By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The Nielsen company's latest rankings of popular television and streaming shows have one thing in common — "NCIS" at the top.
The CBS drama starring Mark Harmon as a Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agent has been on the air since 2003 and defines unhip. Yet the 8.7 million people who watched last Tuesday's episode was a bigger audience than anything else in prime-time television last week, Nielsen said.
The company also measures streaming audiences, although its reports lag behind the television ratings. Its most recent week available was April 19-25, and an estimated 890 million minutes of "NCIS" reruns were streamed on Netflix that week. Streamers could choose from among a staggering 353 episodes.
The Disney+ Marvel miniseries, "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," was the second most-streamed show that week. Six episodes were available, and 796 million minutes of the show were streamed.
All of the other programs in Nielsen's top 10 that week were on Netflix. They included the young adult fantasy series "Shadow and Bone," the game show "The Circle," the science fiction movie "Stowaway" starring Anna Kendrick, the old Nickelodeon comedy "Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn" and broadcast reruns "Grey's Anatomy" and "Criminal Minds."
On television, there was evidence that the NBA's gimmick of "play-in" games before the regular playoffs intrigued fans. Last week's game between Golden State and the L.A. Lakers brought 5.6 million people to ESPN, nearly double the most-watched game of the playoff's first round.
CBS was the most popular broadcast network last week, averaging 4.6 million viewers in primetime. NBC had 3.7 million, ABC had 3.5 million, Fox had 2.6 million, Univision had 1.3 million and Telemundo had 1 million.
Fox News Channel was the most popular cable network with a 2.04 million average in primetime. MSNBC had 1.43 million, TNT had 1.39 million, ESPN had 1.38 million and HGTV had 1.12 million.
ABC's "World News Tonight" won the evening news ratings race, averaging 7.6 million viewers. NBC's "Nightly News" had 6.2 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 4.7 million.
For the week of May 17-23, the top 20 programs in primetime, their networks and viewerships:
1. "NCIS," CBS, 8.73 million.
2. "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.26 million.
3. "FBI," CBS, 7.59 million.
4. "The Equalizer," CBS, 7.13 million.
5. "Chicago Fire," NBC, 6.84 million.
6. "Chicago Med," NBC, 6.62 million.
7. "American Idol," ABC, 6.5 million.
8. "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 6.19 million.
9. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 6.18 million.
10. "911," Fox, 5.93 million.
11. "Chicago PD," NBC, 5.64 million.
12. NBA Playoffs: Golden State vs. L.A. Lakers, ESPN, 5.62 million.
13. "The Neighborhood," CBS, 5.56 million.
14. "FBI: Most Wanted," CBS, 5.48 million.
15. "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC, 5.45 million.
16. "Bob Hearts Abishola," CBS, 5.39 million.
17. "The Masked Singer," Fox,, 5.23 million.
18. "911: Lone Star," Fox, 5.2 million.
19. "NCIS: New Orleans," CBS, 5.18 million.
20. "Bull," CBS, 5.08 million.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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