NEW YORK (AP) — Mention prime-time television stars in other ages, and you’d think of Jerry Seinfeld, Mark Harmon or Jennifer Aniston. Now it’s Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson.

Fox News Channel was the most-watched network in prime-time television last week, counting both broadcast and cable, the Nielsen company said. It was the second week in a row that happened, and the third time in June.

Before this month, that had never happened before. Ever.

June is traditionally a slow month for broadcast television, its schedule crammed with reruns and game shows. And it has been a very busy news stretch that has lifted news programming across the board.

Still, the star power of Hannity and Carlson in the conservative firmament lifted Fox to heights it had never reached. Each host had four shows among Nielsen's top 20 last week, led by Hannity's Thursday night interview with President Donald Trump.

It's also worth nothing that ABC's “World News Tonight” with David Muir averaged more viewers last week than any prime-time show on television, Nielsen said.

Despite putting on a well-received show and simulcasting on CBS for the first time, Sunday's showing of the “BET Awards” had a relatively disappointing 3.7 million viewers.

NBC was second among the broadcast networks with an average of 3.2 million viewers in prime time. ABC had 2.9 million, Univision had 1.5 million, Fox had 1.4 million, ION Television had 1.2 million and Telemundo had 860,000

After Fox News, MSNBC was second among cable networks with an average of 2.07 million viewers in prime time. CNN had 1.62 million, HGTV had 1.27 million and TLC had 1.18 million.

“World News Tonight” led the evening newscasts with an average of 8.9 million viewers, NBC's “Nightly News” had 7.5 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.3 million.

For the week of June 22-28, the top 20 prime-time television shows, their networks and viewerships:

1. “America's Got Talent,” NBC, 8.72 million.

2. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.89 million.

3. “NCIS,” CBS, 5.68 million.

4. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 5.56 million.

5. “Hannity" (Thursday), Fox News, 5.12 million.

6. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 4.84 million.

7. “FBI,” CBS, 4.71 million.

8. “Hannity” (Monday), Fox News, 4.48 million.

9. “Hannity” (Wednesday), Fox News, 4.38 million.

10. “Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Tuesday), Fox News, 4.27 million.

11. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Thursday), Fox News, 4.253 million.

12. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Monday), Fox News, 4.247 million.

13. “America's Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 4.23 million.

14. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Wednesday), Fox News, 4.184 million.

15. “Hannity” (Tuesday), Fox News, 4.182 million.

16. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 4.15 million.

17. “World of Dance,” NBC, 4.1 million.

18. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 4.01 million.

19. “Titan Games,” NBC, 3.882 million.

20. “Holey Moley,” ABC, 3.88 million.

PARIS (AP) — France's new prime minister firmly defended Wednesday the contested promotion of a colleague accused of rape as his interior minister, in charge of enforcing French laws.

Prime Minister Jean Castex's vigorous expression of support for the minister, Gerald Darmanin, follows protests by women's rights groups and questions about whether President Emmanuel Macron is failing in his promises to make a priority of equality between men and women.

Castex told broadcaster BFM-TV that he takes total responsibility for Darmanin's appointment at the Interior Ministry. He was promoted from his previous job as budget minister.

“He, like everyone else, has the right to the presumption of innocence,” Castex said.

Darmanin is under preliminary investigation over a rape accusation that he firmly denies. Macron’s office has said the probe was “not an obstacle” to Darmanin’s appointment to his new job in charge of police and other law enforcement bodies.

The recently reopened investigation is based on a 2017 legal complaint by a woman who alleged that Darmanin raped her when she sought legal help from him in 2009. Darmanin, the highest-ranking French official accused of sexual misconduct in the #MeToo era, says the encounter was consensual. He sued the woman for slander.

News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch’s son James is resigning from the family-controlled publisher’s board over content appearing in its newspapers, which include the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.

"My resignation is due to disagreements over certain editorial content published by the Company’s news outlets and certain other strategic decisions," James Murdoch wrote Friday in a brief letter to News Corp's board that the company made public. The resignation was effective Friday.

James is known as the more liberal Murdoch brother. His more conservative sibling, Lachlan, is the heir apparent to New Corp Executive Chairman Rupert and is co-chairman of News Corp. Lachlan is also executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corp, home to conservative news network Fox News, the Fox broadcast and sports networks and local TV stations.

New York-based News Corp also publishes major papers in Australia and the U.K. and owns the HarperCollins book publisher.

In a statement provided by a News Corp spokesman, Rupert and Lachlan said, “We’re grateful to James for his many years of service to the company. We wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”

James has previously criticized News Corp's editorial decisions and said he disagreed with Fox News coverage. In January, he and his wife, through a spokesperson, said they were disappointed with the denial of the link to climate change in coverage of Australia's destructive wildfires in News Corp-owned papers in Australia.

More than 280 Wall Street Journal journalists and other staffers also recently sent a letter to the paper’s publisher criticizing the Opinion section, saying it published inaccuracies and undermined the paper with readers and sources.

James and Lachlan had shared power at 21st Century Fox, but the sale of much of the Fox entertainment business to Disney in 2019 saw James depart as CEO.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Democratic and Republican conventions will lack for crowds but not television coverage.

The standard political gatherings that were to unfold for the Democratic Party in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and for the GOP in Charlotte, North Carolina, will be largely virtual, constrained by the coronavirus.

That won’t stop TV scrutiny of the speeches and other activities leading up to Joe Biden’s Democratic Party nomination for president on Thursday, Aug. 20, and the GOP's renomination of President Donald Trump the following week.

But the coverage will look drastically different. Gone will be the images of packed convention hall floors with news anchors ensconced above them; most are likely to broadcast from their usual New York or Washington bases.

The Democratic meeting will be virtual, with Biden planning to make his acceptance speech from Wilmington, Delaware. Sen. Kamala Harris, his vice presidential pick, is to speak the day before, Wednesday.

The Republican National Convention takes place take the following week, Aug. 24-27. The party plans to hold its first day in Charlotte for the delegate vote, with details for the full meeting yet to be released.

Broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC plan an hour of nightly coverage of the conventions at 10 p.m. EDT.

PBS will report on the Democratic meeting from 8 to 11 p.m. EDT daily, with coverage details for the Republican convention awaiting the release of the party's schedule.

Here’s an overview of cable plans:

— CNN:

Wolf Blitzer, Jake Tapper, Anderson Cooper, Dana Bash and John King will be among the hosts for the channel’s nightly coverage beginning at 8 p.m. EDT for both conventions.

CNN's commentators for the Democratic meeting include Van Jones, Jennifer Granholm, Andrew Yang, and Scott Jennings. Commentary for the Republican convention will be handled by Rick Santorum, David Urban, Amanda Carpenter and Granholm.

— Fox News Channel:

For the Democratic meeting, Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will co-anchor nightly editions of “Democracy 2020” at 10 p.m. EDT. The hour-long program will include Chris Wallace, Brit Hume, Dana Perino and Juan Williams as part of a team of commentators and hosts. Fox News contributors Donna Brazile, Karl Rove and Katie Pavlich also will offer analysis.

Fox has yet to announce its plans for the Republican convention.

— MSNBC:

Nightly coverage for both conventions will begin at 7 p.m. EDT with Joy Reid's “The ReidOut” followed by “All In With Chris Hayes.” Reid, Rachel Maddow and Nicolle Wallace will anchor coverage from 9-11 p.m. EDT.

MSNBC correspondents and political reporters will offer analysis and interviews with voters and campaigns in various locations.

NEW YORK (AP) — Presidential politics move fast. What we’re watching heading into a new week on the 2020 campaign:

Days to general election: 78

Days to first debate: 43

___

THE NARRATIVE

The first national political convention of the coronavirus era has arrived. For four consecutive nights beginning on Monday, Democrats from across the country will gather — in front of their computers, television screens and smart phones — for the all-virtual affair that will showcase the diversity of the modern-day Democratic Party and test Joe Biden's ability to energize his sprawling coalition.

President Donald Trump is working to step on the Democrats' convention — and prevent Biden from earning any convention polling bounce. The Republican president launches a campaign tour on Monday that features in-person stops in three swing states, including Wisconsin.

At the same time, coronavirus deaths continue to mount. With little guidance from the Trump administration, state and local governments are still struggling with a patchwork of inconsistent policies to combat the virus and revive their economies as the new school year begins.

Meanwhile, a new crisis is roiling. The U.S. Postal Service is struggling with significant delays that threaten to disenfranchise millions of Americans who prefer to vote by mail in the middle of a pandemic. As state election officials cry for help, Trump is questioning the integrity of voting by mail and casting doubt on the ability of the postal service to deliver ballots and of election officials to count them.

THE BIG QUESTIONS

How much excitement can a virtual convention generate?

National conventions traditionally mark a high point for presidential campaigns. There's nothing traditional about 2020.

Forced to abandon their in-person convention in Milwaukee because of the pandemic, Democrats begin their all-virtual affair on Monday night. There will be no physical gathering place, no cheering audience, no balloons. The program will consist of a series of online video addresses — roughly half of which will be prerecorded — that play out for two hours each night until Biden formally accepts the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday in a mostly empty Delaware ballroom.

While that may sound underwhelming, the last hour of the speaking program each night will be broadcast live on network television and feature the Democratic Party's elite: former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton and 2016 party nominee Hillary Clinton, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Even a Republican former governor of Ohio, John Kasich, will speak on Biden's behalf.

There are no other moments in politics that offer campaigns the ability to deliver their carefully scripted message to millions of voters on prime-time television four days in a row. That's bound to energize some of Biden's coalition.

What is the Kamala Harris effect?

California Sen. Kamala Harris won the veepstakes five days ago, and we're just beginning to see her impact on the Biden campaign.

As we've noted before, the impact of running mates is often exaggerated. Still, the early reviews have been positive. Biden's campaign raised a staggering $48 million in the 48 hours after last week's announcement, people of color — in the African American and Indian communities — are excited, and Trump's campaign has struggled to identify a coherent message against her.

Trump's campaign surrogates have cast her as an extreme liberal, while Trump himself settled on a series of racist and sexist comments. The Republican president described Harris in recent days as a “madwoman” and claimed at a White House news conference to have “no idea” whether she was eligible to serve as vice president because her parents were immigrants. Born in California, she is eligible as set out in the Constitution.

Harris faces the largest test of her political career on Wednesday night when she makes history as the first woman of color to accept a major party's vice presidential nomination.

What is happening at the post office?

There may be no more important story in the United States right now than the health of the Postal Service, which will play a critical role delivering ballots this fall as tens of millions of Americans vote by mail to protect themselves from the pandemic.

There are legitimate concerns that the post office cannot do the job democracy requires. That's at least in part because of a series of changes the Trump administration implemented in recent weeks, including the inexplicable decision to remove mail sorting machines from key locations.

Democrats are contemplating a series of congressional hearings in the coming days, but with the Republican-led Senate on recess for the next month, it's unclear whether there is enough political will to fix the mounting crisis.

Can Trump step on the Democrats' convention?

Biden won't be in Wisconsin for the Democrats' convention as initially planned this week, but Trump will.

The Trump campaign has announced two in-person campaign appearances on Monday and a third on Tuesday as the Republican president works to undermine the opening days of the Democratic National Convention. He's scheduled to deliver remarks in Minnesota and Wisconsin on Monday before heading to Arizona on Tuesday.

Trump has proven to be a master of manipulating media coverage to ensure he's the center of attention, even if that attention isn't always positive. By being willing to travel to battleground states that Biden hasn't visited for months, Trump is ensuring that he'll be a significant part of the conversation on what may be the most important week of Biden's decades-long political career.

___

THE FINAL THOUGHT

Rarely, if ever, has a political party highlighted as much political and racial diversity as Biden's Democratic Party will this week.

A woman of color will accept a major party's presidential nomination for the first time. Kasich, a Republican, will speak on Biden's behalf, as will a self-described democratic socialist, Sanders, and billionaire Michael Bloomberg.

Under normal circumstances, it might be difficult to keep such disparate political factions united. But Trump is proving to be the most important coalition builder Democrats have ever had.

___

2020 Watch runs every Monday and provides a look at the week ahead in the 2020 election.

NEW YORK (AP) — Preliminary estimates show that viewership for the first night of the Democrats' virtual convention was down compared with the opening of Hillary Clinton's nominating party four years ago.

An estimated 18.7 million people watched coverage between 10 and 11 p.m. on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC, the Nielsen company said. Four years ago, opening night drew just under 26 million viewers.

Nielsen's preliminary numbers did not include streaming or networks like PBS and CSPAN; a more comprehensive estimate is due later Tuesday.

MSNBC and CNN, which aired the Democrats' two-hour prepared telecast essentially in its entirety, were rewarded with the biggest audiences. MSNBC had 5.1 million viewers and CNN had 4.78 million, roughly twice what the broadcast networks reached.

Fox News Channel's audience of 2.1 million viewers was smaller than what time slot occupant Laura Ingraham reaches on a typical night, perhaps explaining why Fox didn't preempt Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity earlier in the evening.

Those networks that didn't air the Democrats' program in its entirety struggled to keep up Monday. In the end, they were rewarded with the most traditional of political events — a powerful speech.

Before former first lady Michelle Obama's keynote address, much of the coverage felt uncomfortably like watching an army making the common mistake of fighting a new conflict with the tactics of the last war.

“This will not be like any convention we have seen before, ever,” CNN’s Anderson Cooper said. “The coronavirus changes the way we do everything.”

The pandemic forced Democrats to abandon a Milwaukee convention hall. Instead, the party produced a slick, fast-moving infomercial hosted by actress Eva Longoria Baston that featured quick speeches, music and the testimony of non-politicians. It even featured the presidential candidate himself, Joe Biden, as a television “anchor” interviewing five figures arrayed before him on screens.

Speakers stood before a variety of backdrops: Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser was above the “Black Lives Matter” plaza, while the pile of firewood behind Sanders made it appear he was getting ready for a long Vermont winter.

Until Sanders and Obama, politicians played a secondary role. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose father Mario’s soaring keynote highlighted the 1984 convention, was immediately overshadowed by Kristin Urquiza’s story of her father’s death from COVID-19.

Typical conventions have moments for television analysts to comfortably opine, when there’s a set change, a boring speaker who drones on too long or lengthy applause by delegates.

That wasn't the case Monday. For example, Alabama Sen. Doug Jones was essentially ignored in favor of an NBC discussion about mail-in voting; a CBS interview with Reince Priebus, President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff; and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie calling another former governor, Ohio’s John Kasich, a “back-stabber” on ABC.

Although broadcast networks were on the air for the second of the two-hour Democratic show, top personalities like George Stephanopoulos, Norah O’Donnell and Chuck Todd logged time earlier in the evening on livestreams.

After Obama's speech, commentators were awestruck. The lack of a live audience clapping and cheering seemed beside the point.

“This is how pastors the Sunday before the election are going to sound,” said MSNBC's Joy Reid. “She preached the word tonight.”

Everything was new to Mike Tirico when he walked past the famed pagoda that dominates the front stretch at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, assumed his broadcast perch high above pit lane and proceeded to host his first Indy 500.

Now, all that was new has given way to unprecedented.

One year after NBC assumed the rights from longtime broadcaster ABC, the network is preparing to bring one of the iconic events in sports to a potentially record-setting television audience Sunday. The reasons are many, but the biggest are these: There remain far fewer live events than normal because of the COVID-19 pandemic, none of the 300,000 fans that turn out each year will be there in person, and the event itself still stirs a certain sense of Americana among race fans.

“We're all taking different stock of the things we do professionally and personally,” Tirico said Wednesday, "and the chance to sit right there on the track with Danica Patrick and have the 33 cars behind us and the 300,00 people behind us is one of the coolest experiences I've had. We'll miss those fans incredibly.

“But the Indy 500 is the Indy 500,” Tirico continued, “and there's never been one like this year. So I'm looking forward to documenting that history and sharing it with the fans at home.”

How exactly do you share an event that is as much about the pomp and circumstance as the actual race, though, when most of that pomp and circumstance has been scaled back or eliminated altogether?

That is the challenge facing executive producer Sam Flood and the rest of the NBC broadcast crew.

There will be no Last Row Party, that event held every year since 1972 to roast the three slowest qualifies and raise money for charity. There will be no Indianapolis 500 Festival Parade on Saturday. The Purdue University All-American Marching Band has been the host band of the Indy 500 ever year since 1927, though it won't be on pit lane pre-race this year.

It doesn't make sense to have the parade of military members down the front stretch, both because of social distancing and because the race is not being held on its traditional Memorial Day weekend. Or having the parade of vintage race cars, the celebrity red carpet, the iconic release of the balloons and some of the other programming that resonates mostly with fans in person but that also adds to “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

“It's sad that there won't be that energy and ambiance we're so used to with the parades and the pomp and really bringing the energy up as it does before every race," said Patrick, who will again handle color commentary duties. “I mean, being a driver, there's the canon. There's the song and dance. There's so many people flooding in and navigating spaces.”

There will certainly be more echos inside the grand old speedway, at least until the engines are fired. But that doesn't mean there won't be plenty of pageantry as new owner Roger Penske tries to bring a spectacular product to fans.

The anthem will be performed by Dr. Elvis Francois and Dr. William Robinson, a popular duo who have become known as the “Singing Surgeons.” Jim Cornelison will be back for the fourth time to perform “Back Home Again in Indiana,” and the famous Air Force Thunderbirds — who are always booked elsewhere for Memorial Day — will be doing the flyover.

“The elements that you would expect that are really important are back,” Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles said. “Jim is back again and he's so excited about the way he can interact with the fans. Part of Memorial Day weekend is to celebrate the men and women who serve. We're in August this year, but a flyover with the Thunderbirds is a fitting tribute to those men and women. And they have a little twist up their sleeve this year."

Boles pointed out that while 300,000 fans may pack the speedway each year, millions more make it appointment viewing on TV. And with a few exceptions — like the vast ocean of empty seats — their vantage point will be the same.

“I often say the most magical moment, at least for me, is the 30 minutes leading up tot he green flag at the Indianapolis 500 each year,” Boles said. “It's steeped in tradition. It's something you can count on year after year. And it seems to be more powerful each year, and more emotional for those of us that make that annual trek. So we thought it was so important for many of those elements to remain the same.”

As for the production itself, NBC has promised to meld the traditions that have made the Indy 500 with the new normal that has enveloped the world. At the same time, the network is hoping to deliver a broadcast that educates what could be one of the largest audiences in race history while also turning some casual fans into avid ones.

“This is the race event that even the pandemic isn't going to stop,” said Leigh Diffey, who will handle the race call once the green flag drops. “For the Indy 500 to happen this year is just reward for the series and our production group, people you will never know their names or faces. They've worked so hard during this COVID-19 pandemic period to make things work under these very unusual circumstances.”

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More AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/tag/apf-AutoRacing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A special airing of “Black Panther" in the wake of the death of star Chadwick Boseman was a bright spot for the broadcast networks in a ratings week otherwise utterly dominated by Fox News Channel's coverage of the Republican National Convention.

ABC's last-minute scheduling Sunday night of the Disney and Marvel film about the African superhero drew 6.27 million viewers two days after Boseman died of colon cancer at age 43.

An accompanying tribute to Boseman brought nearly 5 million viewers and was fifth among broadcast shows for the week, the Nielsen company said Tuesday.

But the week overall belonged to Fox News, which had nine of the top 10 and 14 of the top 20 prime time shows.

At No. 1 was Thursday night's airing of the convention and the nomination acceptance speech of President Donald Trump, which drew 9 million viewers. Fox News' Tuesday night convention coverage was second with nearly 8 million.

And the channel's convention-connected airings of “Hannity” filled out the rest of the top five.

The RNC also gave major bumps to the nightly shows of Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham.

Fox News Channel was easily the most watched network, cable or broadcast, of the week with an average of 5.1 million viewers in prime time.

NBC was the most popular broadcast network, averaging 2.77 million viewers in prime time. ABC had 2.75 million, CBS had 2.4 million, ION Television had 1.3 million, Univision had 1.2 million Fox had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 1 million.

Among other cable networks, MSNBC was second with 1.5 million average viewers, CNN had 1.47 million, HGTV had 1.4 million and TLC had 1.2 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” led the network evening news ratings race, averaging 8.7 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.2 million, and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.2 million.

For the week of Aug. 24-30, the top 20 programs, their networks and viewerships:

1. “Republican National Convention” (Thursday), Fox News, 9 million.

2. “Republican National Convention” (Tuesday), Fox News, 7.9 million.

3. “Hannity” (Thursday), Fox News, 7.8 million.

4. “Hannity" (Tuesday), Fox News, 7.7 million.

5. “Hannity” (Wednesday), Fox News, 7.1 million.

6. “Republican National Convention” (Monday), Fox News, 7 million.

7. “Republican National Convention” (Wednesday), Fox News, 6.9 million.

8. “Hannity” (Monday), Fox News, 6.85 million.

9. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Thursday), Fox News, 6.28 million.

10. “Black Panther,” ABC, 6.27 million.

11. “60 Minutes Presents,” CBS, 6.2 million.

12. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Tuesday), Fox News, 6.1 million.

13. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Wednesday), Fox News, 5.9 million.

14. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Monday), Fox News, 5.7 million.

15. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday) NBC, 5.6 million.

16. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday) NBC, 5 million.

17. “Chadwick Boseman Tribute,” ABC, 4.9 million.

18. “The Ingraham Angle” (Monday), Fox News, 4.8 million.

19. “The Ingraham Angle” (Tuesday), Fox News, 4.6 million.

20. “NCIS," CBS, million. 4.5 million.

NEW YORK (AP) — Tucker Carlson drew the television equivalent of a royal flush on the week before Labor Day.

The controversial Fox News Channel personality had all five of his weeknight programs land in the Nielsen company's 20 most popular programs last week. Four of them were in the Top 10.

Fox's Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, as well as MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, all had programs in the Top 20 last week, a reflection of interest in the presidential campaign as well as the relative paucity of entertainment options on broadcast television.

Hannity’s program landed in the Top 20 three times, including two nights the host was on vacation.

None of the broadcast networks topped an average of three million viewers in prime time last week.

NBC, with 2.82 million, narrowly edged ABC's 2.81 million viewers. CBS had 2.6 million, Univision had 1.3 million, ION Television had 1.2 million, Fox had 1.17 million and Telemundo had 1.1 million.

Fox News Channel led the way among cable networks, averaging 3.43 million viewers in prime time last week. MSNBC had 2.11 million, TNT had 1.74 million, ESPN had 1.49 million and TLC had 1.28 million.

ABC's “World News Tonight” led the evening news ratings race with an average of 8.2 million viewers. NBC's “Nightly News” had 7.3 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.3 million.

For the week of Aug. 31-Sept. 6, the 20 most-watched programs, their networks and viewerships:

1. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 6.45 million.

2. “America's Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 6.41 million.

3. “America's Got Talent” (Wednesday), NBC, 5.66 million.

4. NBA Playoffs: Houston vs. L.A. Lakers (Sunday), ABC, 5.43 million.

5. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Monday), Fox News, 4.94 million.

6. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Tuesday), Fox News, 4.92 million.

7. “Hannity” (Tuesday), Fox News, 4.85 million.

8. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Wednesday), Fox News, 4.8 million.

9. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Thursday), Fox News, 4.79 million.

10. “Hannity” (Wednesday), Fox News, 4.67 million.

11. “NCIS,” CBS, 4.31 million.

12. NBA Playoffs: Oklahoma City vs. Houston (Wednesday), ESPN, 4.29 million.

13. “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 4.24 million.

14. “Hannity” (Thursday), Fox News, 4.17 million.

15. "Big Brother (Wednesday), CBS, 4.162 million.

16. “The Ingraham Angle” (Monday), Fox News, 4.16 million.

17. “Transplant,” NBC, 3.96 million.

18. “The Rachel Maddow Show” (Tuesday), MSNBC, 3.873 million.

19. “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Friday), Fox News, 3.832 million.

20. “The Ingraham Angle” (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.828 million.

NEW YORK (AP) — An estimated 19.3 million fans turned on NBC to watch the NFL's season kickoff between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans, or 13 percent fewer viewers than 2019's opening game.

The Nielsen company said last year's matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears was seen by 22.2 million people.

NBC touted it as the “most-watched sporting event since the Super Bowl.” That's true, although because of COVID-19, there were several months without any live sports on TV. Thursday represented the first day that every major professional sport had games on the same day.

NBC said there was a bump in live streaming of the game. With online added in, viewership was down 11 percent from last year.

Even with a middling Nielsen report from opening night, the return of football is a huge relief for broadcast television networks. The most-watched TV show last week, “60 Minutes,” reached 6.5 million viewers.