NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Blasts from the past prove irresistible to television viewers

LOS ANGELES

Blasts from the past proved irresistible to viewers, who flocked to live versions of a pair of classic sitcoms and a special about a 20th-century TV beauty.

ABC’s re-creation of episodes of “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons” was among last week’s most-watched programs with 10.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen figures released Wednesday.

Woody Harrelson played Archie Bunker, the role originated by the late Carroll O’Connor on “All in the Family,” with Jamie Foxx following in the footsteps of Sherman Hemsley as George Jefferson.

A “Nightline” program on the do-overs of producer Norman Lear’s famed 1970s and ’80 comedies also landed in the top 10, with an ABC documentary on the life and career of Farrah Fawcett coming in at No. 12.

For the week of May 20-26, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: “NCIS,” CBS, 12 million; “Live: All in the Family-The Jeffersons,” ABC, 10.4 million; NBA Playoffs: Golden State at Portland, ESPN, 7.99 million; “The Voice,” NBC, 7.97 million; “Nightline: All in the Family-The Jeffersons,” ABC, 7.7 million; “Chicago Med,” NBC, 7.5 million; “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 7.49 million; “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 7.4 million; “Chicago P.D.,” NBC, 6.6 million; NBA Playoffs: Milwaukee at Toronto, Turner, 6.4 million.

Kutcher testifies he knocked on slain woman’s door in 2001

LOS ANGELES

Ashton Kutcher testified at a Los Angeles murder trial Wednesday that he went to pick up a 22-year-old fashion-design student to go out for drinks one night 18 years ago and left when she did not answer her door, only to learn the next day that she had been lying inside dead.

The actor said from the witness stand that he had kept Ashley Ellerin waiting for hours Feb. 21, 2001, when he arrived at her Hollywood home, where he had been to a party about a week earlier.

“I knocked on the door, and there was no answer,” Kutcher said in the packed downtown courtroom during the trial of Michael Gargiulo, who is charged with killing Ellerin and another woman. “I knocked again, and once again, no answer. At this point, I pretty well assumed she had left for the night, and that I was late, and she was upset.”

Kutcher said he looked through the window and saw what he thought were wine stains on the floor, but did not find that alarming and left.

“I remember the next day after I heard about what happened, I went to the detectives and said, ‘My fingerprints are on the door,”’ Kutcher testified. “I was freaking out.”

Ellerin’s roommate found her dead in the hallway outside her bathroom. Prosecutors allege Gargiulo, whom they called a “serial sexual-thrill killer,” entered the house and stabbed Ellerin 47 times.

Associated Press