NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

‘Chicago’ dramas do big business for NBC

NEW YORK

Producer Dick Wolf’s factory of “Chicago” dramas is becoming increasingly important for NBC.

Both “Chicago PD” and “Chicago Fire” scored their highest ratings in nearly two years last week with crossover episodes where they shared casts, the Nielsen company said. “Chicago Med” actually had the biggest audience of the triumvirate with 9.1 million viewers, although the other two were close behind.

All three shows were among the 11 most-watched programs on prime-time television last week. After the finale of “America’s Got Talent Champions” last week, they were the most popular programs on NBC.

The Oscars led ABC to a weekly win in the ratings. The show’s audience of 29.6 million was up 12 percent over last year’s show, but it still finished as the second-least-watched Oscars telecast ever.

For the week of Feb. 18-24, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: “The Oscars,” ABC, 29.56 million; “Live From the Red Carpet” (7:30 to 8 p.m. ET), ABC, 14.16 million; “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 13.49 million; “NCIS,” CBS, 12.75 million; “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 11.31 million; “America’s Got Talent Champions,” NBC, 10.58 million; “Live From the Red Carpet” (7 to 7:29 p.m.), ABC, 10.42 million; “Chicago Med,” NBC, 9.12 million; “FBI,” CBS, 9.07 million; “Chicago PD,” NBC, 8.94 million.

R. Kelly’s affinity for McDonald’s dates to his childhood

CHICAGO

When R. Kelly was released on bail after spending the weekend in a Chicago jail, he headed straight to a McDonald’s – a restaurant chain he has fond childhood memories of but that also features in the allegations that he preyed on teenage girls.

Almost immediately after Kelly posted his $100,000 bail late Monday and headed to an iconic McDonald’s in downtown Chicago, social media lit up with reminders of allegations in the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” that the R&B star would search for teen girls at McDonald’s restaurants.

“He would cruise McDonald’s near high schools and have someone from his team go up to a girl, get her number,” the documentary’s executive producer, Dream Hampton, said during a recent NPR interview. The location where he ate Monday, which used to be known as the Rock-N-Roll McDonald’s, was one of the locations he’d frequent, she said.

There also have been stories over the years about Kelly’s affinity for the ubiquitous burger chain, including when he worked the drive-through window at a St. Louis location after a 2004 performance in that city. And in an interview posted on YouTube, Kelly, who grew up on Chicago’s South Side, recalled going to McDonald’s every morning with his mother, where the two split a coffee and a Danish because that was “all we could afford.”

Footage of Kelly’s Monday night McDonald’s jaunt showed him and his entourage ordering food and eating it in a booth. As they were leaving and Kelly was getting into a van, a female fan yelled, “I love you! I love you! I love you!” Kelly waved. His group later went to a cigar bar in the ritzy Gold Coast neighborhood.

Associated Press