NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Fox’s ‘Empire’ sets growth standard

NEW YORK

For the eighth-straight time, Fox’s music-business soap “Empire” pulled in more viewers than it had the previous week, an unusual standard of success that appears to be unprecedented in the modern television era.

The series’ ninth episode reached 14.3 million viewers, second only to AMC’s “The Walking Dead” as the most popular drama on television last week.

Here are the prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for March 2-8. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership:

1. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 18.17 million; 2. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 15.54 million; 3. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 14.67 million; 4. “The Walking Dead,” AMC, 14.53 million; 5. “Empire,” Fox, 14.33 million; 6. “The Odd Couple,” CBS, 12.36 million; 7. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 11.03 million; 8. “Madam Secretary,” CBS, 10.82 million; 9. “NCIS,” CBS, 10.79 million; and 10. “The Big Bang Theory” (Thursday, 9 p.m.), CBS, 10.54 million.

Ferrell to appear in 5 spring training games

PHOENIX

Will Ferrell plans to play ball in spring training — and play ball and play ball and play ball.

The comedian plans to play every position while making appearances at five Arizona spring training games today. He will play for all 10 teams involved, HBO and Major League Baseball announced Wednesday.

The star of “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” and “Elf,” among other movies, will travel to the Phoenix suburbs of Mesa, Tempe, Scottsdale, Glendale and Peoria via helicopter. The event will be filmed for an upcoming HBO special in conjunction with the Funny or Die website co-founded by Ferrell.

HBO said Ferrell is dedicating his special to fighting cancer. He also will honor Bert Campaneris’ feat of playing nine positions in a game five decades ago.

Starting times for four of the games were adjusted to make Ferrell’s barnstorming tour possible.

Associated Press