National

A quirk of the shutdown era, going back to March, has been the resurgence of evening news shows.

The intrigue: With no Olympics, and "60 Minutes" and other shows in summer reruns, ABC's "World News Tonight with David Muir" — for weeks — has been the most watched show on all of television.

"NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt" also has at times averaged more viewers than any program in prime time TV, AP reported from Nielsen data.

This isn't a chart of news shows — this is a chart of all TV:

Graphic: Van Scott/ABC News. Source: Nielsen total viewers, July 2 to July 29 (Total Day and Live + Same Day data stream)

David Muir is the most-watched man in summer TV

The resurgence of evening news has been a quirk of the shutdown era.

Media

Television ratings

A quirk of the shutdown era, going <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="back to March" data-vars-click-url="https://link.axios.com/click/21089526.341507/aHR0cHM6Ly92YXJpZXR5LmNvbS8yMDIwL3R2L2ZlYXR1cmVzL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLWV2ZW5pbmctbmV3cy1kYXZpZC1tdWlyLWxlc3Rlci1ob2x0LW5vcmFoLW9kb25uZWxsLTEyMzQ1ODA1OTQvP3V0bV9zb3VyY2U9bmV3c2xldHRlciZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj1uZXdzbGV0dGVyX2F4aW9zYW0mc3RyZWFtPXRvcA/5d8a19e2fbd297461c3ce0b1B7d103b62" data-vars-content-id="1a8fdaca-004f-4c6e-a34b-59f37a85b598" data-vars-headline="David Muir is the most-watched man in summer TV" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://link.axios.com/click/21089526.341507/aHR0cHM6Ly92YXJpZXR5LmNvbS8yMDIwL3R2L2ZlYXR1cmVzL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLWV2ZW5pbmctbmV3cy1kYXZpZC1tdWlyLWxlc3Rlci1ob2x0LW5vcmFoLW9kb25uZWxsLTEyMzQ1ODA1OTQvP3V0bV9zb3VyY2U9bmV3c2xldHRlciZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj1uZXdzbGV0dGVyX2F4aW9zYW0mc3RyZWFtPXRvcA/5d8a19e2fbd297461c3ce0b1B7d103b62" target="_blank">back to March</a>, has been the resurgence of evening news shows.The intrigue: With no Olympics, and &quot;60 Minutes&quot; and other shows in summer reruns, ABC&#x27;s &quot;World News Tonight with David Muir&quot; — for weeks — has been the most watched show on all of television.

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

David Muir is the most-watched man in summer TV

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