Primetime Ratings: NBC Wins Tight Night

NBC took top broadcast honors Wednesday, on a night when the traditional Big Four networks all posted a 1.0 or greater. NBC stood at 1.2 in adults 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, with a 5 share. ABC and Fox both did a 1.1/4, while CBS was at 1.0/4. The CW scored a 0.4/2.

America’s Got Talent, fresh off the news of its judges returning next season, did a flat 1.7 from 8-9 p.m. on NBC, followed by a double run of TheNight Shift at 0.9 and 0.8. Night Shift scored a 1.1 the week before.

ABC had the CMA Music Festival across prime at 1.1, the country music wingding down 8% from last year (the 2015 show itself was down 37% year over year), while Fox aired two hours of MasterChef at 1.1, up 10%

CBS’ Big Brother climbed 13% to 1.8, before a repeat of Criminal Minds, while American Gothic fell 17% to 0.5.

On CW, Penn & Teller: Fool Us rated a flat 0.4. Whose Line Is It Anyway? was down a tenth of a point at 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.