newsmakers

newsmakers

TV viewers choose Simpson over Madoff in crime stories

NEW YORK

In a television competition between notorious criminals, O.J. Simpson topped Bernard Madoff.

The first part of FX’s star-studded miniseries on the former football star’s murder case and trial became the most-watched scripted series premiere in the network’s history, the Nielsen company said.

The “American Crime Story” opener, which stars Cuba Gooding Jr. as Simpson and John Travolta as attorney Robert Shapiro, was seen by 12 million people within three days of its premiere.

ABC’s two-part movie on Madoff, which starred Richard Dreyfuss as the swindler, had more viewers watching when it originally aired than the Simpson premiere, but far fewer who caught it later.

Typically the year’s most-watched event, the Super Bowl had just under 111.9 million viewers for CBS. The audience was down from the last two games but it still represented the third most-watched event in U.S. television history.

For the week of Feb. 1-7, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: Super Bowl: Carolina vs. Denver, CBS, 111.86 million; “Super Bowl Post-Game” (Sunday, 10:22 p.m.), CBS, 101.93 million; “Super Bowl Post-Game” (Sunday, 10:29 p.m.), CBS, 70.01 million; “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 15.29 million; Republican Presidential Debate, ABC, 13.34 million; “Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials,” CBS, 11.45 million; “American Idol” (Wednesday), Fox, 9.18 million; “Life in Pieces,” CBS, 9.09 million; “American Idol” (Thursday), Fox, 8.94 million; “The X-Files,” Fox, 8.37 million.

Cosby’s ex-lawyer dismissed from suit

LOS ANGELES

A judge on Tuesday dismissed model Janice Dickinson’s defamation claim filed against Bill Cosby’s former lawyer for denying her allegations that the comedian had drugged and raped her in 1982.

However, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Debre Katz Weintraub did not dismiss defamation allegations made against Cosby in the same lawsuit.

Weintraub ruled that Dickinson cannot sue attorney Martin Singer because his denial of her allegations was known to her at the time she sued Cosby in May.

Dickinson’s lawyers later amended her lawsuit to add the defamation allegations against Singer.

“We are very pleased with the ruling,” Singer’s attorney Andrew Brettler said. “We believe the court got it right.”

Also on Tuesday, Cosby’s lawyers asked that a separate defamation lawsuit filed in federal court in Massachusetts be put on hold while he defends himself in a criminal case in Pennsylvania, where he is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

Associated Press