‘Power of the Dog’ soars in Netflix rankings; network, cable TV viewers tune in to football

The 2021 movie “The Power of the Dog” was the most-watched English-language film on Netflix last week, while the third season of “Lost in Space” was the top English-language television program.

Viewers spent 27.2 million hours watching the Jane Campion-directed psychological thriller the first four days it was available, according to figures released by the streaming service Tuesday. The eight episodes of the third season of “Lost in Space” racked up 47.38 million hours of viewing in their first five days of release. The first season of the reimagined version of the 1965-68 CBS science fiction series finished fourth with 20.92 million hours watched of its 10 episodes.

On broadcast and cable “60 Minutes” was the top-rated non-sports program for the sixth time in the 11-week-old 2021-22 prime-time television season, averaging 10.299 million viewers, sixth overall behind NFL games and coverage and Fox’s broadcast of the Big Ten Football Championship Game.

“Sunday Night Football” was at the top of the rankings for the ninth time this season, with the Kansas City Chiefs’ 22-9 victory over the Denver Broncos averaging 17.507 million viewers.

“Young Sheldon” was the highest-rated comedy for the ninth consecutive week, averaging 6.591 million viewers, fifth among non-sports programs and 10th overall, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen.

Another CBS comedy, “Ghosts,” had the biggest audience of any new series for the third time in its eight episodes, averaging 5.456 million viewers, 10th among non-sports programs and 19th overall.

The CBS police drama “Blue Bloods” led the ratings for programs beginning at 10 p.m. for the fourth time in five weeks and seventh time this season, averaging 5.811 million viewers, eighth among non-sports programs and 17th overall.

The combination of “Thursday Night Football” and Saturday’s Big Ten Football Championship Game put Fox at the top of the network rankings for the fourth time in the season, all in the past six weeks, averaging 6.35 million viewers for its 17 hours of prime-time programming between Nov. 29 and Sunday.

NBC was second, averaging 6.08 million viewers, followed by CBS, which averaged 5.33 million, and ABC, which averaged 2.88 million. The CW averaged 400,000 for its 14 hours of programming. NBC, CBS and ABC each aired 22 hours of prime-time programming.

The Dallas Cowboys’ 27-17 victory over the New Orleans Saints on “Thursday Night Football” averaged 16.695 million viewers, second for the week. Michigan’s 42-3 victory over Iowa in the Big Ten Football Championship Game averaged 11.658 million viewers, fourth for the week.

Fox’s highest-ranked non-NFL program was the procedural drama “9-1-1,” for the fourth time in five weeks, averaging 5.374 million viewers, 20th overall and 11th among non-sports programs.

NBC’s biggest draws for non-NFL programs were the Tuesday and Monday editions of “The Voice,” 13th and 15th overall and fourth and sixth among non-NFL programs, averaging 6.76 million viewers and 6.48 million.

ABC’s rating leader was Friday’s Pac-12 Football Championship Game, with Utah’s 38-10 victory over Oregon averaging 4.247 million viewers, 34th for the week.

ABC’s mot popular non-sports program was “Alec Baldwin Unscripted,” which averaged 4.225 million viewers, 35th for the week and 23rd among non-sports programs.

The crime drama “Walker” was The CW’s biggest draw for the fifth time in six weeks, averaging 930,000 viewers, 120th among broadcast programs. Its overall rank was not available.

The three-hour NBC musical “Annie Live!” — which aired opposite most of “Thursday Night Football” — was 13th among non-sports programs and 22nd overall.

The premiere of the Jimmy Fallon-hosted NBC musical game show “That’s My Jam” was 32nd for the week and 22nd among non-sports programs, averaging 4.256 million viewers, 65.7% of the audience of “The Voice,” which preceded it.

The top 20 prime-time programs consisted of three NFL games; three NFL pregame shows; Fox’s coverage of the Big Ten Football Championship Game and its 16-minute pregame show; CBS’ 19-minute SEC Championship Game postgame show; “60 Minutes”; five CBS entertainment programs; three NBC entertainment programs; “Yellowstone”; and “9-1-1.”

“Monday Night Football” topped the cable rankings for the 12th time in 12 2021 regular-season broadcasts, with the Washington Football Team’s 17-15 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Nov. 29 averaging 10.896 million viewers, fifth for the week.

Fox News Channel won the cable network race for the second time in three weeks, averaging 2.421 million viewers. ESPN was second after three first-place finishes in four weeks, averaging 2.047 million viewers. Hallmark Channel was third for the fourth consecutive week, averaging 1.527 million viewers. MSNBC was fourth, averaging 1.162 million viewers.

CNN rose three spots to 14th, averaging 527,000 viewers. CNN also trailed Freeform (1.022 million), HGTV (916,000), TLC (883,000), Paramount Network (800,000), History (749,000), TNT (748,000), TBS (733,000), Discovery (728,000) and Food Network (709,000).

The top 20 cable programs consisted of “Monday Night Football” and its 14-minute pregame show; “Thursday Night Football” on NFL Network; 12 Fox News Channel political talk shows — five broadcasts each of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and “Hannity” and two of “The Ingraham Angle”; two Hallmark Channel “Countdown to Christmas” movies; “Yellowstone”; History’s long-running chronicle of the quest to solve the more than two-century-old treasure mystery on a Canadian island, “The Curse of Oak Island”; and TNT’s coverage of the Phoenix Suns’ 104-96 victory over the Golden State Warriors.