News Broadcasting
‘Will and Grace’ kicks off 2006 with live episode
MUMBAI: US broadcaster NBC’s sitcom Will and Grace will welcome 2006 with the second live episode of its eighth and final season on 12 January 2006. In India the show airs on Zee Cafe.
As he did with the season premiere, multiple Emmy-winning director James Burrows will direct the live episode, which is only the series’ second in its entire run. The first live episode was done in September. Like the first time, two versions will be telecast, one live for the US East Coast and one for the West Coast, resulting in different jokes to be used in each separate broadcast.
In the episode Karen played by Megan Mullally throws a birthday party – and ends up staying in the bathroom with her friends for virtually the entire episode.
In the storyline, all of New York’s high society has been invited to Karen’s birthday party, but the affair disintegrates when Will (Eric McCormack), Grace (Debra Messing) and Jack (Sean Hayes) all embarrass themselves and wind up crammed together in Karen’s bathroom with the birthday girl.
NBC adds that the first time a live episode for the show was done, it drew a 4.4 rating and 11 share among adults18 to 49 years and 9.8 million viewers overall. It was also the highest Will & Grace rating in February 2005.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
