Primetime Ratings: Pre-Season Football Paces NBC

Football-showing NBC won the Thursday ratings race easily, posting a 2.3 score in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 10 share. CBS was runner-up at a distant 1.1/5. The ratings are not time zone adjusted and are subject to change.

NBC had pre-season football throughout prime, the Hall of Fame Game featuring the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals, with Dallas winning.

CBS had repeated comedies, then Big Brother at a flat 1.9 and Zoo at a level 0.5.

Fox was at 0.7/.3. Beat Shazam scored a 0.8 and Love Connection a 0.6. Both ratings were flat.

Among Spanish-language networks, Telemundo weighed in at 0.6/3 and Univision at 0.5/2, both the same as last week.

ABC did a 0.5/2. Boy Band rated a flat 0.5 and Battle of the Network Stars a level 0.6, before The Gong Show scored a 0.6. That too was flat with last week.

The CW rated a 0.4/2, with Penn & Teller: Fool Us at 0.4 and Whose Line Is It Anyway? at 0.4. Both shows climbed 33% over last week. 

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.