By Frazier Moore, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The nation’s birthday week was observed by the networks mostly by scripted repeats along with the usual slate of reality and game shows.
Although NBC’s two-hour “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks” special ranked sixth and 16th for the week, the top-ranked primetime shows were CBS’ “60 Minutes” rerun and, in second place, a “Big Bang Theory” repeat, according to Nielsen.
The week’s most-talked-about show was likely “Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence,” a two-hour investigation into the celebrated aviator’s mysterious disappearance on a round-the-world flight 80 years ago. Although it wouldn’t have cracked the broadcast Top 20, the History documentary was by far the week’s most-watched cable program, drawing 4.32 million viewers.
Among broadcast networks, CBS won the week in primetime, averaging 8.92 million viewers. NBC had 7.73 million, ABC had 6.11 million, Fox had 5.34 million, Univision had 1.78 million, the CW had 1.73 million, Telemundo had 1.44 million, and ION Television had 1.26 million.
Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 1.96 million viewers in primetime. HGTV had 1.51 million, USA had 1.43 million and History was right behind with 1.42 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.42 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.16 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.71 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for July 3-9. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.
1. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.43 million.
2. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 7.13 million.
3. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 6.84 million.
4. “Little Big Shots: Forever Young,” NBC, 6.72 million.
5. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 6.39 million.
6. “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks,” NBC, 6.36 million.
7. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 6.15 million.
8. “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 6.09 million.
9. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.50 million.
10. “American Ninja Warrior,” NBC, 5.09 million.
11. “NCIS,” CBS, 5.06 million.
12. “Dateline Friday,” NBC, 5.04 million.
13. “Life in Pieces,” CBS, 4.90 million.
14. “America’s Got Talent” (Friday), NBC, 4.78 million.
15. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 4.75 million.
16. “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks” (10 p.m.), NBC, 4.73 million.
17. “Steve Harvey’s Funderdome,” ABC, 4.68 million.
18. “Bull,” CBS, 4.64 million.
19. “Hawaii Five-O,” CBS, 4.62 million.
20. “$100,000 Pyramid,” ABC, 4.61 million.
James Earl Jones, Lauded Actor and Voice of Darth Vader, Dies At 93
James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen — eventually lending his deep, commanding voice to CNN, "The Lion King" and Darth Vader — has died. He was 93.
His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died Monday morning at home in New York's Hudson Valley region. The cause was not immediately clear.
The pioneering Jones, who was one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama and worked deep into his 80s, won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement. In 2022, a Broadway theater was renamed in his honor.
He cut an elegant figure late in life, with a wry sense of humor and a ferocious work habit. In 2015, he arrived at rehearsals for a Broadway run of "The Gin Game" having already memorized the play and with notebooks filled with comments from the creative team. He said he was always in service of the work.
"The need to storytell has always been with us," he told The Associated Press then. "I think it first happened around campfires when the man came home and told his family he got the bear, the bear didn't get him."
Jones created such memorable film roles as the reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in "Field of Dreams," the boxer Jack Johnson in the stage and screen hit "The Great White Hope," the writer Alex Haley in "Roots: The Next Generation" and a South African minister in "Cry, the Beloved Country."
He was also a sought-after voice actor, expressing the villainy of Darth Vader ("No, I am your father," commonly misremembered as "Luke, I am your father"), as... Read More