Programming

Break out the Drake’s Coffee Cakes and the Junior Mints: Netflix has set a debut date for Seinfeld. The classic sitcom, to which the streamer acquired global rights in a $500 million deal with distributor Sony two years ago, will make its Netflix bow on Oct. 1. The show has called Hulu home for the past six years.

NBC’s America’s Got Talent (7 million total viewers/0.7 demo rating) dipped in the demo week-to-week yet still topped Tuesday in that measure, while easily delivering the night’s biggest audience. Fox’s Fantasy Island drew 1.5 million total viewers and a 0.2 demo rating, marking its lowest numbers in four outings.

The new diginet from Nexstar begins airing classic TV programming from the 1980s and 1990s in markets covering 40% of the U.S., including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Streaming-TV monogamy still isn’t a thing, according to the latest survey by Leichtman Research Group. The Durham, N.H., firm released its Emerging Video Services 2021 survey Aug. 31, finding that 58% of Americans subscribe to more than one of the big three of Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu.

The former Teen Vogue editor is the second co-host to exit the CBS daytime show in two weeks, following Carrie Ann Inaba. Welteroth’s departure leaves The Talk with three co-hosts: Sheryl Underwood, Amanda Kloots and the recently hired Jerry O’Connell.

NBC, on the strength of its top-rated America’s Got Talent and football broadcasts, was the most-watched network last week. NBC averaged 3.41 million viewers last week. CBS had 2.71 million, ABC had 2.64 million, Fox had 1.41 million, Ion Television had 1.13 million, Univision had 1.38 million and Telemundo had 980,000. Fox News Channel was the leader among cable outlets with an average 3.1 million viewers. MSNBC had 1.38 million, ESPN had 1.25 million, HGTV had 1.15 million and CNN had 985,000.

The veteran programmer who has helped guide numerous television shows and careers caps more than four decades in the industry including 32 years at Hearst Television.

ABC’s Bachelor in Paradise drew 3.2 million total viewers and a 0.9 rating, dipping week-to-week yet still dominating Monday in the demo. Over on NBC, American Ninja Warrior (3.5M/0.5) ticked up and delivered Monday’s largest audience.

CBS Sports said long-time director Bob Fishman will retire following next year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. In 50 years with CBS, Fishman has directed nearly every sport televised by the network and has been the lead director on college basketball since 1982. He also directs CBS Sports’ No. 2 NFL broadcast team.

With the win in the week ending Aug. 22, it leads the category season-to-date with a 5.47 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating compared to Jeopardy at a 5.27 and Judge Judy at a 5.26.

Richards had signed an overall development deal with Sony in 2019, and became executive producer of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune in May 2020. He quickly became controversial when he went from behind-the-scenes to Sony’s pick for host of Jeopardy — even before his 2013-14 podcast comments demeaning women and making stereotypical comments about Asian, Jews and others surfaced.

Mia Love will be the first guest host, with Condoleezza Rice, S.E. Cupp and Gretchen Carlson appearing over the next few months.

The good news:  Leroy Jethro Gibbs is indeed alive and well. But is he ready to rejoin his NCIS team?

The broadcast network has handed out a straight-to-series order for the show, which centers on a Black, gay billionaire inventor. The team behind Nancy Drew, including showrunner Melinda Hsu Taylor and series creators Noga Landau, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, are all involved in the spinoff.

Another Chastain Park employee is scrubbing out. Emily VanCamp, who has starred on The Resident since its 2018 premiere, is exiting the Fox medical drama ahead of Season 5. The circumstances surrounding her exit have not been made clear, though the actress revealed earlier this month — much to fans’ surprise — that she and husband Josh Bowman recently welcomed a daughter, Iris.

The Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons might have had the field on Sunday during NBC’s NFL Preseason game, but the evening belonged to CBS. With new episodes of 60 Minutes and Big Brother, CBS won the most-watched and highest-rated primetime programs on Sunday.

Nielsen seems to be betting the industry will shrug off its loss of accreditation.

Built like the football lineman he once was, the balding Asner was a journeyman actor in films and TV when he was hired in 1970 to play Lou Grant on CBS’s The Mary Tyler Moore Show. For seven seasons he was the rumpled boss to Moore’s ebullient Mary Richards (He called her “Mary,” she called him “Mr. Grant”) at the fictional Minneapolis TV newsroom where both worked. Later, he would play the role for five years on Lou Grant also on CBS.

Manifest will live on. After weeks of negotiations, Netflix has closed a deal for a super-sized fourth and final season (20 episodes) of the missing plane drama, which will be available exclusively on the streamer worldwide. In a nod to Manifest‘s fans, whose passionate support helped resurrect the show following its cancellation by NBC, the announcement of the Season 4 pickup by Netflix was made on so-called “828 Day” (8/28) — when the series about the mystery of Flight 828 is celebrated annually — at 8:28 a.m. PT.

The sports-media giant has held talks to license its brand to sportsbooks including Caesars Entertainment and DraftKings, according to people familiar with the matter.

NBCUniversal said more companies have asked to be included in its search for a better systems for measuring its various businesses, including television viewership. The company is now reviewing more than 70 responses.