Taylor Swift leads AMA nominations

Taylor Swift leads AMA nominations

NEW YORK

Taylor Swift earned six American Music Awards nominations Tuesday, and if she wins everything she’s up for, the singer will become the most-honored female artist in the show’s history.

Ed Sheeran and the Weeknd had five nominations each, trying to win their first awards. Sam Hunt, Nicki Minaj, Sam Smith, Meghan Trainor and Walk the Moon had three nominations each.

Nominations, announced Tuesday, are based on a metric that includes sales, airplay and social activity tracked by Billboard magazine and its partners. Winners are determined by fan votes on the show’s website or through Facebook and Twitter.

Jennifer Lopez will host the show, which will air live Nov. 22 from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on ABC.

Is ‘Walking Dead’ starting to stagger?

NEW YORK

The zombies on “The Walking Dead” may be starting to stagger.

An estimated 14.6 million viewers watched the season premiere of the hit AMC series on Sunday, the Nielsen company said. That’s down from the 17.3 million who saw last year’s season opener and the 16.1 million people who watched in 2013.

Last year’s season premiere was a viewership record for the series, so this year’s numbers may be an indication that the show has peaked in popularity.

Here are the prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Oct. 5-11: 1. NFL Football: San Francisco at N.Y. Giants, NBC, 19.59 million; 2. “NCIS,” CBS, 16.87 million; 3. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 15.41 million; 4. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 15.4 million; 5. NFL Football: Indianapolis at Houston, CBS, 15.08 million; 6. “The Walking Dead,” AMC, 14.63 million; 7. NFL Football: Detroit at Seattle, ESPN, 14.4 million; 8. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 14.18 million; 9. “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Game,” NBC, 13.94 million; 10. “Empire,” Fox, 13.1 million.

H.R. Pufnstuf to visit Nickelodeon show

LOS ANGELES

H.R. Pufnstuf is coming back to television, and he’s bringing a few old pals along with him.

The title character of the 1969-71 children’s series will appear on an episode of Nickelodeon’s new preschool series “Mutt & Stuff,” the cable channel said Tuesday.

Pufnstuf will be joined by Freddy the Flute and Cling and Clang on a “Mutt & Stuff” episode taping next month. It’s scheduled to air in early 2016.

“Mutt & Stuff” is produced by Sid and Marty Krofft, the same brothers who produced “H.R. Pufnstuf.” That show is still in reruns more than four decades after it debuted.

Associated Press