Entertainment
Jimmy Kimmel’s ratings jumped to their highest in years with his return to ABC’s airwaves
The much-anticipated episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” following the comedian’s return from his suspension drew a broadcast audience about four times larger than average, according to Nielsen ratings data. This was despite the late-night show being preempted by about a quarter of all ABC affiliate TV stations in the U.S.
Tuesday’s show drew an estimated 6.26 million total broadcast viewers, Disney said in a news release Wednesday, per numbers compiled by Nielsen, an audience measurement firm. The data does not include those who watched the episode on streaming platforms.
For comparison, according to numbers provided to CBS News by a Disney spokesperson, Kimmel’s show averaged 1.42 million broadcast viewers during its 2024-25 season — less than a quarter of what it saw on Tuesday night.
Tuesday’s broadcast also drew a 0.87 rating in the coveted demographic of adults ages 18 to 49, Disney said, the highest for a single episode of Kimmel’s show since March 2015. The show averaged a 0.13 rating for that age group last season, Disney said.
Kimmel’s monologue also drew more than 26 million views on YouTube and other social platforms, according to Disney, which owns ABC. In it, he showed a video clip of President Trump criticizing the show, saying it “had no ratings.”
The host responded: “Well, I do tonight.”
The late-night show was temporarily preempted last week following comments Kimmel made during a Sept. 15 monologue regarding the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said at the time.
In a Sept. 17 interview, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr called Kimmel’s remarks “some of the sickest conduct possible,” and said there was a “path forward for suspension over this.” Within hours of Carr’s comments, two major station owners, Nexstar and Sinclair, announced they were preempting Kimmel’s show indefinitely from their affiliates, while ABC also announced that it was “indefinitely” suspending the show.
Nexstar has a deal pending to purchase fellow station operator Tegna for $6.2 billion, and needs the FCC’s approval for it to go through.
While ABC announced Monday that it had made the decision to bring Kimmel back to the airwaves, both Nexstar and Sinclair said this week that the show will continue to be preempted indefinitely.
Nexstar said it is “continuing to evaluate the status” of the show. It operates 33 ABC affiliates, while Sinclair runs 38 ABC stations. According to Disney, the two media companies account for ABC stations in about 23% of the U.S. market, including in large cities such as Nashville and Seattle.
In his monologue Tuesday, while he did not issue a blanket apology over his comments, Kimmel said that “it’s important to me as a human, and that is, you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”
In a Sept. 17 Truth Social post following Kimmel’s suspension, Mr. Trump — who has railed against late-night hosts for years going back to his first administration, and has specifically criticized their ratings — wrote on Truth Social that “[t]he ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED.”
Before the show aired Tuesday, Mr. Trump again took to social media to write that “I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back. The White House was told by ABC that his Show was cancelled!”
contributed to this report.
Entertainment
Selena Gomez hits salon before ringing into the New Year
Selena Gomez is treating herself to a self care routine ahead of welcoming the New Year.
The Only Murders in the Building star took a quick trip to a tanning salon over the weekend.
On Saturday, December 27, she was spotted visiting Palm Beach Tan in Beverly Hills, California.
As per photos circulating over social media, the 33-year-old singer and actress looked relaxed and low-key as she left the popular salon.
For the casual outing, the Calm Down songstress was dressed casually in a white tank top, black sweatpants, and some fuzzy slippers.
She accessorised her look with a pair of sunglasses and some plum-colored over-the-ear wireless headphones.
The Lose You to Love Me singer was also seen carrying her iPhone and a fluffy jacket.
Prior to her latest sighting, Gomez, who is married to music producer Benny Blanco, was seen out on Christmas Eve.
She was spotted in a black ensemble as she visited a dermatology office in the same area.
Earlier in December, she and her new husband celebrated decorating their first Christmas tree together as a married couple.
They decorated the festive-staple with various ornaments and recorded the process to share it with their admirers.
Entertainment
Book excerpt: “Guilty by Definition” by Susie Dent
Sourcebooks Landmark
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Susie Dent’s debut novel, “Guilty by Definition” (Sourcebooks Landmark), introduces a dictionary editor at Oxford who begins receiving strange messages tied to her sister’s long-ago disappearance.
The lexicographer-turned-sleuth follows clues that draw her into literary puzzles – and unresolved parts of her past.
Read an excerpt below.
“Guilty by Definition” by Susie Dent
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Chapter 3
eidolon, noun (seventeenth century):
a spirit, phantom, or apparition
Martha turned and fled through the crowd, down the wide flight of stone steps, and out into Beaumont Street, looking at nothing but the ground. Three corners later, she found a side road and turned into it. She put her back against the wall and tried to breathe.
She had known there would be ghosts in Oxford. She wasn’t afraid of any headless horsemen or nuns haunting the local ruins; it was Charlie, always Charlie she was afraid would find her. There had been times in the first year after her sister’s disappearance when Martha’s heart would stop as she spotted her through the crowd: the long blond hair, the shapeless cardigan draped over a thin cotton dress. She’d hear a laugh, throaty and sudden, or catch a movement, a walk, a twist in the shoulders, and she’d be certain. Just for a moment. Then the illusion would shatter, and the person she knew to be her sister would resolve into a stranger.
As the years passed, so the ghost of Charlie aged. Now it was women in their midthirties who made Martha stop dead in the streets. In Berlin, once a month perhaps, she’d felt that same flickering certainty before realizing the woman with a child on her lap as she drank a coffee at a sidewalk café was not her sister, just an echo of Martha’s own image of who Charlie might be now, thirteen years after fleeing Oxford and her family.
Martha pressed her palm against the wall behind her. She reminded herself of her therapist’s mantra for the moments when she was in danger of being overwhelmed. What can you see now? The shiny cobbles of the side street, the white brick of the wall opposite. What can you feel? The bricks under my fingers, a breeze ruffling my hair. What can you smell? Cooking oil, the Black Opium perfume I put on this morning.
Her breathing slowed.
She pulled the letter out of her bag again and stared at it. Could it be from Charlie? Impossible. What could this Chorus know? Should she burn it? Throw it in the river? Take it to the police?
Ah, the police. She heard the scrape of her mother’s chair on the kitchen floor as she leaped up at the sound of the doorbell. They had found Charlie’s bike not far from the ring road. Did she hitchhike? How was her PhD going? Martha couldn’t remember their faces, just their hands around tea mugs as they sat at the table, the low rumble of their voices as they talked about stress and pressure. Most runaways come back in time, they’d said. They left literature, helpline numbers, and world-weary sympathy behind them.
Martha realized she was at her own front door. Her body had picked her up and carried her here through the gathering dark. She looked up. All the lights were off; her father must be in bed.
Charlie had been living here when she went missing, taking advantage of the space, their mum’s cooking, and the glow of parental approval while she slogged through her PhD. Martha had just left for university and was starting to experiment with life out of Charlie’s orbit.
As she put her key in the lock, she remembered Alex’s shadow moving across the folded letter at the museum. Now it was Charlie’s. Always here: the shadows of the past thrown against the walls and floors. She pushed open the door….
She took the letter out again and laid it on the kitchen counter while the kettle boiled.
Truth will come to light. Murder cannot be hid long.
Excerpted from “Guilty by Definition” by Susie Dent. Copyright © 2024, 2025 by Susie Dent. Reprinted by permission of Sourcebooks Landmark, an imprint of Sourcebooks.
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“Guilty by Definition” by Susie Dent
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Entertainment
Kylie Jenner’s mom Kris gives strong approval to Timothee Chalamet
Timothee Chalamet and Kylie Jenner have her mom, Kris Jenner’s, blessings for their relationship as she publicly showed him support.
The 70-year-old matriarch has also turned into a fan of the award-winning actor and shared a glowing review of his new release, Marty Supreme.
The Kardashians star posted a picture of a red merch jacket, which she had been gifted, and wrote, “greatest movie ever,” tagging the Dune actor, 30.
Kris is not the first of the Kardashian-Jenners to sport the Marty Supreme jacket, but previously, Kendall Jenner, their friends, Hailey and Justin Bieber, as well as Kylie herself, have all worn the movie merch out in public.
The momager’s supportive message came after the Beautiful Boy star celebrated Christmas with her girlfriend’s family.
In the Khy founder’s social media posts, Timothee’s name was included in the gingerbread family house they had created.
A Complete Unknown star and Kylie have been together for more than two years, and insiders have shared that their families have intermingled and all of them really like spending time together.
Timothee has reportedly gotten close to Kylie’s kids – Stormi and Aire, whom she shares with ex Travis Scott, and the kids like to hang around the Oscar contender.
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