Obama Documentary Lifts MSNBC to Highest-Rated Friday Night Ever

4.2 million people tuned into MSNBC last Friday night between 10 p.m. ET and 11:40 p.m. ET for the premiere of the Barack Obama documentary “The Way I See It,” handing the cable news network its highest-rated Friday night ever.

MSNBC’s premiere of the film about the former president also propelled it above Fox News and CNN, according to Nielsen Media Research ratings data, placing it in the No. 2 spot in total viewers for Friday. It became MSNBC’s highest-rated non-news, non-live program ever.

In the advertiser-coveted age demographic of 25 to 54, “The Way I See It” brought in 613,000 average viewers in the time slot, too.

Also Read: NBC News Launches NBC News Studios to Produce Documentaries and Streaming Content

Demo ratings are big in cable news and from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. Friday, Fox News did still eke out the win: 627,000 average demo viewers watched Fox News while 505,000 average demo viewers watched MSNBC. Only an average of 410,000 demo viewers tuned into CNN for those two hours.

The documentary is the first project from NBC News Studios, which launched earlier this year, and was co-presented by Focus Features and MSNBC Films. It was directed by Dawn Porter and produced by Evan Hayes, Laura Dern and Jayme Lemons. The film looks behind the scenes at the presidencies of Obama, a Democrat, and Ronald Reagan, a Republican, showing their administrations and lives through the eyes of official White House photographer Pete Souza.

After a virtual private screening hosted by NBC News’ Nicolle Wallace, Porter said the Obamas became emotional watching the film: “It’s always really stressful when you show people who are in a movie the movie for the first time. This as you can imagine was particularly stressful. They laughed and cried. I saw the first lady lean over to the president many times and say, ‘Oh, remember that?’ It was just really, really, really special to see them and I do believe the president teared up a few times, too, which just was very cool.”

7 Stars Who Imagined Violence Against Barack Obama, Democrats (Photos)

While Kathy Griffin and NYC's Public Theater have been called out for imagining violent attacks on Donald Trump, conservative pundits and others made similar statements about Barack Obama and other Democrats during his presidency.
Fox/Twitter
Glenn Beck

In a 2009 Fox News broadcast, the conservative pundit joked about poisoning then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. During the bizarre skit, one of Beck's helpers attempted to sip a glass of red wine while wearing a mask of Pelosi's face. Beck then informs "Pelosi" that he slipped poison into her drink.

Also Read: Glenn Beck Doesn’t Regret ‘Jokes’ (video)
Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater

Minnesota's famed Guthrie Theater "assassinated" an Obama-like figure in its 2012 production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." Unlike the NYC Public Theater's Trump-themed assassination in 2017, this production saw no backlash or loss of corporate sponsorship.

Also Read: ‘Real Time’ Fact Check: How Liberals Really Reacted to Obama-Themed ‘Julius Caesar’
Joan Marcus
Shannon Richardson

Actress Shannon Richardson, who has appeared in "The Vampire Diaries" and "The Walking Dead," was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2014 for attempting to poison Barack Obama. According to CNN, Richardson mailed ricin-laced letters to Obama and several other politicians, because she was displeased with their stances on gun control.

Also Read: ‘Walking Dead’ Actress Who Sent Ricin to President Obama Gets 18 Years in Prison
CNN/Leslie Morris, Getty Images
Scott Stapp

The lead singer of Creed got himself in trouble in 2014 months after his release from a mental facility. According to 911 tapes obtained by TMZ, Stapp's then-wife told police that the rocker was in the middle of a psychotic episode and had threatened to kill President Obama. "He thinks they're trying to kill him, and he has a bunch of paperwork in his backpack that he's a CIA agent and he's supposed to assassinate Obama," she said. Stapp's episode later prompted a Secret Service investigation.
Engelke/Ullstein Bild/Getty Images/Billboard
Ted Nugent

To encourage a group of NRA convention attendees to vote for 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Nugent instructed them to "ride onto that battlefield and chop their heads off in November," the heads in question belonging to Democratic voters. At a 2007 concert, Nugent said Obama could "suck on [his] machine gun."

Also Read: Ted Nugent Promises to Stop ‘Hateful Rhetoric’ After Alexandria Shooting (Audio)
Getty Images
Joe Walsh

The former Illinois Congressman believed Barack Obama was responsible for the July 2016 shooting deaths of several Dallas police officers. He took to Twitter with a veiled threat on the then-president: "This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you."
Twitter
Donald Trump

At a North Carolina rally in August 2016, Trump suggested that his gun-toting supporters could prevent Hillary Clinton from taking office if they exercised their 2nd Amendment rights. He said, "[If Hillary Clinton] gets to pick...her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know."

Also Read: Donald Trump: ‘Second Amendment People’ Could Stop Hillary Clinton (Video)
Getty Images

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Remember Joe Walsh’s infamous “Watch out, Obama. Real America is coming after you” tweet?

While Kathy Griffin and NYC's Public Theater have been called out for imagining violent attacks on Donald Trump, conservative pundits and others made similar statements about Barack Obama and other Democrats during his presidency.

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7 Stars Who Imagined Violence Against Barack Obama, Democrats (Photos)

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