Jamie Foxx vampire movie Day Shift, in its second week of availability on Netflix, topped a subdued field on Nielsen’s streaming chart for the week of August 15-21.

While no title cracked the 1 billion mark in terms of minutes of viewing, total streaming continued its precedent-setting dominance as a portion of the overall viewing pie. In its monthly snapshot, The Gauge, Nielsen said streaming accounted for 35% of all viewing in August. It held an edge over broadcast and cable TV for the second straight month after having reached that tipping point in July for the first time in history. (See the full Gauge chart below.)

The weekly rankings were the first since April without a single title north of 1 billion. At 957 million minutes of viewing, Day Shift surpassed The Sandman (No. 2 with 946 million) and Stranger Things (in third with 919 million). Starring Jamie Foxx, Dave Franco and Snoop Dogg, Day Shift drew an audience that was 55% multicultural, Nielsen said, with 25% of it African-American, the biggest such share for any title this week.

Only a tiny fraction of House of the Dragon‘s premiere on HBO Max on August 21 got tallied because of the format of the Nielsen chart, which measures streaming from Monday through Sunday. That cutoff meant that only the three hours of streaming in the Eastern time zone were captured. Even so, the Game of Thrones prequel racked up 327 million minutes of viewing over that short period. In a release accompanying the numbers, Nielsen said it expects the show to “settle in as a regular over the coming weeks.”

Streaming numbers reflect viewing only via a TV screen for HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Prime Video and Apple TV+.

Aside from Bluey on Disney+, which finished No. 8, Netflix controlled the entire top 10. Newer entries included new seasons of coming-of-age drama Never Have I Ever and sports docuseries Untold. The latter featured a buzzy episode centering on the catfishing scandal involving former Notre Dame and NFL football player Manti Te’o.

Below is the full top 10. Unless otherwise noted, all titles are on Netflix.

Day Shift – film, 957 million minutes of viewing
The Sandman – 11 episodes, 946M min.
Stranger Things – 34 eps., 919M min.
Never Have I Ever – 30 eps., 883M min.
NCIS – 354 eps., 810M min.
Locke & Key – 28 eps., 776M min.
Grey’s Anatomy – 396 eps., 702M min.
Bluey (Disney+) – 112 eps., 681M min.
Untold – 7 eps., 630M min.
Virgin River – 42 eps., 629M min.

And here is the August snapshot from The Gauge:

HBO Max To Build ‘The Bridge’ In Hungary

HBO Max’s Hungarian arm will run a local version of Banijay survival format The Bridge. The format tasks bringing contestants together to build a 250-metre-long bridge to an island for the chance to win a large cash prize, and this latest deal marks its sixth international adaptation. Presented by Csaba Magyarósi, The Bridge Hungary is produced locally by Free Monkeys Production, based on the original Spanish format. Production took place neat Lake Belis in Romania, near the Hungarian border. Deadline understands it was given the greenlight before HBO Max stopped commissioning in the CEE region. Most production staff in Europe have now been let go, as Deadline revealed last month.

eOne Bolsters Canadian Non-Scripted

eOne has bolstered its non-scripted offering in Canada by signing a VP Development and promoting Scott Boyd to the same level. Christine Diakos joins in the newly-created post and will focus on the development, creation and pitching of non-scripted content, with a focus on lifestyle, reality and competition series. She joins from Big Coat Media, where she served as a supervising producer on Love It or List It, Love It or List It Vancouver and Jillian and Justin. Boyd, who joined eOne in 2017, will oversee factual, true crime, and docuseries content. Both report to Jocelyn Hamilton, President – Canada, Television. “Christine’s depth of experience in the lifestyle space will be a perfect complement to Scott’s expertise in factual,” said Hamilton.

Topic & AMC Networks Among Buyers Of Icelandic Drama ‘Blackport’

Blackport, a quirky Icelandic drama set in a small fishing village in the 1980s, is headed to the U.S. and Canada via streamer Topic. Distributor About Premium Content has also sold the show to SBS in Australia, AMC Networks International Southern Europe in Spain and Portugal, RTS in Switzerland and TG4 in Ireland, following pre-sales in several Scandinavian territories after its launch at MipTV. The eight-part series, from Gísli Örn Garðarsson (Ragnarok), Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (Trapped, Fortitude) and Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir (Prisoners & The Valhalla Murders), is produced by Vesturport and Turbine Studios for Arte in France and RÚV in Iceland. The Series Mania Grand Prize 2-2021 winner follows married couple Harpa and Grimur, who along with their friends build a small fishing empire thanks to the introduction of the fishing quota system in the country. But the struggle for power deeply corrupts the couple, resulting in a feud of jealousy, greed and betrayal.

Sons of Rigor Films and ScreeningRoom Announce Recipients Of Ukraine Film Grant

Sons of Rigor Films and ScreeningRoom have announced the four recipients of their Ukraine film grants. The four chosen projects are Mission 200 by Volodymyr Sydko, Listening to the World by Yelizaveta Smith, Company of Steel by Yuliia Hontaruk, and Christ is Risen by Volodymyr Yatsenko. Each successful project will receive a $5,000 grant, mentoring, and a one-year ScreeningRoom Pro account. Anna Machukh, head of the Ukraine Film Institute and a judge for the grant, said: “The Ukrainian film industry is going through a difficult time. The full-scale war unleashed by Russia affected all spheres of life without exception, including cinema. It is very important that Ukrainian filmmakers now receive support so that they can continue to shoot. After all, art is a mirror of the reality in which we live. And it is important to preserve it, not break it. Therefore, I am very glad that Ukrainian directors got such an opportunity, got a chance to be seen and heard, and I am very grateful for this.”

WildBrain To Launch New ‘Teletubbies’ Series On YouTube

Hot on the heels opf Netflix’s plan to bring back the Teletubbies, the British kids characters will be appearing in a new YouTube show. Teletubbies, Let’s Go! is a CG-animated preschool series produced by WildBrain Spark’s digital studio. It’s set to launch on the official Teletubbies youTube channel at the end of October, with new episodes appearing weekly. The series introduce a new generation of kids to Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa, and Po. Multiple new sun babies, reflecting the diversity of the Teletubbies’ audience, and new music will feature in every episode. WildBrain has also announced the third season of Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City, which will produced out of the Canadian company’s Vancouver studio. Season two of the show launches on Netflix on September 21, with several new buyers, including Kids Central in the U.S. and Sandbox Kids (UK, Ireland, US, Canada, France and Ukraine), attached.

Uncork’d Entertainment Buys Creature Feature ‘Croc!’ & Sci-Fi Action Flick (Exclusive)

Uncork’d Entertainment has bolstered by acquiring fun creature feature Croc! and sci-fi action film The Area 51 Incident. Croc! stars Mark Haldor, Sian Altman and Chrissie Wunna and follows the story of a group of killer crocodiles who crash a wedding. It’s from Jagged Edge Productions. The Area 51 Incident, from Dark Abyss Productions, stars Scott Jeffrey and Megan Purvis. The plot sees a wormhole hidden in Area 51 open, with alien invaders soon overrunning the government facility. A group of survivors take refuge in a nuclear bunker, but can they outlast the creatures before the military arrives?

Mark Miller, the prolific actor and screenwriter writer best known for Please Don’t Eat The Daisies and Guestward, Ho! has died. His daughter, actress Penelope Ann Miller, confirmed the news on Twitter. He was 97.

Miller portrayed college professor Jim Nash on Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, which ran from 1965-1967 and then in syndication. The NBC-MGM sitcom, which ran for 58 half-hour episodes, was loosely based on the theatrical film of the same name starring Doris Day and David Niven. The series did well initially, but its ratings took a hit in Season 2 when it was moved opposite The Jackie Gleason Show.

Miller had substantial runs on other big shows, most notably Desilu’s Guestward Ho! on ABC in 1960. He played one half of a New York City couple, the Hootens, who relocate to a dude ranch in New Mexico. Guestward Ho! ran for one season alongside The Donna Reed Show on Thursday evenings.

The actor had a 13 episode arc as J.R. Barnett on Days of Our Lives in 1975, another 13 episodes as Howard Jones on NBC’s college-set soap Bright Promise in 1970. He did two episodes of General Hospital in 1965.

Thoughout the ’60s and ’70s, Miller had appearances on many staples of the era: I Spy, The Andy Griffith Show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents , The Patty Duke Show, The Twilight Zone, That Girl, Adam-12, Cannon, Emergency!, Barnaby Jones, Kung Fu, The Waltons, Marcus Welby, The Streets of San Francisco and more.

In the ’80s, Miller wrote episodes for a host of well-known shows including Diff’rent Strokes and The Jeffersons.

On the big screen, Miller wrote the 1995 Keanu Reeves vehicle A Walk in the Clouds, which was directed by Alfonso Arau. He also wrote and starred in 1982’s Savanah Smiles, which featured two of his daughters, Marisa and Savannah, the latter of whom inspired the film.

Miller also starred in dozens of stage productions such as Noël Coward’s Private Lives opposite Grace Kelly, Phillip Barry’s The Philadelphia Story, William Inge’s Bus Stop opposite Elaine Stritch and with Joan Blondell in Dark at the Top of the Stairs.

UK’s Film & TV Charity Launches Cost-Of-Living Tools

The UK’s Film and TV Charity has launched a range of financial tools to help the sector with the impending cost-of-living crisis. Designed for freelancers who may experience less certainty with their income, and for those in employment who may also be experiencing significant pressures, the resources will provide advice and tips in the face of unprecedented financial uncertainty, according to the Charity, which has partnered with MoneyHelper. Tools include a Budget Planner, Bills Prioritiser and Savings Calculator. As with much of the rest of the world, the nation is preparing itself for a crisis, with gas bills skyrocketing and inflation still on the rise. Sky and ITV have already given staff bonuses and indie trade body Pact CEO John McVay has urged broadcasters to help producers with inflated budgets. “Our new financial tools aren’t a magic bullet to the cost-of-living crisis, but they do offer a greater ability to plan and manage finances and ultimately strengthen resilience,” said Charity CEO Alex Pumfrey.

Cineflix Rights Adds Digital SVP

Distributor Cineflix Rights has appointed an SVP Digital to grow the digital side of its business and launch FAST channels. Mike Gould joins from All3Media International, where he was VP of Global Digital Partnerships. He will be responsible for increasing revenue streams through Cineflix Rights’ slate to deliver long and short form content across all digital platforms, while leading on FAST rollouts later this year. Reporting to Tim Mutimer, CEO Rights, Cineflix Media, he will start next month. “With Mike on board we plan to expand our AVoD business and take direct control of our FAST activity to grow it strategically,” said Mutimer.