Nielsen Streaming Top 10: ‘A Madea Homecoming’ and ‘Free Guy’ Both Cross 1 Billion Minutes Watched in Debut Week

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeSPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 7, Episode 5, of “The Masked Singer,” “Masking For a Duel — Round 2,” which aired April 6 on Fox.That’s no illusion, it really was Vegas legends Penn and Teller unmasked on Wednesday night’s episode of “The Masked Singer.” Penn Jillette and his quiet partner Teller were disguised under the three-headed Hydra outfit.And yes, that was Teller who did most of the singing — in two different voices, one as himself and one in an aristocratic-style voice patterned after Rex Harrison in “My Fair Lady.” (As a matter of fact, the duo dubbed the voice “Rex.”)That may very well be the only time you’ll ever hear Teller — famously mute during all Penn & Teller appearances — actually talk. According to Jillette — who naturally spoke solo with Variety — the decision was made to have Teller sing most of the songs since Jillette’s booming voice is so recognizable.

Wilson Chapman editorRae Allen, the Tony-winning stage and screen veteran known for her role as nosy reporter Gloria Thorpe in “Damn Yankees” and as Quintina Blundetto on “The Sopranos,” died Wednesday, her rep Kyle Fritz confirmed to Variety. She was 95.Born in Brooklyn as Rae Julia Theresa Abruzzo, Allen began her career on the stage after graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1947.

Jimmy Wang Yu, a Taiwanese actor who was once one of the biggest stars of martial arts cinema, died Tuesday in a Taipei hospital from an undisclosed illness he battled for six years. He was 79 and his death was announced on Instagram by his daughter, Linda Wang.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is apologizing to LeBron James.

Kevin Bacon just revealed what's next for the Bacon family, and fans seriously couldn't be happier.MORE: Sosie Bacon twins with heavy metal brother Travis in rare photo togetherWhile the star may be best known for his iconic role in Footloose and most recently playing Jackie on Castle on the Hill, the actor has much more than acting skills under his wing, and he's proving it.The star is as musical as he is theatrical, and routinely shares that side of him with followers through performances and song shout-outs on Instagram. Music undoubtedly runs in the family, and he performs not just on Instagram, but on stage, and tours the country with his brother Michael Bacon, who makes up the other half of their band, fittingly called the Bacon Brothers.WATCH: Kevin sends City on a Hill fans wild with exciting show updateMORE: Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon enjoy lavish date night at Vanity Fair partyNow the two have finally announced what they've been working on, and fans inundated their comments with their excitement and anticipation over it.The Bacon Brothers teased their brand new single, In Memory of When I Cared, in a new video on Instagram, and the countdown to when it'll be available to listen couldn't come faster.The 63-year-old revealed that it won't be too long now, and that the single will be out on Friday, 8 April.A post shared by Kevin Bacon (@kevinbacon)The exciting announcementHe captioned the post with: "Get a taste of new @baconbrosmusic “In Memory Of (When I Cared)” out this Friday, April 8th.

Kim Kardashian gave an update on where she and Kanye West stand during a special ABC interview, which aired on April 6. Kim and some of her family members sat down with Robin Roberts for the interview, and Kim opened up about her current relationship with ‘Ye, who she separated from in Feb. 2021. “You want to take the high road sometimes and sometimes it’s hard, but I think at the end of the day, everyone has their own way of communicating,” Kim explained. “I’ve always been a champion of him speaking his truth and I would always want that.”

Although Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson have only been dating a few months, the SNL alum, 28, is getting very “comfortable” with the reality star’s kids. A few sources close to the couple spoke EXCLUSIVELY with HollywoodLife and shared an update on Pete’s relationship with Kim’s children after the comedian was spotted hanging out with his girlfriend’s oldest daughter, North West, for the first time on April 3.

Kanye West, 44, is one of the biggest and richest rappers in the world, but he still left a lot of money behind when walking away from his upcoming Coachella gig. The talented artist was apparently going to be paid $8 million for the headlining performance and Coachella was also going to pay an additional $500,000 for production costs, according to sources at Page Six. The impressive amount still wasn’t able to hold Ye down though, as he cancelled his appearance less than two weeks before he was set to take the big stage.

Ezra Miller’s projects with Warner Bros. and DC are reportedly in jeopardy following the actor's arrest in Hawaii.  Rolling Stone reported Wednesday that the production companies had an emergency meeting after the actor’s legal trouble in Hawaii.  After the meeting, the committee reportedly agreed to pause all projects involving Miller and all public appearances they had scheduled to support the DC Cinematic Universe.

The Walking Dead is coming to an end this year, and so it seems is most of the long-standing legal action by Robert Kirkman and other executive producers of the zombie apocalypse series against AMC.

Elizabeth Wagmeister Senior CorrespondentBritney Spears is objecting to her mother’s request to pay $663,202.84 in attorney’s fees, in conjunction with her conservatorship.The objection marks the latest move in the pop star’s ongoing and drawn-out legal battle. The singer’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, filed new court documents ahead of a Wednesday hearing — where no decision was made — asking a judge to deny Lynne Spears’ petition for her famous daughter to foot her hefty legal bills.“Britney Spears has for decades been her family’s sole breadwinner, supporting her entire family,” Rosengart stated in a filing on Tuesday with the Los Angeles Superior Court.“Lynne Spears and her counsel seek payment of legal fees and costs — from Britney Spears — of more than $660,000,” Rosengart’s filing states, arguing that there is “no legal authority” supporting the singer’s mother’s request, since she was not an official party involved with the conservatorship.

Nina’s new man! Nearly five months after Nina Agdal and Jack Brinkley-Cook broke up, Us Weekly can confirm she has moved on with Ben Kaplan.

Rae Allen, a Tony winner who originated the role of Gloria in “Damn Yankees” on Broadway in 1955 and reprised the role in the 1958 film, had died at 95.Her talent manager, Kyle Fritz, told TheWrap that she died in her sleep of natural causes on Wednesday morning. Allen was born Rae Julia Theresa Abruzzo in Brooklyn, New York, in 1926.

Kate Walsh revealed on Wednesday that she will be appearing in one more episode in 's current season — its 18th — in a cheeky Instagram post.

The Coachella drama continues.

Rihanna is making her official debut on the annual Forbes billionaires list, after reaching a net worth of over one billion dollars in 2021, honoring her incredible achievement with the success of Fenty Beauty and Fenty X Savage.The entrepreneur is also the first person from her native Barbados to enter the coveted list of the wealthiest people in the world, with her beauty line generating “more than $550 million in revenue in 2020.”Rihanna currently has a net worth of 1.7 billion dollars, making it to number 1,729 on the list, and positioning herself above Jay-Z and under Kanye West.

H”igh School Musical” without Vanessa Hudgens?! It almost happened. Hudgens opened up about how she nearly auditioned for American Idol ahead of auditioning for the role of Gabriella in the early aughts classic, during Tuesday’s episode of “The Kelly Clarkson Show”.

Zack Sharf “The Hunger Games” and “Sucker Punch” star Jena Malone confirmed on Twitter that she was involved in chasing down an alleged dog abuser in Los Angeles on April 5. The news was first reported by NBC Los Angeles. The actor saw a man “kicking repeatedly a small dog” and “yanking him up in the air and absolutely choking the dog.” Malone said she yelled at the man to stop choking the dog but he did not.“I got out of my car to try and get the dog but he started running,” Malone wrote.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA judge on Wednesday ruled that several producers of “The Walking Dead” were not cheated out of profits by AMC Networks, bringing the long-running litigation over the hit show closer to a finale.Judge Daniel J. Buckley rejected the producers’ claim that AMC Networks had reverse-engineered the definition of “profits” in their contracts in order to keep the vast majority of the show’s profits for itself.The producers — Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Charles Eglee and Glen Mazzara — first filed suit in 2017, four years after the show’s creator Frank Darabont — who was fired after the first season — filed a similar claim against AMC.Darabont and CAA, his agency, won a $200 million settlement in their case last July.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterLauren Lapkus and Krysta Rodriguez are set for the lead roles in the CBS multi-cam comedy pilot “Sober Companion,” Variety has learned.Rodriguez will play Eliza, described as a fun-loving, quick-witted alcoholic who runs a bookstore/bar with her uncle in New Orleans. After one too many run-ins with the law, she is assigned a court-appointed Sober Companion who will force her to confront her demons, get her act together, and stay sober, all while driving her completely nuts.Lapkus will play Shelley, Eliza’s Sober Companion.

More than a decade after leaving, Dr. Addison Montgomery is returning to Seattle’s Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.

Jena Malone to the rescue.

Don’t look for the original stars of John Hughes’ “The Breakfast Club” to reassemble for a new movie or TV project.

 without Vanessa Hudgens?! It almost happened. Hudgens opened up about how she nearly auditioned for  ahead of auditioning for the role of Gabriella in the early aughts classic, during Tuesday's episode of .«I grew up doing theater, and this has always been a passion of mine, and you were on , and you won, and I was like, 'That's it, I'm going on, and then that next week, I got an audition for  and booked it, so then I was like, 'Well, never mind,'» she told Clarkson.

Blake Shelton jokingly complimented Luke Bryan's «fake Georgia accent.» Well, whatever it is and whatever anyone wants to call it, Dierks Bentley's kids can't get enough of it!The «Drunk on a Plane» singer spoke with ET's Rachel Smith at the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville, where Bentley was bestowed with his very own star.It's quite an honor, for sure, but it's possible that Bentley's three young children — Knox, Jordan and Evie — get an even bigger thrill listening to the judge talk the talk, literally.Like with any good conversation centered around country music, it was only a matter of time until Bryan's name came into the conversation. And when it did, it prompted Bentley to share a couple of reasons why Bryan's one of the good guys.«We went fishing a couple of days ago,» Bentley revealed.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Bridgerton” Season 2 was viewed for 193 million hours over its debut weekend, per Netflix’s newly released Top 10 rankings for the week of March 21-27. That impressive three-day viewership is a record-breaker, as “Bridgerton” Season 2 is now the most-watched Netflix English-language TV title in its premiere weekend in the streamer’s history.Naturally, the second season of “Bridgerton” landed in the No.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDocuseries “Bad Vegan” debuted on Netflix’s Top 10 list of English-language TV series at No. 5, with 27 million hours of the show viewed in the first five days after its March 16 launch. On the film side, “The Adam Project” maintained its hold as the No.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNBC’s “American Song Contest” series premiere was topped by a new episode of ABC’s “American Idol” Monday, according to early Nielsen data.The two-hour debut of NBC’s U.S. adaptation of the European mega hit “Eurovision Song Contest” averaged a 0.5 rating among adults 18-49 and 2.892 million viewers while airing live from 8-10 p.m., per Nielsen’s fast-affiliate ratings. Meanwhile, “Idol” averaged a 0.7 key demo rating and 5.1465 million viewers during that same window.“American Song Contest” is a live show for the East Coast, but airs tape delayed for the West Coast.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterTyler Perry’s “The Oval” and “Sistas” have been renewed for a fourth and fifth season, respectively, at BET.Production on the new seasons of both series is set to start at Tyler Perry Studios this spring.Executive produced, directed and written by Perry, “The Oval” Season 3 averaged 1.3 million total viewers per episode in Live + 3 Day data from Nielsen, and “Sistas” Season 4 averaged 1.6 million across BET and BET Her.“Tyler Perry’s The Oval” lifts the veil of what can happen when the leader of the free world, his wife, and his family are crazed maniacs. The series also highlights the personal side and everyday lives of the staff who run the inner workings of the nation’s most iconic residence.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe series premiere of NBC’s Renée Zellweger-led limited series “The Thing About Pam” has increased its key demo rating by nearly 400% when counting a week’s worth of delayed and digital viewing, Variety has learned exclusively.The debut episode of the Blumhouse Television-produced show, which aired at 10 p.m. on March 8, initially managed a 0.4 rating among adults 18-49 and 2.9 million total viewers in Live + Same Day Nielsen data.When adding in seven days of delayed viewing across linear and DVR, plus digital platforms Hulu, NBC.com, the NBC app and Peacock, “The Thing About Pam” series premiere jumped to a 1.93 demo rating (up 387%) and 8.7 million viewers (+205%).From the initial live + same day viewing, the first episode is up 387% in the demo (0.40 vs.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNetflix’s “Inventing Anna” jumped to No. 1 on Nielsen’s Top 10 streaming rankings in its second week after launching on Netflix, almost tripling its audience to 3.3 billion minutes watched during the week of Feb.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAmazon has closed its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM first announced last May, the companies said Thursday.Per Amazon, “The storied, nearly century-old studio—with more than 4,000 film titles, 17,000 TV episodes, 180 Academy Awards, and 100 Emmy Awards—will complement Prime Video and Amazon Studios’ work in delivering a diverse offering of entertainment choices to customers.”The completion of the transaction comes two days after the Amazon-MGM deal received clearance from the European Union’s antitrust regulator, which “unconditionally” approved Amazon’s proposed acquisition of MGM, in part because “MGM’s content cannot be considered as must-have.” The European Commission, in its antitrust review, found that the overlaps between the Amazon and MGM businesses are “limited.” At that time, the deal was still pending approval by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which had been given a mid-March deadline by Amazon to issue a decision on approval of the transaction, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“The Adam Project” and “Pieces of Her” topped Netflix’s lists of English-language film and TV series for the week of March 7, when the fifth and final season of “The Last Kingdom” was viewed for 63.5 million hours in its first five days after launch.Debuting March 11, the Ryan Reynolds-led flick drew 92.43 million hours viewed in just its first two days on the platform. Meanwhile, “Pieces of Her,” which premiered Season 1 March 4, was the No.