After the launch of Saturday Night Live UK, industry observers watched the ratings closely to see how the iconic sketch format would translate to a new audience. Now four episodes in, a clearer performance trend is beginning to emerge. As the show heads into a one-week hiatus, some have pointed to signs of ratings struggles. However, industry trades like Deadline are framing the trajectory differently.
Disney and ABC spent much of this week trying to trumpet the big Jimmy Kimmel return to late-night television (after the host spread misinformation about the Charlie Kirk tragedy) as a ratings comeback story. On paper, the numbers for his first night back looked like a victory: roughly 6.3 million viewers tuned in on September 23rd, marking his strongest performance in over a decade. But the spike didn’t last.
The largest affiliate blackout in modern television history has come to an end. Nexstar Media Group, the final holdout in a weeks-long revolt against Jimmy Kimmel Live!, has announced it will restore the late-night program to its ABC stations nationwide. The decision follows Sinclair Broadcasting’s earlier retreat, leaving Disney and Jimmy Kimmel with an unchallenged victory.
Disney/ABC has leverage through its private affiliation contracts (including renewal, termination for breach, and compensation mechanics) in the past, but U.S. rules and long-standing FCC guidance make punitive withholding of other ABC shows a legally risky move.
For weeks, the battle between ABC affiliates and Disney over Jimmy Kimmel Live! has dominated the media landscape. Today, that standoff cracked. Sinclair Broadcasting, one of the largest owners of ABC affiliate stations in the United States, has reversed course and returned Kimmel to the airwaves.
Hollywood celebrities love charity… until it costs them something that goes beyond their abundant money. This was proven at the 2025 Emmys when a gag by comedian Nate Bargatze exposed the selfishness of Hollywood celebrities, who siphoned $100,000 away from a children’s charity with their longwinded self-indulgent acceptance speeches.
Disney wasted no time blasting out the news: Jimmy Kimmel Live! came back with a ratings bang, drawing 6.3 million viewers for its first episode after suspension. To ABC executives, that number was supposed to send a message — Kimmel still matters. On the surface, it’s an impressive total, especially given the fact that major affiliate groups Nexstar and Sinclair continue to preempt his show. Disney’s talking point is clear: if Kimmel can post these numbers while blacked out in dozens of markets, then he must be indispensable to late-night television.
But the reality is more complicated, and far less flattering.
A coalition of Disney shareholders—including activist groups like the American Federation of Teachers and Reporters Without Borders—are demanding internal records from Disney regarding the 6-day suspension of Jimmy Kimmel. They claim there’s a “credible basis” to suspect the company’s board violated its fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, and good faith by pulling the late-night host after his inflammatory false comments about the Charlie Kirk tragedy.
On its face, that sounds serious. Breaching fiduciary duty is the kind of allegation you’d expect in a corporate scandal or a hostile takeover. But applied to Kimmel? The argument collapses under even the slightest scrutiny.
When Jimmy Kimmel returned to ABC after his suspension, he stood on stage crying, clarifying, and railing against President Trump and the FCC. But one thing was conspicuously absent: a real apology. And now Nexstar Media Group, one of the largest owners of ABC affiliates in the country, has made its position crystal clear: Kimmel will not be returning to their airwaves any time soon.
Apple TV+ has canceled release of its controversial series The Savant and indefinitely postponed the show. It’s a series that many conservatives argue was designed to vilify right-leaning Americans at a tense time in our nation.
When That Park Place first reported in September that the cost of the short-lived Disney Star Wars show The Acolyte’s had ballooned past $230 million according to U.K. tax filings, many readers wondered just how high the tab really climbed. Now we have the answer.
Roseanne Barr isn’t pulling punches when it comes to ABC’s decision to reinstate Jimmy Kimmel after his suspension. In a new interview, Barr blasted the network for what she calls a glaring “double standard,” comparing her own cancellation to Kimmel’s slap-on-the-wrist treatment.
On the night Jimmy Kimmel returned to Jimmy Kimmel Live! after his suspension, he delivered a tearful, defiant monologue. He railed against President Donald Trump, mocked FCC Chair Brendan Carr, and declared that attempts to silence him amounted to censorship and an assault on free speech. But there was a glaring omission in this Jimmy Kimmel free speech sermon — the biggest censorship bombshell of the year had dropped the very same day, and he said nothing about it.