‘Celebrity Wheel of Fortune’ spins ratings win

ABC’s “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” was the highest-rated entertainment program for the second time in the two weeks it has aired, including topping each of the three elements of NBC’s “Chicago” franchise, which were airing for the first time since Nov. 18. With comedian Drew Carey and actresses Teri Hatcher and Chrissy Metz playing for charities, the prime-time edition of the venerable game show averaged 7.842 million viewers. That landed it in eighth place among prime-time broadcast and cable programs airing between Jan. 11 and Sunday and second among nonsports programs, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen Wednesday.

Again, as in its first week, “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” did not have to compete with original episodes of the season’s two most-watched entertainment programs, “NCIS” and “FBI” on CBS.

“Chicago Med” had the most viewers of any scripted program, averaging 7.622 million viewers, ninth for the week, second among entertainment programs and third among nonsports programs.

“Chicago Fire,” which followed, was 10th for the week, averaging 7.27 million. “Chicago P.D.” averaged 6.588 million following “Chicago Fire,” 11th for the week and first among programs beginning at 10 p.m.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 30-20 victory over the New Orleans Saints in an NFL divisional playoff game Sunday drew the largest audience for a prime-time program during the 17-week-old 2020-21 season, averaging 35.643 million viewers. That enabled Fox to finish first for the week, averaging 9.05 million viewers.

Fox’s top-rated non-football program was the second episode of the animated comedy “The Great North,” which averaged 6.101 million viewers, 12th for the week, sixth among nonsports programs and fifth among entertainment programs.

“The Great North” followed Fox’s 13-minute NFL postgame show Sunday, which averaged 18.01 million viewers, fifth for the week. The premiere of “The Great North” Jan. 3 averaged 2.339 million viewers when it followed the premiere of the comedy “Call Me Kat,” which averaged 5.625 million viewers.

NBC was second for the week, averaging 6.35 million viewers. It aired the season’s — and week’s — second most-watched prime-time program, the Buffalo Bills’ 17-3 victory over the Baltimore Ravens, which averaged 26.237 million viewers.

CBS was third for the week, averaging 4.05 million viewers. It carried the most-watched nonsports program, the newsmagazine “60 Minutes,” which averaged 10.565 million viewers, seventh for the week. ABC was fourth, averaging 3.47 million viewers.

ESPN’s coverage of Alabama’s 52-24 victory over Ohio State in the College Football Playoff national championship game Jan. 11 was the week’s top-rated cable program, averaging 18.528 million viewers, third for the week.

ESPN won the cable network race, averaging 3.212 million viewers. CNN was second, averaging 3.053 million, a week after finishing first.

MSNBC was third, averaging 2.743 million viewers, followed by Fox News Channel, which averaged 2.411 million.

The premiere of the final episode of the second season of “The Mandalorian” enabled the Disney+ “Star Wars” series to become the first non-Netflix series to top Nielsen’s list of the most-watched streaming programs during the week of Dec. 14-20.

Viewers watched 1.336 billion minutes of the series’ 16 episodes, including the finale of the eight-episode second season, which became available Dec. 18. Nielsen began releasing reports on streaming viewership on Sept. 5.

“The Mandalorian” has been the only non-Netflix programming in the Top 10 for seven consecutive weeks. Nielsen also measures viewership for Amazon Prime Video and Hulu.