By Lynn Elber, Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Fired FBI acting director Andrew McCabe’s headline-making interview on CBS’ news magazine proved a TV audience grabber as well.
The program ranked as the third most-watched last week with 9.7 million people tuning in, according to Nielsen figures released Wednesday.
Viewership was down across the board during the Presidents Day holiday weekend, and the Sunday audience for “60 Minutes” didn’t approach its season average of 11.6 million. But McCabe’s memoir “The Threat,” about the FBI and the Trump administration, topped Amazon’s best-sellers list the day after the interview aired as part of a media blitz for the book.
He told “60 Minutes” that a “crime may have been committed” when President Donald Trump fired James Comey as FBI director in 2017 and tried to publicly undermine an investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.
McCabe also said the FBI had good reason for a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump was in league with Russia, and therefore a possible national security threat. McCabe, fired from the Justice Department last year after an internal probe into a news media disclosure, denied he intentionally lied and said his firing was politically motivated.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the interview Sunday night. Trump has repeatedly shared his views, including in one tweet in which he called McCabe “disgraced” and said “now his story gets even more deranged.”
CBS won the weekly network ratings contest as viewers also devoted time to the network’s “NCIS” and “The Big Bang Theory” and their spinoffs, Nielsen said.
With six of the top 10 shows and 13 of the most-watched 20, CBS had an average of 6.3 million weekly viewers. NBC had 5.2 million, ABC had 3.8 million, Fox had 3.6 million, Univision had 1.4 million, ION Television had 1.3 million, Telemundo had 1.3 million and the CW had 880,000.
Fox News Channel was the week’s most-watched cable network, averaging 2.5 million viewers in primetime. TNT had 2.3 million, MSNBC had 1.9 million, ESPN had 1.4 million, HGTV had 1.35 million and History had 1.3 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9.4 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 8.8 million, and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.7 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Feb. 11-17. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. “NCIS,” CBS, 13.4 million.
2. “America’s Got Talent Champions,” NBC, 10.5 million.
3. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 9.7 million.
4. “FBI,” CBS, 9.5 million.
5. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 8.9 million.
6. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 8.7 million.
7. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 8.5 million.
8. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 8.3 million.
9. “The Masked Singer,” Fox, 7.9 million.
10. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 7.7 million.
11. “Mom,” CBS, 7.6 million.
12. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 7.5 million.
13. “This Is Us,” NBC, 7.4 million.
14. “Hawaii Five-0,” CBS, 7.3 million.
15. “God Friended Me,” CBS, 7.19 million.
16. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 7.16 million.
17. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 7 million.
18. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 6.7 million.
19. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC, 6.6 million.
20. “MacGyver,” CBS, 6.4 million.
ABC is 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.
Comedic Director Roderick Fenske Joins Yard Dog TV For U.S. Spot Work
Roderick Fenske, the award-winning agency copywriter/creative director turned comedic director of commercials and films, has joined Yard Dog TV for U.S. representation.
Fenske--known for his idiosyncratic casting, stylish art direction, and blend of practical and digital effects--saw his newest commercial work, for Drink Weird Ice Tea, break earlier this month. His most recent short film, I’m Dead, You’re Welcome, starring JR Russell, Taissa Zveiter, Sandy Eels, and Julia Lorpriore, is making the rounds of film festivals now, having won Best Comedy Short at the Flagstaff International Film Festival last month.
Fenske, who started out in the business as a copywriter, is one of a select group of agency creatives to have found success in both New York and London, where his last post was as a creative director at TBWA there. “I owe so much of my career to Trevor Beattie [TBWA London chairman/creative director at the time], because he believed in me and started my career directing commercials,” said Fenske, citing work for Sony PlayStation, French Connection UK, and Channel 5.
Those spots led to an invitation to become a member of the visionary Swedish film collective known as ACNE. “I learned so much there working in a directing collective. With everybody talking about how to make stuff look stylish and cinematic it was like a film school for me,” Fenske explained. “Production design is so important because humor can be much more unexpected when you have an elevated look.”
Over the course of his career, Fenske’s work has received many international awards from shows including the Cannes Lions, British D&AD, and AICP. He moved from London to Los Angeles, and during this time he met Yard Dog... Read More