Lakers losses make for TV ratings wins for ABC and ESPN

Lakers Dennis Schroder, left, and LeBron James in the closing moments of their Game 3 loss to the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Western Conference Finals on May 20, 2023, at Crypto.com Arena. CBS also had the week’s most-watched drama, “NCIS,” seventh for the week and fourth among nonsports programs, averaging 6.656 million viewers. “Chicago Fire” topped its ratings for the third consecutive week, averaging 6.021 million viewers, 12th overall and eighth among nonsports programs. Masters” and “American Idol” on ABC; and two NBC scripted series and its singing competition “The Voice.” NBA playoff coverage made TNT the most-watched cable network for the fifth consecutive week, averaging 2.867 million viewers. The cable prime-time top 20 consisted of five NBA playoff games — three on TNT and two on ESPN; two “Inside the NBA Playoffs” studio shows on TNT; the NBA draft lottery and two “NBA Courtside” studio shows on ESPN; ESPN’s coverage of Game 7 of the second-round NHL playoff series between the Dallas Stars and Seattle Kraken; History’s “The Curse of Oak Island”; two MSNBC political talk shows — “The Rachel Maddow Show” and the May 15 edition of “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell” that followed it; Fox Sports 1’s coverage of the NASCAR All-Star Race; three editions of the Fox News Channel political talk show “Hannity”; Bravo’s “Vanderpump Rules”; and the second of three hourlong segments of the USA Network’s “WWE Raw.” Netflix’s top movie for the second consecutive week was the Jennifer Lopez-starring action thriller “The Mother,” with 94.42 million viewing hours in the first full week it was available, 12.8% more than the 83.71 million hours the previous week when it was available three days, according to figures from the streaming service.