Primetime Ratings: CBS Wins With Football

CBS was the winner in Thursday ratings, as Thursday Night Football led to a 2.9 score in viewers 18-49, per Nielsen’s overnights, and an 11 share. Runner-up was ABC at 1.4/5.

CBS did a 3.0 the Thursday before. Thursday Night Kickoff dropped 14% to 1.9 on CBS, and the game, Eagles versus Panthers, did a 3.1. Last week’s game, Patriots versus Buccaneers, scored a 3.2.

ABC had Grey’s Anatomy at a flat 2.0, then Scandal at 1.2, down 14% from its premiere. How to Get Away With Murder was up 11% to 1.0.

NBC did a 1.2/4. Superstore was down a tenth of a point at 1.1 and The Good Place at a level 1.2. Will & Grace fell 15% to 1.7 and Great News posted a flat 1.0, before Chicago Fire was off 8% at 1.1.

Fox scored a 0.9/3, with Gotham down 11% at 0.8 and The Orville up 11% at 1.0.

The CW did a 0.7/2. Supernatural started off its season at 0.7, up a tenth from its May finale, and Arrow premiered at 0.6, same as its season finale.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.