‘House of the Dragon’ Just Missed Cutoff for Nielsen’s Weekly Streaming Ratings in Its Debut Week – But Early Numbers Look Huge

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor People who want to watch ABC News’ “Nightline” no longer have to stay up past 12:30 in the morning. The venerable late-night news show, perhaps the last weekday word in the daily broadcast news cycle, is taking a step into streaming video, with a weekly newsmagazine counterpart that aims to burnish new storytelling tactics for subscribers to Hulu. The first half-hour broadcast of “Impact x Nightline” debuts Thursday, Oct. 6. The new series, produced by the same ABC News team that makes daily “Nightline,” will home in on streaming viewers and the things that will keep them interested, says Eman Varoqua, the program’s executive producer. If you’re looking to see an ABC News anchor sitting behind a desk, you won’t see it here, she vows: “You’ll see them on the ground, in the field, really conducting the interviews, and taking you to the heart of the story,” she says. “It’s very much a ‘journey’ style of reporting, and they will be right there, taking the viewers through the story and all its complexities.”

Elizabeth Olsen is one of creative leaders honored for Variety‘s 2022 Power of Women. For more, click here. Power of Women honoree Elizabeth Olsen has volunteered at Stuart House since 2016, spending time with young children and teens who’ve been sexually abused. She first learned of the Stuart House program, part of the UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center-affiliated Rape Foundation, as she was prepping for “Wind River,” a film in which she plays an FBI agent investigating the rape and murder of a young woman. This was in 2015, when Olsen had just moved back to Los Angeles from New York, and was looking for ways to feel more connected to the city. Through her agency, she was introduced to Gail Abarbanel, the president of the Rape Foundation and founder of Stuart House. Abarbanel gave Olsen a tour of the Stuart House space in Santa Monica, where kids who’ve been sexually assaulted are provided free medical, legal and psychological care.

There’s a new cast member coming to House of the Dragon!

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Coming off a lot of Emmys love, ABC comedy “Abbott Elementary” went back in session Wednesday with a Season 2 premiere that kept pace with its freshman finale last spring. According to Nielsen’s Live + Same Day data, Episode 1 of Season 2 averaged a 0.5 rating among adults ages 18-49 and 2.8 million total viewers, tying it with “The Conners” Season premiere for ABC’s highest-rated show during Wednesday primetime. That marks a solid start to the new school year for “Abbott Elementary,” which put up a 0.6 rating and 2.8 million total viewers in the comparable Nielsen metrics for its Season 1 finale in April.

A planning application has been submitted this week for a £28million housing development in Old Trafford. The proposals for Bold Street are from Homes for Trafford, a joint venture formed between Trafford Council and Trafford Housing Trust, part of L&Q.

Willie Nelson is reflecting on his long, wild friendship with his late best friend and drummer, Paul English.The country music icon recently spoke with ET's Kevin Frazier and shared stories about his experiences with English while first making it big and then touring the country over the past five decades.«He was my best friend for many, many years,» said Nelson, who chronicled their friendship in his new book, We went up and down the road a long time and had a lot of fun together. He was my best friend.«English first joined Nelson's band in 1966 and served as both the band's drummer, as well as a de facto bodyguard and muscle when needed.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Marc Graboff has decided to exit as president of global business and legal affairs and content supply chain at the legacy Discovery side of Warner Bros. Discovery, Variety has learned exclusively. The NBCUniversal alum will step down from his position at the end of the year. “Marc approached every challenging business negotiation with affability, professionalism and attention to detail, and his expertise will be sorely missed,” Kathleen Finch, chairman and chief content officer of the US Networks Group at Warner Bros Discovery, said Tuesday. “We are grateful for his invaluable support and the terrific partnership he’s brought throughout his years of service.” 

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer TLC’s “Sister Wives” returned Sunday, drawing the show’s highest-rated season premiere in six years with the first episode of Season 11. Per Nielsen data, the reality show’s 11th season premiere averaged 2.2 million total viewers and a 1.42 rating among women ages 18-49, the advertiser-coveted demographic for the cable channel. That demo rating was the highest for a “Sister Wives” premiere in six years. Additionally, Episode 1 of Season 11 drew a 1.91 rating among women ages 25-54, another key market for the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned TLC. According to TLC, on the “Sister Wives” Season 11 premiere night Sunday, “tweet volume saw triple digit growth compared to the previous premiere,” growing 192%). It was also the top primetime cable reality program on Facebook, No. 3 on Instagram and No. 4 on Twitter for social interactions.

Sending her well-wishes privately? Following Carl Radke and Lindsay Hubbard‘s engagement, their Summer House costar Danielle Olivera is addressing her decision not to share her reaction on the internet.

and  worlds collide — with a dose of  thrown in for good measure — in season 2 of the snow-set spinoff, which sees 's Amanda Batula, Kyle Cooke, Paige Desorbo, Luke Gulbranson and Ciara Miller moving back into a mountainside chalet with 's Craig Conover and Austen Kroll, plus  season 1's Jason Cameron and new pals Rachel Clark, Kory Keefer and Jessica Stocker for a ski week (or two) to remember. Newly engaged couple Lindsay Hubbard and Carl Radke also pop by for a visit, as do  stars Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz. «This will be the longest Paige and I have ever spent together [as a couple],» Craig confesses in the trailer. The two got together soon after filming season 1 of the series.«I'm not used to living with a boyfriend,» Paige admits.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery enacted 100 layoffs Tuesday as part of a planned downsizing of the company’s ad sales departments that had been in the works since Discovery closed its merger with WarnerMedia in April, Variety has confirmed. These cuts are part of a previously reported and expected 30% reduction overall across the ad sales division, a sector of the merged company with many redundancies, in the coming weeks. However, not all of the exits will be layoffs, according to an individual with knowledge of the situation. An undisclosed number of those departures will be negotiated deals, while others will be retirements. The layoffs set in motion Tuesday are the latest in a string of moves made by Warner Bros. Discovery in an attempt to fulfill the promise made by CEO David Zaslav and his exec team to find $3 billion in cost-saving synergies in the first two years after the merger. The most high profile so far, aside from other layoffs within Warner Bros. Discovery, was the decision that “Batgirl,” the $90 million Warner Bros./DC movie starring Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, would not be released theatrically, on HBO Max, or anywhere else. 

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The Nielsen data for the 2022 Emmys on NBC is in and its not looking good for TV’s biggest night. The awards show was down 25% from last year in total viewers and hit a new record low in ratings. On Monday, the Kenan Thompson-hosted 74th Emmy Awards had a 1.0 rating among adults 18-49, the lowest-ever key demo stat for the Emmys. The previous record low was set by the 2020 show, which aired on ABC, and settled for a 1.3 rating. The following year, the Emmys rebounded to a 1.9. Last night’s show drew 5.9 million total viewers compared with last year’s outing on CBS, which netted 7.9 million. That’s a new low and in stark contrast to the 2021 show, which marked a reversal in the Emmys’ steady decline in audience size. Last year’s Emmys saw a 16% gain of viewership over 2020’s historic drop-off of 12% with 6.37 million viewers.

Big changes are coming. King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla are set to move into their new residence at Buckingham Palace — which could mean his former employees will be out of work.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Fox’s Susan Sarandon and Trace Adkins-led country music drama “Monarch” didn’t the highest of Nielsen notes Sunday night, but it did manage to keep enough of its NFL lead-in audience to land the network’s most-watched fall scripted premiere in three years. Immediately following an NFL doubleheader, “Monarch” debuted at 7:45 p.m. ET/4:45 p.m. PT to a 0.8 rating among adults in the 18-49 age demographic and 3.8 million total viewers, according to initial Nielsen data. Due to the nature of live sports, these results will likely adjust (likely down) when finalized numbers come in later Monday.

King Charles III will use Clarence House as his home for the time being, with major building work at Buckingham Palace yet to be completed, it has been confirmed. Buckingham Palace is regarded as Monarchy HQ and Charles III has already held a series of audiences with Prime Minister Liz Truss, cabinet ministers and Realm High Commissioners at the famous London landmark. The £369 million reservicing programme at the historic building is spanning 10 years, and includes updating the electrical cabling, plumbing and heating.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “Better Call Saul” actor Michael Mando has signed on to star opposite Brian Tyree Henry in Peter Craig and Ridley Scott’s upcoming Apple TV+ series “Sinking Spring,” Variety has learned. Based on the book “Dope Thief” by Dennis Tafoya, Apple’s eight-episode series “Sinking Spring” follows long-time Philly friends and delinquents who pose as DEA agents to rob an unknown house in the countryside, only to have their small-time grift become a life-and-death enterprise, as they unwittingly reveal and unravel the biggest hidden narcotics corridor on the Eastern seaboard. Mando will play the co-lead role of Manny Cespedes, a good-hearted friend of Ray’s (Henry), who he first met when they did time together in the Youth Authority, per the official character description.

You could have heard a pin drop during the gala opening night of Opera Australia’s production of The Phantom of the Opera August 26 at the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House. The audience was packed with celebrity Sydneysiders in bow ties and gowns but the real stars of the evening were Josh Piterman, Amy Manford, and Blake Bowden.This trio of truly gifted performers, surrounded by a stunning supporting cast and orchestra, powerfully delivered the musical’s signature songs, Music of the Night, Think of Me, All I Ask of You, the awesomely beautiful Masquerade, and of course the main title song, with vitality and power.This new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s mega-musical adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s novel, overseen by producer Cameron Mackintosh, and director Seth Sklar-Heyn is simply superb on every level.While the story of an obsessive and dangerous love in 19th-century Paris is now familiar to many, it’s the exquisite attention to detail which delivers the magic to this new staging.The  27-piece orchestra under the musical supervision of Guy Simpson is phenomenal, and the production is elevated even further by truly glorious stagecraft. The Phantom of the OperaThe lush costuming by Jill Parker, recreating the original designs of the late Tony award-winning Maria Bjornson is stunning, and the hair and wig design by Angela Cobbin is perfection.The lighting design by Tony Award winner Paule Constable and the sound design by Mick Potter is also extraordinary, with some terrific video and projection design by Nina Dunn.There is also a wonderful use of pyrotechnics throughout the show and of course the thrilling and iconic moment when the chandelier falls towards the heads of the audience still inspires