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November 21, 2016 8:39am PT by Michael O’Connell

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Down from a week ago, the game is still up from the comparable 2015 outing.

Compared to the much-improved showing a week earlier, Sunday Night Football was off considerably on NBC — though it still easily led the night.

With an average 11.9 overnight rating among households, the Packers-Redskins game is on track to lead the night by all measures. And while improved from the year-ago Sunday match-up for the weekend, it was down 17 percent from last week.

Elsewhere, the American Music Awards averaged a 2.4 rating among adults 18-49 and 8.2 million viewers. The show helped ABC grab the No. 2 slot for the night but was down considerably from a year ago. (For what it’s worth, the AMAs suffered a similar drop after the last election cycle.)

CBS scores are subject to adjustment on account of NFL overrun of its own. With some shifts still to come, 60 Minutes averaged a 2.1 rating among adults 18-49. NCIS: Los Angeles followed a 1.3 rating in the key demo — with Madam Secretary (0.8 adults) and Elementary (0.7 adults) following.

Fox offered up two episodes of Bob’s Burgers on Sunday, averaging a respective 1.0 and 1.2 rating among adults 18-49 on either side of a new episode of The Simpsons. Family Guy matched The Simpsons as Fox’s top performer of the night with a 1.3 live-plus-same day rating among adults 18-49. The Last Man on Earth fetched a 0.9 rating in the key demo.

TV Ratings

November 21, 2016 6:45am PT by Lesley Goldberg

Jim Cheung/Marvel

‘The Inhumans’

Disney-ABC Television Group president Ben Sherwood believes everybody wins as the network launches an innovative programming alternative for its Marvel drama, which will first hit large-screen theaters before airing on TV.

With networks seeking to cut through the clutter of a television landscape projected to soon hit 500 original series, ABC has found a unique strategy: Go big. Really big.

On Nov. 14, the Disney-owned network said its straight-to-series order for Marvel drama The Inhumans will include a debut in more than 1,000 Imax theaters in 74 countries. The first two of the eight-episode series — about a race of superhuman heroes (among the more popular characters in the Marvel universe) — will run for two weeks starting Labor Day 2017 before airing as part of ABC’s fall lineup. 

The deal marks the first time a TV series will have its premiere on the big screen. And it gives ABC a way to “event-ize” Inhumans in the crowded fall TV space, where launching a show is a multimillion-dollar investment. “We think this is a quadruple win — a win for Imax, a win for Marvel, a win for ABC Studios and a win for ABC to launch a show in an innovative way and get attention,” Disney-ABC Television Group president Ben Sherwood tells THR. The Imax pact is the first of what Sherwood hopes will be several innovative ways to launch programming.

As part of the agreement, the first two episodes will be shot entirely with Imax cameras, with subsequent action scenes — some of which will be set on the moon — also filmed using the technology. Sources say Imax is paying for the first two episodes (ABC won’t reveal the budget; the show hasn’t begun casting), offsetting the hefty costs associated with the pilot and helping to make the deal more attractive to producers ABC Studios and Marvel Television. ABC will then take the Imax episodes and expand them with additional content for broadcast. ABC, Imax and Marvel will each mount tailored marketing campaigns for Inhumans, what analysts see as a can’t-miss cross-platform push.

Imax, which approached Marvel with the idea, is eyeing additional TV releases after a weeklong Game of Thrones stunt promoting the season-five trailer grossed $2 million in 2015. CEO Richard Gelfond sees Inhumans as an opportunity to diversify during the late-summer period typically devoid of film hits, with the ABC series airing between Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok. “We get to break out of our distribution niche and participate in revenue from theatrical and TV releases,” he says.

Analysts regard the deal as potentially game-changing. “It looks like an interesting new way of breaking through clutter, various media options and platforms that people have,” says Henry Schafer, executive vp at brand specialist Q Scores. “This is an innovative way of doing that.”

ABC also hopes that Inhumans — which is not a spinoff of the network’s Agents of SHIELD and does not replace the planned feature film — will have a halo effect on the veteran Marvel drama as well. The network hopes fanboys flock to see Inhumans in theaters and follow the show to the network, bringing in new viewers who may not already be watching SHIELD (provided the latter returns for a fifth season next fall.)

A version of this story first appeared in the Dec. 2 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

November 20, 2016 10:00pm PT by Josh Wigler

Gene Page/AMC

Maggie and Sasha stand in the spotlight, ready to avenge their fallen loved ones.

[Warning: This story contains spoilers through season seven, episode five of AMC’s The Walking Dead.]

If Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green) can pull themselves together in the aftermath of Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Abraham’s (Michael Cudlitz) brutal deaths, then there’s hope for the rest of the oppressed men, women and children living under Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) rule.

The latest episode of Walking Dead, called “Go Getters,” sees the action shift away from Alexandria, the Sanctuary and the Kingdom to focus on another one of the show’s many communities: the Hilltop, one of the most iconic locations from the comic books. Here, Maggie and Sasha nurse their broken hearts and fight for their right to keep moving forward; not an easy task with the cowardly Gregory (Xander Berkeley) in charge.

Here’s how the episode played out, in seven key moments:

1. Return to the Hilltop

The episode begins with Maggie waking up, finally conscious for the first time in days. Doctor Carson (R. Keith Harris) assures Maggie that she hasn’t lost her baby, and she won’t if she takes it easy and stays at the Hilltop. Now that she’s back on her feet, Maggie joins Sasha by Glenn and Abraham’s burial sites, solidifying their desire to stay at the Hilltop. There’s just one problem: Gregory wants them gone. He’s furious that Rick (Andrew Lincoln) couldn’t handle the Saviors, and thinks Maggie and Sasha are only going to cause more trouble. Since he’s “a good guy,” Gregory allows Maggie and Sasha to spend one last night in the community before hitting the road in the morning.

2. Battle at the Hilltop

Night falls, and Sasha and Maggie quickly prove their worth to the Hilltop. Alongside fellow ass-kicker Jesus (Tom Payne), the three seasoned zombie killers join together to battle back a walker assault on the Hilltop. It’s an unusually chaotic scene: an armored car sits in the center of the compound blasting music, as the dead pour in through the Hilltop’s open gates. But Sasha and Jesus’ hand-to-hand combat skills, combined with Maggie using a tractor to crush the armored car, are more than enough to win the day.

3. The New Negan

The next morning, Negan’s lieutenant Simon (Steven Ogg) and several Saviors show up at the Hilltop. Simon takes Gregory aside for a very tense conversation. He owns responsibility for the previous night’s assault on the Hilltop, which was meant to remind Gregory about the “service” the Saviors provide. Simon identifies himself as Gregory’s very own Negan, and Gregory makes tribute to the man by offering him a secret stash of booze — just as it appeared that Gregory was about to surrender Maggie and Sasha instead.

4. The New Rhee

Of course, Gregory wasn’t acting out of kindness. He protected Maggie and Sasha out of self-interest, as he would have been the first person Simon killed on learning about the two Alexandrians in the Hilltop’s midst. Jesus finally convinces Gregory to let Maggie and Sasha stay at the Hilltop, but it’s not all water under the bridge. Maggie punches Gregory across the face, and makes her new name and purpose heard loud and clear: “This is our home now, so you’ll learn to start calling me by my name. Not Marsha, not dear, not honey. Maggie — Maggie Rhee.” It’s a powerful moment for the widowed heroine, someone Jesus later identifies as a person who could one day lead the Hilltop.

5. The New Ford

Like Maggie, Sasha’s embodying the spirit of her departed loved one, specifically Abraham’s protective and proactive nature. She’s not only keeping a watchful eye on Maggie, but also making plans to strike back against Negan: Sasha commands Jesus to follow the Saviors back to their compound, so they can find out how to locate Negan if needed. What’s more, Sasha makes Jesus promise to keep the plan between them for now — no Gregory, obviously, but also no Maggie. As if Sasha’s new status as a battle commander wasn’t already obvious at that point, she’s seen later in the episode sharpening a knife and smoking Abraham’s last remaining cigar. One look at Sasha in this moment, and it’s clear: this is a person who is ready for war.

6. The Road to the Hilltop

Elsewhere in the episode, Carl (Chandler Riggs) and Enid (Katelyn Nacon) escape Alexandria and head for the Hilltop. Enid wants to comfort Maggie in her time of need, and Carl wants to take a shot at Negan. One car accident and a rollerskating sojourn later, Carl and Enid reach the Hilltop, but Negan’s nowhere in sight — only his men and their trucks. Carl and Enid kiss and part ways, Enid determined to stay with Maggie, and Carl with his one good eye on another plan.

7. The Road Ahead

The episode ends with two different characters on a collision course with Negan: Jesus and Carl. As promised, Jesus heads out of the Hilltop and hops in the back of a Savior truck headed for Negan’s compound. He’s not the only one there, either. Carl pokes his head out from the back of the truck, clearly with the same goal as Jesus in mind. Wait until Rick hears about this one…

Follow THR.com/WalkingDead for news, interviews and more from season seven.