Hollywood Today
'America's Got Talent' gives season-ending win to NBC
NEW YORK (AP) — The 12-year-old singing sensation Grace VanderWaal's $1 million prize capped a successful season for summer's favorite television show, "America's Got Talent," and helped NBC to victory last week in the television ratings.
VanderWaal's feel-good story and the return of Simon Cowell to a judge's table led to a strong season for the summer favorite, which will now be shelved with the onset of television's fall season. Last Wednesday's season finale reached 14.4 million viewers, the Nielsen company said.
It was not such good news for the Emmy Awards, which brought 11.4 million viewers to ABC on Sunday. It was the smallest audience ever recorded for the TV awards show.
The Emmys were hurt by a NBC's football game, which had 22.8 million viewers, and a CBS special on JonBenet Ramsey, with 10.4 million. Broadcasters once cleared the decks and left little competition for the Emmys. There's little incentive to do that now, with cable networks and streaming services dominating the awards.
Nielsen's top 20 last week was clogged with 9 football games or football-related shows.
NBC averaged 8.7 million viewers for the week in prime-time. CBS had 7.6 million, ABC had 5.1 million, Fox had 2.8 million, Telemundo had 1.8 million, Univision had 1.5 million, ION Television had 1.3 million and the CW had 1 million.
ESPN was the week's most popular cable network, averaging 3.24 million viewers in prime-time. Fox had 2.39 million, TBS had 1.49 million, HGTV had 1.48 million and USA had 1.4 million.
NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.8 million viewers. ABC's "World News Tonight" was second with 7.7 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 6.3 million viewers.
For the week of Sept. 12-18, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: NFL Football: Green Bay at Minnesota, NBC, 22.75 million; "NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 16.74 million; NFL Football: N.Y. Jets at Buffalo, CBS, 15.39 million; "America's Got Talent" (Wednesday), NBC, 14.41 million; "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday), NBC, 13.97 million; NFL Football: Pittsburgh at Washington, ESPN, 12.96 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 12.7 million; "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 12.19 million; "Football Night in America" (Sunday, 7:55 p.m.), NBC, 11.86 million; "Emmy Awards," ABC, 11.38 million.
Charlie Sheen to star in comedy feature for Crackle network
NEW YORK (AP) — Winning? Famously rambunctious former sitcom star Charlie Sheen will star in and executive produce a movie for Crackle, the streaming network said Tuesday.
The film, "Mad Families," is described as a multi-generational comedy starring Sheen as a lovable man-child with a heart of gold.
It also features Leah Remini and Clint Howard, and was written by actor-comedian David Spade with Fred Wolf, who is directing. No premiere date was disclosed.
Sheen starred in the hit CBS sitcom "Two and a Half Men" for eight seasons before being dismissed in 2011 after a heated clash with the show's producers and studio.
He made headlines last November when he publicly revealed that he was HIVpositive, while insisting he was healthy and that his partying days were over.
Ray LaMontagne cancels Texas show over university guns law
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne has canceled a Thursday show at the University of Texas in protest of a new state law that allows concealed handgun license holders to carry their weapons into public college buildings.
The law allows those weapons into the university's Bass Concert Hall, where LaMontagne was scheduled to perform.
In a statement canceling the show, LaMontagne said he considers himself "very open minded" but he can't support allowing guns on college campuses.
LaMontange said: "There are a lot of things this country needs more of, but guns aren't one of them."
A university statement said school officials regret the cancellation but respect LaMontagne's decision.