'The Bachelor' ends controversial season with ratings high

NEW YORK (AP) — ABC “The Bachelor” ended a season that had as much drama off the set as on with its most-watched episode of the year and final appearance of host Chris Harrison — at least for a while.

The pre-taped season finale with Harrison reached 6.1 million viewers last Monday and the “After the Final Rose” special, hosted by Emmanuel Acho, was seen by 5.67 million, the Nielsen company said.

Harrison was criticized last month for defending a contestant after she was seen in racially-insensitive pictures attending a plantation-themed ball in 2018. Harrison later apologized but it was announced he would be stepping away from the show for an undetermined period.

It's not clear whether he will be back. Former bachelorettes Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe will host the upcoming season of “The Bachelorette.”

Ratings for the most recent season of “The Bachelor,” where Matt James was the franchise's first Black bachelor, have been down but ticked up in its last few episodes.

James had selected contestant Rachael Kirkconnell, who had appeared in the plantation-themed pictures. During the “After the Final Rose” special, he revealed that he had broken up with her after the controversy came to light.

It's tough to judge whether Harrison's absence had any impact on the “After the Final Rose” ratings, because ABC hadn't done one of those specials since 2018.

CBS won the week in the ratings, with an average of 4.5 million viewers in prime time. NBC had 3.6 million, ABC had 3.4 million, Fox had 2 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Ion Television had 1.2 million and Telemundo had 1.1 million

Fox News Channel led the cable rankings, averaging 2.23 million viewers. TBS had 1.88 million, MSNBC had 1.65 million, TNT had 1.41 million and HGTV had 1.2...