TV News Roundup: Midterm Election Viewership Rises, CBS Extends Tonys Deal
Good morning! Here's a curated catch-up on Wednesday's TV headlines.
Previously on Matt's Inside Line.... I published my weekly breakdown of broadcast-TV ratings, where Marshals hit a season high and NCIS: New York dipped to a low. Here's a handy heads-up on a few other Wednesday headlines.
◼️ Based on preliminary Nielsen numbers, overall viewership of Tuesday night's midterm elections coverage was up 24 percent from 2022. NBC News led the pack with an average of 6.8 million viewers, followed by ABC News (5.12 million), Fox News/Fox Business (4.41 mil), MS NOW (4.19 mil), CNN (4.17 mil), and — yikes — CBS News (2.73 mil).
Matt Webb Mitovich
◼️ CBS has inked a deal with the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League to air the Tony Awards for five more years, through 2032. This year's telecast drew 5.06 million viewers, down juuust a tick from 2025's six-year high. The 80th annual Tony Awards will air live, from Radio City Music Hall, Sunday, June 13 (and stream live on Paramount+ for Premium subs).
◼️ Emmy winner Toni Collette (United States of Tara) is set to star as Lenni in Apple TV's adaptation of the Norwegian dramedy Pernille. The series follows the titular child welfare worker and divorced mother of two, who "spends her days fighting for other people’s families while her own is in a constant state of hilarious chaos." Production is underway in Sydney, Australia.
Matt Webb Mitovich
◼️ Netflix has set a Dec. 1 release date and released a trailer for Trinity, a trhiller in which a female naval officer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) becomes involved with the charismatic secretary of defense (Richard Madden), only to discover he may be at the heart of a dangerous conspiracy. The cast also includes Marcia Gay Harden, JD Pardo, Bruce Greenwood, Robert Wisdom, Kirk Acevedo, Ben Cotton, James Remar, Jason Ralph and Mark O’Brien.
Matt Webb Mitovich
◼️ Netflix and Beef creator Lee Sung Jin have announced two new series in development: The Only Child, which stars Beef Emmy and Golden Globe winner Ali Wong as the mother of a professional archer preparing to compete for her first gold medal; and Citizen's Arrest, created by Beef producer Gene Hong and following two longtime friends and neighbors whose obsession with solving a local crime becomes an escape from the private crises neither is ready to face.
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