Programming

An industry-created content ratings oversight board whose members include major studios and networks is recommending that streaming services adopt TV’s age-based ratings system, given the growing number of families that can access those platforms, many of which do not use the TV parental guidelines content ratings.

The network’s Sunday night football franchise was by far last week’s most-watched primetime program, as it traditionally is each fall. But NBC said it was the first time it won television’s fall premiere week in 20 years when only entertainment programming — and not sports — is taken into account. ESPN led the cable networks with a primetime average of 2.66 million. Fox News Channel had 2.36 million, MSNBC had 1.3 million, HGTV had 958,000 and TLC had 837,000.

The network announced Tuesday that it is bringing the cops-and-courts police drama back for a 21st season. When the show left the airwaves in May 2010, it was tied with CBS’s Gunsmoke for the longest running primetime TV drama.

NBC’s The Voice this Monday drew 6.7 million total viewers and a 0.95 rating, dipping week-to-week yet leading the night in the demo. Over on CBS, NCIS (7.8M/0.7) dropped a few eyeballs from last week’s Monday debut yet still copped the night’s biggest audience, all while steady in the demo. The new season’s most watched freshman show thus far, NCIS: Hawai’i (5.4M/0.5), was down 18% in viewers but steady in the demo.

Don Roy King, who has won 11 Emmys for directing Saturday Night Live, is retiring and is set to be replaced by The Ellen DeGeneres Show director Liz Patrick. King, who is thought to have directed more hours of live U.S. network television than anyone else, has been the director of the long-running NBC series since 2006. He previously directed CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, CBS This Morning and Good Morning America.

Sony Pictures Television has begun accepting applications for its 2021 Diverse Directors Program, which is part of SPT’s overall strategy to identify and engage emerging talent from a wide range of backgrounds. Participants will have the opportunity to get an in-depth education on directing episodic television at SPT as well as have the chance to interact with veteran TV directors, creative executives and showrunners.

It was still No. 1 for the session ending Sept. 19 even though it dipped 5% from the previous frame. Jay Leno’s You Bet Your Life debuted with a 0.7.

Conceding that the transition to video streaming has resulted in a scarcity of available program performance data, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos told interviewer Kara Swisher during Monday’s Code Conference in Beverly Hills that Netflix is going to make an effort to change things. “We’re trying to be more transparent with the market and talent and everybody,” Sarandos said. “It’s a big black box for everybody.”

Besides starting production on a new season of Fox’s sitcom Call Me Kat, Bialik was recalled to duty as a Jeopardy guest host — the result of the quiz show’s publicly messy effort to replace the late Alex Trebek. While Bialik didn’t speculate on whether she might ultimately be Sony’s pick, she said she considers herself part of the show’s “family” and was glad to help out on the syndicated show around the season-two taping of Call Me Kat.

Only Beck Bennett, known for impersonations of former Vice President Mike Pence and a buff Russian leader Vladimir Putin, is exiting as the NBC show returns this weekend for its 47th year.

Eisner will continue to oversee platform licensing and expansion of acquisitions for Allen Media Group’s OTT, OTA broadcast, television and digital networks.

The Late Late Show with James Corden will welcome back a live studio audience starting tonight, Monday, Sept. 27. The number of audience members will be reduced to 50, normally 170, to allow for social distancing in the audience section. Also, all audience members must show proof of vaccination, participate in a health screening and wear a mask.

Original series creator J. Michael Straczynski is on board to write the project. He will also executive producer under his Studio JMS banner. Warner Bros. Television, which produced the original series, will produce the reboot.

The bulk of the Tony Awards on Sunday ran on Paramount+. The few awards presented on CBS, as part of a special called Broadway’s Back, didn’t draw much of an audience. The two-hour special — primarily a celebration of Broadway’s return after 18 months of shuttered shows, due to the COVID-19 pandemic — averaged 2.62 million viewers Sunday night, according to time zone-adjusted fast national ratings from Nielsen (which may change some in the final numbers Tuesday morning).

Night Court is officially in session. NBC has handed the follow-up to the classic legal sitcom a series order. The multi-camera comedy, which comes from Outmatched and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt co-EP Dan Rubin and The Big Bang Theory’s Melissa Rauch, was in the works in December. It scored a pilot order in May and will now make it to screens.

Another carriage fight has burst into public view: NBCUniversal on Sunday said it was notifying customers with YouTube TV that more than 14 of its networks, including local NBC channels, could go dark on the streaming service in a matter of days. NBCU’s deal with YouTube TV is set to expire Thursday, Sept. 30. Google is unwilling to pay the higher rates the media conglomerate is asking in the renewal talks, according to NBCU. Google said that if it can’t reach a deal by Sept. 30, it will reduce YouTube TV’s monthly subscription fee by $10 per month while the NBCU nets are dark.

The National Football League on Friday said that this season’s wild card playoff weekend will conclude with a Monday night game on Jan. 17. The broadcaster for that Monday night game has yet to be determined, the NFL said. The league has been making efforts to create better matchups and better games for its TV partners, which this year signed new long-term deals worth more than $100 million.

It depends on how you look at it.

“If you are working on commercials or for HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, BET or another company that has a contract still in effect – you must keep working,” IATSE informed its members. “You will not be a scab!” (Image: HBO; IATSE; BET)