Programming

The freshman syndicated court show has been renewed in more than 95% of U.S. markets.

The State of the Union address drew a considerably smaller audience on the broadcast networks than it did a year ago, at least in the preliminary ratings from Tuesday. President Trump’s address and the Democratic response averaged 15.23 million viewers from 9-11 p.m. ET on ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC in Nielsen’s fast national ratings. That’s down about 25% from the comparable figure last year.

The magazine won’t publish an online cover featuring Victoria Fuller after photos surfaced of her modeling “White Lives Matter” apparel.

Six-time Emmy winner Gene Reynolds, known for his writing, directing and producing for the lauded socially conscious 1970s TV shows M*A*S*H and Lou Grant, died Monday. He was 96.

A new episode of the game, usually Fox’s most popular primetime program or close to it, airs on Wednesday. A special edition of the show, with Lil’ Wayne as the mystery guest, had its biggest audience ever Sunday when 23.7 million people watched it following the Super Bowl, according to Nielsen.

Despite the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Jan. 20, and tons of preemptions for President Trump’s impeachment hearings, which wiped out programming in many markets for the rest of the week, Clarkson climbed 8% from the prior frame to a first-place five-week high 1.4 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, and surged 17% among women 25-54 to its highest demo score since the week of Sept. 30.

Fox’s heavy promotion of 911: Lone Star during the Super Bowl paid off with improved ratings Monday. The Bachelor slipped a little with an extended episode on ABC, though it still led the adults 18-49 rankings in primetime.

Warner Bros. Television Group President-Chief Content Officer Peter Roth has signed a contract extension with the company that will make him chairman of the unit, a newly created position. In this role, Roth will continue to lead the group’s TV production, including U.S. production of scripted, unscripted and alternative series for broadcast, cable and streaming.

The Super Bowl scored its first ratings increase in five years, with just under 100 million viewers on average watching Fox’s broadcast Sunday. The game drew an average of 99.9 million viewers and a 41.7 household ratings, both slight upticks from CBS’s broadcast of Super Bowl LIII in 2019 (98.2 million, 41.1).

Further incorporating Hulu, the premium on-demand and live TV streaming service, into Walt Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer & International division has resulted in the departure of Randy Freer, Hulu’s CEO.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said on Sunday that his organization is “very open to changing packages, very open to changing partners” when it comes to negotiating media contracts that will expire in the next few years.

After learning of the plan to offer The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers to streaming customers prior to their broadcast airtimes, NBC affiliates have been in talks with the network and they say the two sides “are working toward a plan that is good for NBCU and provides affiliates the opportunity to meaningfully participate in this business.”

Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos acknowledged the friction that kept Netflix’s 2019 awards contenders The Irishman and Marriage Story from securing a wide release despite strong creative pedigrees and critical buzz for both titles, but he indicated that it’s a matter of time before the industry adjusts to a new paradigm. After all, he noted, Netflix led the industry in Oscar nominations this year with 24 bids.

Imelda Staunton has been tapped to be the last actress to play Queen Elizabeth II. She will take the crown in the fifth season from Olivia Colman, who, in turn, succeeded Claire Foy.

The series finale of The Good Place Thursday night delivered the show’s best same-day ratings since its season premiere. ABC’s Station 19 cooled some from last week’s series-high premiere but still drew one of the larger audiences of its two season-plus run so far, helping the network lead the night among adults 18-49.

A brewing dispute between Roku and Fox days before the Super Bowl might prove that streamers won’t be able to avoid some of the headaches that are driving them from cable. Roku said its distribution agreement with Fox Corp. is set to expire on tonight (Jan. 31), which would make programming on Fox channels unavailable on the Roku platform.

On the heels of Days of Our Lives‘ official pickup at NBC, CBS has renewed fellow sudser The Young and the Restless for four — count ’em, four — more seasons. The blockbuster deal ensures that daytime’s No. 1 soap will be around through (at least) the 2023-24 TV season.