Primetime Ratings: Clinton-Trump Forum Does 14.7 Million Viewers

UPDATED: NBC’s Commander-in-Chief Forum, with presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump taking questions from Today host Matt Lauer at the Intrepid museum in New York, rated a 2.4 in adults 18-49 on both NBC and MSNBC, per Nielsen, good for a total of 14.7 million viewers.

Lauer's performance was roundly booed by media critics and viewers alike.

NBC did a 1.6/6 in the overnights, ahead of Fox’s 1.3/5, CBS’ 1.0/4, ABC’s 0.8/3 and The CW’s 0.4/1. On NBC, America’s Got Talent scored a 1.9 from 9-10 p.m., down 10% from last week, and Running Wild With Bear Grylls did a 1.2. The latter posted a 1.0 on Labor Day, its most recent airing.

Fox’s MasterChef grew 8% to 1.4 across prime.

CBS had Big Brother at a flat 1.8 before the two-hour American Gothic finale at a flat 0.5.

ABC aired repeated comedies, while The CW had Penn & Teller: Fool Us at 0.4, down a tenth of a point, and Whose Line Is It Anyway at a flat 0.4.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.