Programming

How to Get Away With Murder signed off with an ending to die for on ABC last night. The final appearance of Viola Davis as Annalise Keating scored a 0.7 rating among adults 18-49 and 3.2 million total viewers. That represents the show’s highest rating of its sixth and final season, as well as its largest Live+Same Day audience by around 300,000.

The NBCUniversal streaming platform will feature originals including Brave New World and a Psych movie when it goes wide July 15.

During the NAB Show Executive Leadership Summit, produced in partnership with the Variety Streaming Room, leaders from across the business gathered virtually to discuss how COVID-19 is changing the business across all platforms, and how Gen Z’s viewing habits are guiding their decision-making.

NBC has acquired a Canadian drama to help shore up its primetime schedule in a time when its own series have uncertain futures. The network has picked up Transplant, a medical drama that has delivered strong ratings for broadcaster CTV in its first season. The series, which debuted Feb. 26, is the most-watched Canadian show in the country in the current broadcast year (Canada’s networks also air a number of American shows).

The CW, like Fox, has largely corona-proofed its fall schedule. The younger-skewing broadcast network is delaying the launch of nearly all of its new and returning shows for January — a strategy many industry insiders predicted could occur amid the near industry-wide production shutdown.

The finale averaged a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49 and just under 8 million total viewers, which represents the best numbers for a Survivor finale in five seasons, as well as being well above the averaged 7.2 million viewers who tuned in across the 40th edition. CBS managed to win the night overall, beating Fox on the night of the Masked Singer semi-final.

The IAB has announced details for the virtual NewFront presentations in June, adding newer presenters like TikTok and Roku to a roster full of mainstays like Hulu and YouTube. The NewFronts, usually a splashy New York affair that leads up to the traditional TV upfronts in May, will be held this year will be June 22-26, with daily blocks from noon to 4 p.m. ET.

Parents as crew members, producers as bandwidth police, 90 new iPhones, confetti cannons in the mail and techniques borrowed from TikTok: Behind the scenes on the original singing-competition show.

The pickup comes as the 1:35 a.m. show finishes airing its first season, all of which was filmed in the fourth quarter of 2019. Singh, a YouTuber with some 36 million followers across social media channels, is currently the only woman hosting a late night show on the broadcast networks. She’s also the first bisexual woman of color to front a late night series.

For Life, the drama from Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, aired what could be its final episode (pending ABC’s renewal decision) to strong numbers on Tuesday night, behind the special tribute to late sitcom icon Garry Marshall. The season 1 finale of the ABC drama scored 0.5 rating among adults 18-49 and drew 2.9 million viewers, its largest tally since the premiere three months ago. The Disney-owned network Happy Days of Garry Marshall special preceded it with a 0.6 rating and 5.6 million viewers.

To keep viewers entertained during quarantine, broadcast and network television and streaming content are running through their content stockpiles and trying some creative experiments.

In a virtual presentation to media agencies and marketing executives on Tuesday, Steve Mandela, president of advertising sales and marketing for Univision Communications, said: “Unlike English-language networks, our primetime schedule for the next year is set with first-run episodes every hour of primetime.”

The CW has made two additional series pickups for the 2020-21 season. Both a reboot of Kung Fu and The Republic of Sarah will air on the broadcaster next season. The two shows join the previously announced straight-to-series orders for Superman & Lois starring Tyler Hoechlin and Bitsie Tulloch as well as Walker, a reboot of Walker, Texas Ranger, starring Jared Padalecki.

With 9.5 million viewers Sunday, 60 Minutes was easily the week’s most-watched primetime program, Nielsen said. CBS was the most popular network in primetime last week, averaging 4.4 million viewers. NBC was second with 2.9 million, ABC had 2.7 million, Fox had 1.9 million, Univision had 1.03 million, Ion Television had 1.01 million, Telemundo had 570,000 and the CW had 490,000.

The veteran quizzer hosted by Alex Trebek jumped 11% to a 7.0 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, while Family Feud — which had been first or tied for first in the genre for the past three weeks — had no answer, slipping 3% to a 6.9.