NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Dancing to the top of television ratings

NEW YORK

A night of Disney tunes led ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” to the largest audience of its current season and to the top of the television rankings.

The Nielsen company said an estimated 12.5 million people watched “Dancing,” which featured the contestants showing their steps to songs made famous by ABC’s parent company. Light fare dominated the top of Nielsen’s charts, with NBC’s “The Voice” and “Little Big Shots” also scoring well.

Some of CBS’ most- popular series – “NCIS,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “NCIS: New Orleans” – showed repeat episodes, shuffling the rankings.

Still, CBS’ bench strength enabled it to win the week, averaging 7.5 million viewers in prime time. NBC had 5.7 million and ABC had 5.4 million, while winning among the most valuable youthful demographic. Fox had 3.2 million viewers, Univision had 1.9 million, Telemundo had 1.29 million, ION Television had 1.27 million and the CW had 1.1 million.

Tom Hanks helps dedicate film center

DAYTON

Actor and filmmaker Tom Hanks proves again he excels at taking directions.

Hank wielded oversized scissors Tuesday and, on a count of three, he led a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a newly renovated motion-pictures center named for him at Wright State University in Ohio.

Hanks said that when he was a teenager, he couldn’t have gotten into the university. He joked about his performance on the SATs, asking his audience to guess what he got on the tests. His answer: “Spilled Coca-Cola.”

The Oscar-winning star isn’t an alumnus but has connections with teachers and alumni of the public school.

Strahan leaving ‘Live’ for ‘GMA’

NEW YORK

Former football star Michael Strahan is being shifted from the daily talk show he co-hosts with Kelly Ripa to work full time on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

The change comes as “Good Morning America” tries to shore up sinking ratings at a time of tighter competition with NBC’s “Today” show and reflects the importance of the show to parent Walt Disney Co.’s bottom line.

Strahan has worked a couple of days a week at “GMA” for the past two years, but he always has to leave midway through to head to the “Live with Kelly and Michael” studio on Manhattan’s upper West Side. He’s joining the show’s regular cast of Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos, Lara Logan, Amy Robach and Ginger Zee.

Starting in September, he’ll be there five days a week for the full two-hour show.

Associated Press