‘Jaws’ Chomps Through The Competition To Dominate Friday Night Primetime On 50th Anniversary Broadcast
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to regular television, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws shredded the entire primetime lineup with a predatory vengeance when it breached the surface of network cable last Friday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the film’s release into theaters. It did so with teeth that show no signs of dulling in the past half-century.
RELATED: Final ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Trailer Reveals The Thing’s New Beard
According to Programming Insider, the three-hour NBC Movie Special (featuring a special introduction by Spielberg) snagged a total of 3.261 million human lives, slaughtering such shows as Gutfeld! on Fox News, 20/20 on ABC, and (ironically enough) it even laid the smacketh down on the superstars of WWE Friday Night SmackDown without sparing a single one of their no-name, Roody-Poo candy asses.
Whether the high ratings are from the film’s popularity or just a break from the monotony is anyone’s guess, but it could always be both. Either way, this is only the first stop on the 2025 world tour for the pride of Amity Island, and he’s going for broke.
Jaws will be screened all summer long at Martha’s Vineyard, where it was filmed, and tickets are still available for all the events that are taking place. A new documentary called Jaws at 50: The Definitive Inside Story swims to National Geographic on July 10th, and it will splash onto Hulu and Disney+ the very next day. Something which should give fans, and even that aging Chondrichthyes son of a bit— plenty to smile about.
On the outside chance that someone out there doesn’t know the plot of this movie, Jaws is an adaptation of the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley. It’s about a great white shark that goes on vacation to a New England resort during the 4th of July holiday to join in on the fellowship and feasting.
This all gets interrupted when an aquaphobic police chief (Roy Scheider), a whiny academic (Richard Dreyfuss), and a deranged fisherman (Robert Shaw) try to take away his menu. Insulted, the shark decides to remind them who’s still the apex predator, and that they really should have brought a bigger boat.
Jaws (and its dismal sequels) are available to watch on Peacock, and the breakdown of the “Great” Friday Night Ratings War of June 20th, 2025 (via Programming Insider) is down below:
- NBC Movie Special Jaws (1975) (S) (NBC, 8:00 PM-11:00 PM, 180 min.) • 3.261 million viewers
- Jesse Watters Primetime (Fox News, 8:00 PM-9:00 PM, 60 min.) • 3.180 million viewers
- Gutfeld! (Fox News, 10:00 PM-11:00 PM, 60 min.) • 2.942 million viewers
- Hannity (Fox News, 9:00 PM-10:00 PM, 60 min.) • 2.706 million viewers
- 20/20 (ABC, 9:01 PM-11:00 PM, 119 min.) • 2.371 million viewers
- Celebrity Jeopardy! (Fri.) (RP) (ABC, 8:00 PM-9:01 PM, 61 min.) • 2.109 million viewers
- Fire Country (R) (CBS, 8:00 PM-9:00 PM, 60 min.) • 1.866 million viewers
- WWE Friday Night SmackDown (USA, 8:00 PM-11:00 PM, 180 min.) • 1.524 million viewers
- Grammy Greats: The Stories Behind the Songs (RS) (CBS, 9:00 PM-11:00 PM, 120 min.) • 1.311 million viewers
- All In with Chris Hayes (MSNBC, 8:00 PM-9:00 PM, 60 min.) • 0.889 million viewers
NEXT: ‘Jaws’ Reemerges From The Deep For 50th Anniversary With Theatrical Rerelease & New Merchandise
