
Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks on Tuesday proved less “spectacular” than last year, drawing in nearly 600,000 fewer linear viewers.
Still, NBC comfortably topped broadcast’s primetime outright, besting the rest of its Big 4 competition combined in the advertiser-sought 18-49 demographic. Of course, everything else on those other channels was a rerun, which diminishes that claim quite a bit.
On the bright side, this show was the second-highest-rated Macy’s fireworks special in four years, and the 2017 TV event grew all the way to its big finish.
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NBC was first in ratings with a 1.2 rating/6 share in the key demo and in total viewers with an average of 6 million, according to preliminary numbers. From 8 to 10 p.m., the live run of “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular” posted a 1.3/7 and 6.4 million viewers. An encore started at 10 o’clock.
In the main demo, the original boom-boom bang-bang special slipped 13 percent versus 2016.
CBS, ABC and Telemundo tied for second in ratings, each with a 0.4/2. CBS was second in total viewers with 4.9 million, ABC was third with 1.9 million, and Telemundo was fifth with 1.014 million.
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Fox and Univision tied for was fifth in ratings, both with a 0.3/2. Fox was fourth in total viewers with 1.3 million, Univision was sixth with 957,000.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.2/1 and in viewers with 619,000.
Happy 4th of July: 4th Franchise Movies Ranked From Worst to Best, Including 'Toy Story 4' (Photos)
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Happy 4th of July holiday! There are few things more patriotic than pairing grilled food and movie franchises with at least four installments. But where to start? Find out with us as we celebrate Independence Day by counting down the worst and best "fourth" franchise films.
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Universal
33. "Jaws IV: The Revenge" (1987)
"I have never seen it ('Jaws 4') but by all accounts it is terrible," star Michael Caine said about the movie. "However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."
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20th Century Fox
32. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (2009)
Thank the heavens that "Logan" and "Deadpool" happened.
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Wikimedia Commons
31. "Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol" (1987)
Did you know the Razzies had a "Worst Original Song" category? The one from this film was Brian Wilson's "Let's Go to Heaven in My Car."
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New Line Cineams
30. "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master" (1988)
This sequel is easily confused with the third, far superior film, "Dream Warriors."
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Warner Bros.
29. "Superman IV: The Quest For Peace" (1987)
"Uh, No pain, no gain?" is our kryptonite.
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Warner Bros.
28. "Batman & Robin" (1997)
Not to sound cold, but between bat nipples, that whole Poison Ivy-Bane thing, and Mr. Freeze's puns, they should've put this movie... on ice.
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Paramount
27. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008)
This is the movie that got "Jump the Shark" replaced with "Nuke the Fridge."
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Paramount
26. "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter" (1984)
"The Final Chapter." That's hilarious.
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Fox
25. "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers" (1988)
Skip this and watch the excellent 2018 sequel instead.
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Warner Bros.
24. "Sudden Impact" (1983)
This movie is, uh, not great. No, not even "Go ahead, make my day."
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Paramount
23. "Transformers: Age of Extinction" (2014)
This is the "Transformers" movie with dinosaurs/dinofours.
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20th Century Fox
22. "Alien Resurrection" (1997)
It's probably aged better than a lot of the other fourth films, but "Resurrection" suffers from a thin plot and an obvious attempt to keep a franchise alive.
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Warner Bros.
21. "Terminator Salvation" (2009)
The only good thing that came out of "Salvation" was Christian Bale's freakout.
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Warner Bros.
20. "Vegas Vacation" (1997)
Why would we watch "Vegas Vacation" when "Christmas" and the original exist?
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Dreamworks
19. "Shrek Forever After" (2010)
It's "Shrek FORever After." Like "FOURever." Get it? GET IT?
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Lionsgate
18. "Saw IV" (2007)
Might as well have been "Saw IV: The Final Chapter."
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20th Century Fox
17. "Live Free or Die Hard" (2007)
A PG-13 John McClane film with boring, blood-free action was bad, but the real cardinal sin was censoring the f-word out of McClane's iconic catch phrase. That really happened! Yippie-ki-boooo.
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Universal Pictures
16. "Bourne Legacy" (2012)
Remember when Jeremy Renner starred in a Bourne film? No? Then I guess you can't tell us where they keep the chems.
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15. "Lethal Weapon IV" (1998)
Fun yes, and Jet Li is awesome. But, by this point, the franchise was getting too old for this sh--.
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Universal Pictures
14. "Bride of Chucky" (1998)
One of Jennifer Tilly's best roles, without a doubt.
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13. Men in Black International (2019)
The soft-reboot starring Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth basically James-Bonds the franchise. The film is actually delightful, if also kinda forgettable. (No, that's not a neuralizer joke.)
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Eon Productions
12. "Thunderball" (1965)
But what if James Bond went underwater?
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Dimension Films
11. "Scream 4" (2011)
It's easily a cash grab, but it's one of the most fun horror movies to come out in recent years and is way better than it has any right to be.
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Paramount
10. "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" (2011)
We thought we'd get bored of watching Tom Cruise jump out of things. We were wrong.
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20th Century Fox
9. "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" (1972)
The chilling, highly topical final speech by Roddy McDowell's Caesar alone qualifies this underrated gem for cinematic immortality. Especially the unrated version.
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YouTube
8. "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986)
They made us really care about those whales in this fish out of water sci-fi.
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Universal Pictures
7. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (2005)
The third and last films in the franchise are probably the best in terms of quality and how successfully it adapted the source material... but "Goblet of Fire" killed off Robert Pattinson and broke our hearts.
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6. "The First Purge" (2008)
The series went prequel to show how the "murder is legal once a year" dystopia came to be, but that doesn't mean it was out of ideas.
Come for the extremely unambiguous politics, stay for the franchise's hands-down best action scenes.A nation reborn!
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Warner Bros.
5. "Fast & Furious" (2009)
You have this film to thank for turning a disjointed (but still awesome) series of car-based action films into what is arguably a superhero franchise. NOT a complaint. (Also, as always, R.I.P. Paul Walker.)
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MGM
4. "Rocky IV" (1985)
Say what you will, but more than 30 years later, Rocky vs. the Russians might be the most quintessentially '80s concept ever put to film, and it hasn't been topped since.
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3. "Toy Story 4" (2019)
We'll let TheWrap's review speak for itself:
"There's adventure and growth and the subtlest brands of messaging and metaphors that current family films can offer... 'Toy Story 4' is, in its way, as much of a game-changer as 'Avengers: Endgame.'"
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Lucasfilm
2. "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" (1977)
Technically, this is the first "Star Wars" movie made, so it can't possibly be number one on our "fourth movies" list. But because George Lucas gave us a sequential order that we have to stick by, it gets the number 2 spot.
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Warner Bros.
1. "Mad Max Fury Road" (2015)
George Miller's "Mad Max: Fury Road" managed to reboot a dead franchise, making it explosively modern and fresh, and it stands as one of the best action movies of the 21st Century. It lives. It dies. It lives again. Shiny and chrome.
From “Men in Black: International” to “Mad Max: Fury Road,” ring in Independence Day with the best (and worst) fourth installments
Happy 4th of July holiday! There are few things more patriotic than pairing grilled food and movie franchises with at least four installments. But where to start? Find out with us as we celebrate Independence Day by counting down the worst and best "fourth" franchise films.
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