Strong finish for ESPN's Jordan doc, 'The Last Dance'
EW YORK (AP) — In basketball terms, “The Last Dance” had a strong fourth quarter.
NThe last two episodes of the 10-part Michael Jordan documentary, strung out over the last five Sunday nights, averaged 5.9 million viewers, the Nielsen company said. It was simulcast on ESPN and ESPN2.
That’s easily the highest-rated documentary project ever for the sports network. It was also a desperately-needed bright spot for ESPN, which has been suffering because of the absence of live sporting events during the coronavirus pandemic.
It was considered such a high-profile event that some newspaper sports pages — also deprived of material — have covered the documentary like its own event.
“The exceptional content of the series has cut through culturally and sparked conversations far beyond ESPN platforms,” said Connor Schell, the network’s executive vice president for content.
The series also had a consistency that the former Chicago Bulls star would appreciate. Live viewership for each episode ranged between 4.9 and 6.3 million people, meaning viewers kept coming back, Nielsen said.
The live count will also ultimately be a fraction of the series’ impact. Adding delayed viewing through DVRs and reruns, the first episode has already been seen nearly 15 million times, ESPN sai d .
ESPN hopes to make Sunday night documentary-watching a habit among its viewers. In the next month, the network has scheduled films about disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, martial arts star Bruce Lee and the 1998 home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.
Led again by a dominant performance by “60 Minutes,” CBS was the most popular broadcast network, averaging 4.9 million viewers in prime time last week. ABC averaged 3.9 million viewers, NBC had 3.5 million, Fox had 2.8 million, Univision had 1.5 million, ION Television had 1.2 million, Telemundo had 900,000 and the CW had 660,000.
Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable network in prime time, averaging 3.39 million viewers. MSNBC had 2.01 million, CNN had 1.48 million, TLC had 1.31 million and HGTV had 1.29 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” led the evening newscasts with an average of 10 million viewers last week. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 8.8 million viewers and the “CBS Evening News” had 6 million.
For the week of May 11-17, here are Nielsen’s 20 most popular programs, their networks and viewerships:
1. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 9.94 million. 2. “Survivor,” CBS, 7.96 million.
3. “911,” Fox, 7.293 million.
4. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 7.292 million. 5. “American Idol,” ABC, 7.28 million.
6. “The Masked Singer,” Fox, 7.24 million. 7. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 7.06 million. 8. “NCIS,” CBS, 6.77 million.
9. “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” ABC, 6.5 million.
10. “The Price is Right Night,” CBS, 6 million. 11. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 5.91 million.
12. “Station 19,” ABC, 5.91 million.
13. “FBI,” CBS, 5.76 million.
14. “Man With a Plan,” CBS, 5.67 million.
15. “The Happy Days of Garry Marshall,” ABC, 5.61 million.
16. “Mom,” CBS, 5.06 million.
17. “The Last Dance” (Sunday, 9 p.m.), ESPN, 4.95 million.
18. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 4.73 million.
19. “Hannity” (Wednesday), Fox News, 4.71 million.
20. “Broke,” CBS, 4.65 million.
---AP
ACROSS
1 California university 5 Drugged
10 Bullfight cheer
13 Keen
15 Lay to rest
16 Been
17 Softdrink brand
18 Cebu mall
19 Eastern Standard Time 20 Type of partnership 21 Tail-less cat 23 Appliance brand 25 Southeast
27 Scale note after sol 28 Mail box
30 Double-reed instrument 31 Cebu town
35 Adjusts space between characters
37 Grown
38 Middle East dweller 39 Ocean
42 Beano
43 Chocolate Hills place
45 Actor Damon
46 East northeast
47 Two
48 Corrupt
49 Slow
50 Day one is paid
51 Water (Spanish) 53 Dorothy’s home
(abbr.)
54 Plutonium (abbr.) 55 Loudness unit (abbr.) 56 Georgia (abbr.) 58 Travel guides 60 Scientist’s office 63 Electroencephalograph (abbr.)
65 Pariah
68 Web
70 North American country
71 Entertain
72 Stomach sore 73 Teaspoon (abbr.) 74 Sweet stuff
75 Jungle plant