By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Janet Jackson's four-part documentary on Lifetime was the network's most-watched non-fiction show since "Surviving R. Kelly" three years ago, and viewership is continuing to grow.
The documentary series debuted Friday and Saturday night on Lifetime and was simulcast on the A&E network. With the musician and her manager-brother Randy listed as executive producers, the series was an intriguing look at a reclusive singer yet also received criticism for issues skirted or left out entirely.
The first part on Friday was seen by 2.8 million people on live TV, and another 1.2 million in the next few days either digitally or on demand, the Nielsen company said. Part two had a similar viewership of 4.3 million, Part three had 3.7 million and the final part had 3.8 million.
Those numbers are expected to grow with delayed viewing over the next few weeks.
Fox News Channel seems to have minted a new star. Jesse Watters' debut week at the 7 p.m. Eastern slot reached an average of 3.26 million people, well above the 1.87 million Fox reached last year in that time slot with a rotating set of hosts. Watters' show reached more than Joy Reid on MSNBC and Erin Burnett on CNN combined, Nielsen said.
Given that Watters is also one of the hosts of "The Five" on Fox, he was featured on nine of the top 15 programs on cable news last week, including the top four, Nielsen said.
The successful launch of Watters' show comes as Fox News marked a milestone last week: 20 straight years as the top-ranked cable news network.
The NFL — and television networks — were blessed with two more thrilling games for the conference championships. Fox's telecast of the NFC game between the L.A. Rams and San Francisco was seen by 50.2 million people, up 7% from last year's NFC tilt. The AFC game between Cincinnati and Kansas City reached 47.9 million, up 13% from 2021.
With a primetime playoff game, Fox easily won the week with an 11.3 million viewer average. CBS had 4.4 million, ABC had 2.8 million, NBC had 2.4 million, Univision had 1.6 million, Ion Television had 1.2 million and Telemundo had 1.1 million.
Fox News Channel led the cable networks with a 2.38 million average in primetime. HGTV had 1.22 million, MSNBC had 1.21 million, Hallmark had 946,000 and TNT had 942,000.
ABC's "World News Tonight" won the evening news ratings race, averaging 9 million viewers for the week. NBC's "Nightly News" had 7.9 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 5.6 million.
For the week of Jan. 24-30, the 20 most popular shows in primetime, their networks and viewerships:
1. NFC Championship: San Francisco at L.A. Rams, Fox, 50.23 million.
2. "NFC Championship Post-Game," Fox, 26.52 million.
3. "Next Level Chef," Fox, 8.11 million.
4. "NCIS," CBS, 7.79 million.
5. "Young Sheldon," CBS, 7.73 million.
6. "60 Minutes," CBS, 6.86 million.
7. "The Neighborhood," CBS, 6.39 million.
8. "Blue Bloods," CBS, 6.1 million.
9. "Bob Hearts Abishola," CBS, 5.86 million.
10. "United States of Al," CBS, 5.57 million.
11. "NCIS: Hawai'i," CBS, 5.41 million.
12. "911: Lone Star," Fox, 5.39 million.
13. "FBI," CBS, 5.35 million.
14. "Magnum, P.I.," CBS, 5.22 million.
15. "B Positive" (Thursday, 9 p.m.), CBS, 4.96 million.
16. "This is Us," NBC, 4.76 million.
17. "B Positive" (Thursday, 9:30 p.m.), CBS, 4.72 million.
18. "60 Minutes" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 4.67 million.
19. "Let's Make a Deal," CBS, 4.51 million.
20. "Judge Steve Harvey," ABC, 4.17 million.
The Grammys’ voting body is more diverse, with 66% new members. What does it mean for the awards?
For years, the Grammy Awards have been criticized over a lack of diversity — artists of color and women left out of top prizes; rap and contemporary R&B stars ignored — a reflection of the Recording Academy's electorate. An evolving voting body, 66% of whom have joined in the last five years, is working to remedy that.
At last year's awards, women dominated the major categories; every televised competitive Grammy went to at least one woman. It stems from a commitment the Recording Academy made five years ago: In 2019, the Academy announced it would add 2,500 women to its voting body by 2025. Under the Grammys' new membership model, the Recording Academy has surpassed that figure ahead of the deadline: More than 3,000 female voting members have been added, it announced Thursday.
"It's definitely something that we're all very proud of," Harvey Mason jr., academy president and CEO, told The Associated Press. "It tells me that we were severely underrepresented in that area."
Reform at the Record Academy dates back to the creation of a task force focused on inclusion and diversity after a previous CEO, Neil Portnow, made comments belittling women at the height of the #MeToo movement.
Since 2019, approximately 8,700 new members have been added to the voting body. In total, there are now more than 16,000 members and more than 13,000 of them are voting members, up from about 14,000 in 2023 (11,000 of which were voting members). In that time, the academy has increased its number of members who identify as people of color by 63%.
"It's not an all-new voting body," Mason assures. "We're very specific and intentional in who we asked to be a part of our academy by listening and learning from different genres and different groups that... Read More