100 Most-Watched TV Shows of 2020-21: Winners and Losers
Michael Schneider, Variety
As another unusual, COVID-compromised TV season comes to a close on Wednesday, Variety has once again compiled the list of the most-watched TV shows of the year, in both total viewers and adults 18-49. If these don’t look like great numbers, well, it’s 2021. There’s no such thing as great numbers anymore.
Triumph of the unhip: ‘NCIS’ tops TV, streaming rankings
David Bauder, The Associated Press
The Nielsen company’s latest rankings of popular television and streaming shows have one thing in common — “NCIS” at the top.
‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ Ends ‘The Tonight Show’s Demo-Win Run As ABC Series Scores Best Ratings In 7 Months
Peter White, Deadline
Jimmy Kimmel Live! had its best ratings run since October as the ABC series topped the late-night demo last week.
Daytime Emmys: ‘General Hospital’ Leads 2021 Nominations
Hilary Lewis, The Hollywood Reporter
ABC’s General Hospital scored the most nominations, with 21, followed by fellow soaps The Young and the Restless (CBS) and Days of Our Lives (NBC), which scored 11 nods each; and CBS’ The Bold and the Beautiful, landing nine nods. All four of those shows are up for outstanding drama series.
The CW Proud Of Diversity Efforts But Still Striving For More Authentic Voices
Peter White, Deadline
Mark Pedowitz revealed during the CW’s upfronts press call today that 67% of its showrunners, writers and directors this season are diverse and/or women, while 53% of its series regulars are people of color and 49% are women.
‘This Was Just a Miss’: Why The CW’s ‘Powerpuff Girls’ Pilot Is Being Reworked
Elaine Low, Variety
The CW’s pilot of “Powerpuff,” the live-action series based on the popular Cartoon Network animated show “The Powerpuff Girls,” is being overhauled and re-shot because the initial pilot was “too campy” and not as rooted in reality as network execs would have liked.
Streaming Rules, Dick Wolf Doesn’t Sleep and 8 Other Things We Learned From 2021 Upfronts
Tony Maglio et al., The Wrap Pro
During the 2021 event, we found out that broadcast TV really loves its crime procedurals (as does Dick Wolf’s bank account), streaming is now welcomed in as a begrudging roommate and Jimmy Kimmel can provide more laughs in seven minutes than NBC will this fall.
Upfronts 2021: Studio Chiefs On Broadcast Comedies’ Viability, Light Fare’s Rise Post-Covid & Pandemic’s Permanent Effect On Development & Production
Nellie Andreeva, Deadline
For the first time since start of the Big Four era in broadcast TV, two of the four networks, NBC and Fox, will have no live-action comedies on the fall schedule amid a challenging period for the genre and efforts to redraw the decades-old broadcast comedy model for the streaming age.
Jimmy Kimmel and Ted Cruz Rekindle an Old Feud
Trish Bendix, The New York Times
Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday rehashed the details of a new feud with Senator Ted Cruz. It began, Kimmel explained, when the Texas Republican posted a tweet in which he referred to the U.S. military as “woke” and “emasculated.”
David W. Zucker Upped To Chief Creative Officer At Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions, Jordan Sheehan & Clayton Krueger Named Co-Presidents Of Television
Nellie Andreeva, Deadline
Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions has promoted longtime President of Television David W. Zucker to Chief Creative Officer. Zucker’s top lieutenants of nearly a decade, Jordan Sheehan and Clayton Krueger, have been elevated to Co-Presidents of Scott Free Television.
With ‘Younger’ and ‘The Bold Type’ Ending, Will TV Turn the Page?
Alexis Soloski, The New York Times
Series have long depicted media jobs as glitzy and aspirational. But with several such shows wrapping up as much of the news and publishing business craters, is this the end of an era?
Netflix Is Launching a Series Inspired by a ProPublica Story About a U.S.-Triggered Massacre in Mexico
Ginger Thompson, ProPublica
Netflix will release a series next month inspired by ProPublica’s 2017 story “How the U.S. Triggered a Massacre in Mexico,” which revealed the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s role in setting off a 2011 massacre in northern Mexico, leaving dozens of people dead or missing.
Elizabeth Banks to Produce, Direct, Appear in Series Adaptation of Victoria Aveyard’s ‘Red Queen’ at Peacock
Joe Otterson, Variety
Peacock is developing a series adaptation of the Victoria Aveyard novel “Red Queen” with Elizabeth Banks attached to executive produce, direct and appear in a major supporting role.