Prime Time Ratings: CBS Wins With Big Brother, Power of 10

According to Nielsen overnight numbers, CBS won or tied for first in every half-hour of prime time Tuesday night in the 18-49 demo, thanks to the power of Power of 10 and Big Brother.

 The network averaged a 2.7 rating/8 share in the demo, led by the latest incarnation of  Big Brother's 3.2/9 at 9-10 and Power of 10's 2.8/9 at 8-9, both of which equaled their highest ratings to date.

 Fox and NBC tied for second place with a 2/6 for all-repeat lineups, while ABC, which had original programming for all but a half-hour, was in fourth with a 1.8/5.

 Fox's top show was a House repeat with a 2.5/7 at 8-09 for second place in the time period.

 NBC's highest-rated show--it only aired two shows-- was a repeat of a two-hour SNL clip show (2.1/6).

ABC's back-to-back Just For Laughs (the first new, the second a repeat) averaged a 2.1/7 at 8-9 for second place in the time period, but its newI-Caught online clip show (Etch-a-Sketch artist, kids who blow up things) averaged a 1.7/5, including dropping from a 1.9 to a 1.6 rating from its first to second half-hours, for fourth in its time period.

The CW averaged a .6/2 for its night of repeats.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.