Emmy Awards Ratings up More Than 50%, Reversing Record Lows 

US actor Jeremy Allen White attends the Walt Disney Company's Emmy celebration red carpet event at the Music Center in Los Angeles, September 15, 2024. (AFP)
US actor Jeremy Allen White attends the Walt Disney Company's Emmy celebration red carpet event at the Music Center in Los Angeles, September 15, 2024. (AFP)
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Emmy Awards Ratings up More Than 50%, Reversing Record Lows 

US actor Jeremy Allen White attends the Walt Disney Company's Emmy celebration red carpet event at the Music Center in Los Angeles, September 15, 2024. (AFP)
US actor Jeremy Allen White attends the Walt Disney Company's Emmy celebration red carpet event at the Music Center in Los Angeles, September 15, 2024. (AFP)

The Emmys telecast on ABC reached nearly 7 million viewers, a jump of more than 50% from the record low of the last ceremony in January and the biggest audience since 2021, according to numbers released Monday by the network.

Sunday night's 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, in which “Shogun,” “Hacks” and “Baby Reindeer” won top awards, was back in its traditional mid-September spot after the rare January ceremony that was delayed four months by Hollywood's strikes.

That show, which aired on Fox, reached a record low audience of 4.3 million viewers.

ABC said Monday that the Sunday night show hosted by Eugene and Dan Levy reached 6.87 million viewers, a jump of 54% despite competition from NFL football.

The height-of-the-pandemic Emmys in 2020 on ABC, with no in-person audience and remote nominees, set a new low at the time with 6.1 million viewers. The show bounced back the following year with 7.4 million for CBS with help from an NFL game lead-in.

But NBC's 2022 telecast dropped to 5.9 million, followed by the further decline in January of this year.

The Emmys telecast rotates annually between the four broadcast networks.

The last time the Emmys reached more than 10 million viewers was 2018, when it drew in 10.2 million. The show had 21.8 million viewers in 2000, a level it's unlikely ever to reach again.



‘The Life of Chuck’ Wins the Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award

Tom Hiddleston attends the premiere of "The Life of Chuck" during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theatre on September 06, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. (Getty Images/AFP)
Tom Hiddleston attends the premiere of "The Life of Chuck" during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theatre on September 06, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. (Getty Images/AFP)
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‘The Life of Chuck’ Wins the Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award

Tom Hiddleston attends the premiere of "The Life of Chuck" during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theatre on September 06, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. (Getty Images/AFP)
Tom Hiddleston attends the premiere of "The Life of Chuck" during the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival at Princess of Wales Theatre on September 06, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. (Getty Images/AFP)

The Toronto International Film Festival's People's Choice Award went to “The Life of Chuck,” handing Mike Flanagan's Stephen King adaptation one of the most-watched prizes of the fall film festival circuit.

The award for “The Life of Chuck” was announced Sunday as North American's largest film festival drew to a close. “The Life of Chuck,” based on King's 2020 novella of the same name, stars Tom Hiddleston as Charles “Chuck” Krantz, an ordinary man living through apocalyptic cataclysms. Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan and Jacob Tremblay co-star.

TIFF's People's Choice Award is regarded as a reliable Oscar harbinger. Since 2012, every winner of the festival's top prize has gone on to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards. Last year, Cord Jefferson's “American Fiction” won, and went on to be a major awards contender.

But “The Life of Chuck” could test that track record. The film is up for sale and doesn't yet have distribution. It could be acquired and quickly readied for release this fall, or it might end up a 2025 release.

“The Life of Chuck” drew mixed — though mostly positive reviews — out of Toronto, though audiences were clearly charmed by the uplifting drama.

Runners-up for the People's Choice Award, which is voted on by festival attendees, were both films that first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The first was Jacques Audiard's “Emilia Pérez.” The second runner-up was Sean Baker's “Anora,” the Palme d'Or winner at Cannes.

The audience award for top documentary went to Mike Downie's “The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal.” In the festival's Midnight Madness section, the prize went to Coralie Fargeat's “The Substance,” starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley.