Tucker Carlson’s final episodes trailed only NBA playoff games in cable TV ratings

The final five editions of “Tucker Carlson Tonight� accounted for each of Fox News Channel’s five biggest prime-time audiences last week, while the only prime-time cable programs to draw more viewers than even the least-watched edition were NBA playoff games.

The political talk show’s top-rated edition between April 17 and Friday aired April 18 and averaged 3.223 million viewers, seventh among prime-time cable programs and 37th among all prime-time programs airing between April 17 and Sunday, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen. The least-watched was Friday’s, which averaged 2.646 million viewers, 16th among prime-time cable programs and 58th overall.

Fox News Channel announced the stunning departure of its top-rated host Monday with no explanation, but people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to comment publicly said the decision to fire Carlson came straight from Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch with input from board members and other Fox Corp. executives.

The week’s top-rated prime-time cable program — with the biggest audience for a sporting event — was TNT’s coverage of the Sacramento Kings’ 114-106 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of their NBA Western Conference first-round series April 17, which averaged 4.322 million viewers, 18th for the week.

NBA playoff coverage put TNT at the top of the cable network race, averaging 2.801 million viewers, making it the third spot among networks, behind CBS and ABC and ahead of NBC.

Fox News Channel averaged 2.058 million viewers to finish second after three consecutive first-place finishes and 11 the previous 12 weeks. ESPN was third, averaging 1.499 million. MSNBC was the only other cable network to average more than 1 million viewers for its prime-time programming, averaging 1.111 million.

The cable prime-time top 20 consisted of 12 NBA playoff games — 10 on TNT and two on ESPN; and eight Fox News Channel weeknight political talk shows — five broadcasts of “Tucker Carlson Tonight� and three of “Hannity.�

CBS had each of the week’s top five programs, lead by “60 Minutes� again, to finish first in the network race for the sixth consecutive week.

“60 Minutes� averaged 7.414 million viewers for a broadcast consisting of a report from Syria on attacks on healthcare providers and infrastructure after catastrophic earthquakes devastated the war-torn northwest region; an interview with Ray Epps — an Arizona man who participated in the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but did not enter the building and has become the center of a conspiracy theory; and a profile of Nicolas Cage.

The CBS newsmagazine was the week’s only prime-time program to average more than 7 million viewers. It has finished first four of the last six weeks. CBS’ coverage of the NCAA men’s Final Four accounted for the other two first-place finishes during that span.

CBS had both of the other programs to top 6 million viewers — “FBI,� which averaged 6.764 million viewers, and “The Equalizer,� which averaged 6.496 million viewers following “60 Minutes.�

CBS also had the leading program beginning at 10 p.m. — “Blue Bloods,� fourth for the week, averaging 5.987 million viewers — the top first-season program — “Fire Country,� fifth averaging 5.815 million — and the top-ranked comedy — “The Neighborhood,� 14th averaging 4.838 million viewers.

The Sunday edition of ABC’s “American Idol� led all non-CBS programs, finishing sixth, averaging 5.37 million viewers. With NBC again airing repeats of its “Chicago� series, “The Voice� was its most-watched program for the second consecutive week, finishing ninth, averaging 5.356 million viewers.

CBS averaged 4.33 million to finish first for the ninth time in 10 weeks and 11th time in 13. The only times CBS has not finished first in the last 13 weeks were the weeks of Feb. 6-13, when Fox aired Super Bowl LVII, and March 6-12, when ABC aired the Oscars.

ABC was second for the second consecutive week following four consecutive third-place finishes, averaging 3.17 million.

NBC was third among the broadcast networks for the second consecutive week after four consecutive second-place finishes, averaging 2.57 million viewers for a schedule that also included reruns of its three “Law & Order� series.

Fox averaged 1.89 million viewers for its prime-time programming. The procedural drama “9-1-1� had its biggest audience, averaging 4.466 million viewers, 16th for the week. Each of the five original episodes of “9-1-1� to air in 2023 have been Fox’s top-ranked prime-time program of the week.

The CW averaged 330,000 viewers. Its biggest draw was the 9 p.m. Friday episode of the comedy improv series “Whose Line Is It Anyway?,� which averaged 524,000 viewers, 180th among broadcast programs, one spot below the 9:30 p.m. Friday episode of the 1965-71 CBS comedy, “Green Acres,� on MeTV, which averaged 531,000.

The top 20 prime-time programs consisted of “60 Minutes�; 11 CBS scripted programs and its alternative series “Survivor�; three ABC alternative programs — the April 17 and Sunday editions of “American Idol� and “America’s Funniest Home Videos�; two NBA playoff games — one each on TNT and ESPN; “The Voice� and “9-1-1.�

“The Diplomat� edged “The Night Agent� to be Netflix’s most-streamed title. The eight episodes of “The Diplomat� had 57.48 million viewing hours in their first four days of release.

“The Night Agent� had 56.65 million viewing hours in its fifth week of release, to finish second after four consecutive first-place finishes. The 10-episode action thriller moved one spot to fifth on the all-time list with 626.97 million hours during its first 28 days of release.

“The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die,� was Netflix’s most popular film with viewers watching the action-adventure film based on the series “The Last Kingdom,� for 25.7 million hours in its first full week of release, 27.6% less than the 35.5 million hours watched the previous week when it was available for three days.