympics, delayed by a year because of COVID-19, will be held held July 23 to Aug. 8 despite widespread concerns from the Japanese public and medical community. The Olympics and the Paralympics combined will bring nearly 100,000 athletes and others into the country that has a low vaccination rate.

    NBC was the most-watched network last week in prime-time, with an average of 3.2 million viewers. CBS had 2.7 million viewers, ABC had 2.67 million, Fox had 1.45 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Ion Television had 1 million and Telemundo had 950,000.

    TNT handily led the cable networks with an average of 3.49 million viewers. Fox News Channel had 2.14 million, ESPN had 1.65 million, MSNBC had 1.19 million and HGTV had 1.15 million.

    ABC's "World News Tonight" led the evening news ratings competition, averaging 7.7 million viewers last week. The "NBC Nightly News" had 6.3 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 4.7 million.

    Tags:NBCNielsenTNTTokyo Olympics



    Netflix’s “Missing You” lands in time for New Year binge watch

    Friday, December 27, 2024
    Ashley Walters, left, and Rosalind Eleazar pose for photographers at a photo call for the television series "Missing You," Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in London. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

    It's Netflix's resolution every new year to give viewers a headscratcher in January.

    Since 2020, the streamer has released a U.K. miniseries based on thriller book by Harlan Coben over the holidays. It seems to have paid off: "Fool Me Once," starring Michelle Keegan, Adeel Akhtar and Joanna Lumley, launched this past January and became what Netflix says was one of their most watched shows of the year, amassing 108 million views.

    2025's seasonal suspense series is "Missing You," based on Coben's 2014 New York Times bestseller. It stars Rosalind Eleazar ("Slow Horses") as Detective Inspector Kat Donovan, a police officer who specializes in finding missing people — apart from the fiance that vanished 11 years earlier.

    "They know Jan. 1 is the sweet spot for them," says actor Richard Armitage, who has appeared in each winter Coben adaptation, which relocates the stories from the books' America to the north of England. "People have ownership over the show now, so like, 'I want my Harlan Coben show on New Year's Day. Give me my Harlan Coben fix.'"

    "It's perfect timing for the release, to be honest," says co-star Ashley Walters. "Most people are going to be hung over or, you know, just not have anything to do with the day."

    The show opens with the shock of Donovan's ex-fiance (Walters) popping up on a dating app, over a decade after she came home one day to find him gone.

    "I've ghosted people before," laughs Armitage. "Just people you don't want to talk to anymore. Not digitally though."

    Another star, Jessica Plummer, isn't a fan of those who disappear without saying goodbye, though.

    "I'd just feel too guilty," she admits, calling it "cowardly and lazy — sorry Richard!"

    Eleazar promises twists and turns... Read More

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