NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Janet Jackson's four-part documentary on Lifetime was the network's most-watched non-fiction show since 鈥淪urviving R. Kelly鈥� three years ago, and viewership is continuing to grow.
The documentary series debuted Friday and Saturday night on Lifetime and was simulcast on the A&E network. With the musician and her manager-brother Randy listed as executive producers, the series was an intriguing look at a reclusive singer yet also received criticism for issues skirted or left out entirely.
The first part on Friday was seen by 2.8 million people on live TV, and another 1.2 million in the next few days either digitally or on demand, the Nielsen company said. Part two had a similar viewership of 4.3 million, Part three had 3.7 million and the final part had 3.8 million.
Those numbers are expected to grow with delayed viewing over the next few weeks.
Fox News Channel seems to have minted a new star. Jesse Watters' debut week at the 7 p.m. Eastern slot reached an average of 3.26 million people, well above the 1.87 million Fox reached last year in that time slot with a rotating set of hosts. Watters' show reached more than Joy Reid on MSNBC and Erin Burnett on CNN combined, Nielsen said.
Given that Watters is also one of the hosts of 鈥淭he Five" on Fox, he was featured on nine of the top 15 programs on cable news last week, including the top four, Nielsen said.
The successful launch of Watters' show comes as Fox News marked a milestone last week: 20 straight years as the top-ranked cable news network.
The NFL 鈥� and television networks 鈥� were blessed with two more thrilling games for the conference championships. Fox's telecast of the NFC game between the L.A. Rams and San Francisco was seen by 50.2 million people, up 7% from last year's NFC tilt. The AFC game between Cincinnati and Kansas City reached 47.9 million, up 13% from 2021.
With a prime-time playoff game, Fox easily won the week with an 11.3 million viewer average. CBS had 4.4 million, ABC had 2.8 million, NBC had 2.4 million, Univision had 1.6 million, Ion Television had 1.2 million and Telemundo had 1.1 million.
Fox News Channel led the cable networks with a 2.38 million average in prime time. HGTV had 1.22 million, MSNBC had 1.21 million, Hallmark had 946,000 and TNT had 942,000.
ABC's 鈥淲orld News Tonight鈥� won the evening news ratings race, averaging 9 million viewers for the week. NBC's 鈥淣ightly News鈥� had 7.9 million and the 鈥淐BS Evening News鈥� had 5.6 million.
For the week of Jan. 24-30, the 20 most popular shows in prime time, their networks and viewerships:
1. NFC Championship: San Francisco at L.A. Rams, Fox, 50.23 million.
2. 鈥淣FC Championship Post-Game,鈥� Fox, 26.52 million.
3. 鈥淣ext Level Chef,鈥� Fox, 8.11 million.
4. 鈥淣CIS,鈥� CBS, 7.79 million.
5. 鈥淵oung Sheldon,鈥� CBS, 7.73 million.
6. 鈥�60 Minutes,鈥� CBS, 6.86 million.
7. 鈥淭he Neighborhood,鈥� CBS, 6.39 million.
8. 鈥淏lue Bloods,鈥� CBS, 6.1 million.
9. 鈥淏ob Hearts Abishola,鈥� CBS, 5.86 million.
10. 鈥淯nited States of Al,鈥� CBS, 5.57 million.
11. 鈥淣CIS: Hawai'i,鈥� CBS, 5.41 million.
12. 鈥�911: Lone Star,鈥� Fox, 5.39 million.
13. 鈥淔BI,鈥� CBS, 5.35 million.
14. 鈥淢agnum, P.I.,鈥� CBS, 5.22 million.
15. 鈥淏 Positive鈥� (Thursday, 9 p.m.), CBS, 4.96 million.
16. 鈥淭his is Us,鈥� NBC, 4.76 million.
17. 鈥淏 Positive鈥� (Thursday, 9:30 p.m.), CBS, 4.72 million.
18. 鈥�60 Minutes鈥� (Sunday, 8 p.m.), CBS, 4.67 million.
19. 鈥淟et's Make a Deal,鈥� CBS, 4.51 million.
20. 鈥淛udge Steve Harvey,鈥� ABC, 4.17 million.
David Bauder, The Associated Press
