IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Stacey Abrams has a thriller novel coming soon
Homebound viewers boost New Year’s Eve ratings; a CNN high
LOS ANGELES » Stuck at home on a pandemic New Year’s Eve, TV viewers turned to Ryan Seacrest, Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen in big numbers for a virtual celebration, with Times Square largely empty as the ball dropped.
ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” with host Seacrest drew
18.4 million viewers in the hour between
11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., an increase of
5% over 2020’s audience.
CNN ushered in 2021 with its highest-rated New Year’s Eve special on record, with 3.4 million people tuning in to share the evening hosted by Cooper and Cohen.
The ABC special’s first hour and an episode of CBS’ “60 Minutes” were the only non-football programs to make last week’s top 20 list of most-watched shows, according to Nielsen figures released Wednesday.
NBC was the highest-rated broadcast network last week, averaging 4.6 million viewers in prime time. ABC had 4.1 million, CBS had 4 million and Fox had
2.8 million.
COVID-19 surge forces Sundance to cancel drive-in screenings
LOS ANGELES » Amid rapidly escalating numbers of COVID-19 cases in the Los Angeles area, the Sundance Film Festival has canceled plans to hold in-person drive-in screening events as part of the
2021 festival.
The events were to have taken place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., and the Mission Tiki Drive-In in Montclair, Calif. The 2021 Sundance Film Festival is scheduled to run from Jan. 28 to Feb.
3. This year’s event was already drastically altered from previous years because of the pandemic, with a smaller program, emphasis on online events and shortened rundates.
The festival also is scheduled to host events at satellite venues in other U.S. cities. Organizers said those plans are being closely monitored based on case-by-case health and safety evaluations at each location and might also be moved to online-only events as needed.
LOS ANGELES » With the Georgia runoff elections in the rearview mirror, votingrights champion Stacey Abrams has another major date on the horizon: the release of her latest novel.
That’s right: Before the Fair Fight Action founder played a major role in flipping Georgia blue for both the presidential and Senate runoff elections, she wrote a Supreme Court thriller titled “While Justice Sleeps,” which is due May 11.
According to publishing giant Penguin Random House, “While Justice Sleeps” follows Avery Keene, “a brilliant young law clerk” whose personal and professional lives are dramatically upended when her boss, renowned Justice Howard Wynn, suddenly slips into a coma.
As Wynn’s newly appointed legal guardian and power of attorney, Keene uncovers a host of secrets, including “one of the most controversial cases before the court — a proposed merger between an
American biotech company and an Indian genetics firm, which promises to unleash breathtaking results in the medical field.”
The twisty novel sees its protagonist embark on a dangerous and enigmatic journey to unveil the truth, informed by Abrams’ “astute inside knowledge of the court and political landscape.”
Before serving as the minority leader for the Georgia House of Representatives and rising to national prominence with a gubernatorial run in 2018, the Yale-educated attorney wrote several romance novels under the pseudonym Selena Montgomery.
Two bestselling nonfiction titles, “Our Time Is Now” and “Lead From the Outside,” have been published under Abrams’ real name, as will “While Justice Sleeps.”
“While Justice Sleeps,” is now available for preorder at $28.95 on the Penguin Random House website.