overnights

Fox dominated the limp competition last night, nearly doubling the rating for the No. 2 broadcast network. Fox averaged a 2.2 adults 18-49 rating and 7 share in primetime, well ahead of No. 2 Univision with a 1.4/4. Fox’s MasterChef was the No. 1 show of the night, airing from 8 to 10 p.m. and averaging a 2.2. It peaked with a 2.5 in its final half hour. Showing just how dominant MasterChef was, the No. 2 show of the night, Univision’s Amores Verdaderos, managed a 1.6.

America’s Got Talent and The Voice proved a potent combination for NBC last night. Talent averaged a 3.1 adults 18-49 rating from 9 to 11 p.m., finishing as broadcast’s No. 1 program of the night. The season premiere of the reality show was off 16% from last year, when it bowed to a 3.7, though that was during the regular season, when TV viewing levels tend to be higher. It was the lowest-rated season premiere in the show’s eight-year history, but it did top last year’s bow in total viewers, up 5% to 11.1 million. Still, it’s a very good rating for a summer show, and it even built on its Voice lead-in.

It doesn’t appear that audiences will be wedded to Mistresses. ABC’s new drama about cheating spouses debuted to hum-drum numbers last night. Mistresses averaged a 1.2 adults 18-49 rating, tied for second in the 10 p.m. timeslot with Univision’s Que Bonito Amor. The show lost 29% of its lead-in from The Bachelorette, which averaged a 1.7 from 8 to 10 p.m., off 11% from last week’s season premiere.

With barely any new content on broadcast Sunday night, Fox earned an easy victory with its animated repeats. Fox was the only broadcast network to draw more than a 1.0 adults 18-49 rating, averaging a 1.3 rating and 4 share in primetime, according to Nielsen overnights. The network had the four highest-rated programs in primetime, all of them reruns. Back-to-back Family Guy repeats at 9 p.m. scored the best numbers, a 1.7 and 1.8, respectively. The Simpsons nabbed a 1.4 at 8, followed by a 1.3 for Bob’s Burgers at 8:30.

Fox finished in first place for the third consecutive Thursday night, even though new show Does Someone Have to Go? plunged from last week’s already low debut. The network’s Hell’s Kitchen tied as the No. 1 program of the evening, averaging a 2.0 adults 18-49 rating. That was off 9% from last week. Someone averaged a 1.0 at 9 p.m., off 23% from last week.

Healing in the Heartland, the benefit concert for victims of the Oklahoma tornado, drew a big audience to NBC last night. Heartland averaged 8.6 million total viewers at 9 p.m., the most-watched program of the evening. It also averaged a 1.9 adults 18-49 rating, second only to Fox’s MasterChef, which lifted that network to an easy nightly victory. Heartland raised more than $3 million for relief efforts, and it included appearances by a number of big-name artists, including Miranda Lambert, Darius Rucker and Vince Gill.

Summer shows continued to generate relatively low ratings with the debut of CBS’s new Brooklyn D.A. and return of ABC’s Extreme Weight Loss (formerly called Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition.) Brooklyn managed just a 1.0 adults 18-49 rating at 10 p.m. last night, the network’s lowest-rated debut ever on the night. Weight did a bit better at 8 p.m., drawing a 1.2 in its new timeslot (it aired on Sundays last summer). That was off 20% from last year’s 1.5 premiere, though it did hold steady with last summer’s season finale in the demo.

The first Monday of summer saw a couple of shows fall to new lows, no real surprise considering it was also Memorial Day, when TV viewing levels tend to be lower. NBC easily won the night with a 2.7 rating and 7 share, buoyed by The Voice, the night’s No. 1 show. Voice averaged a 3.1 from 8 to 10 p.m., a very strong rating for a summer show, but still a season low for the Monday edition, which has declined week to week for the past six outings.

Summer programming saw its official start on Thursday night — and Fox regained a demo edge with the time period premiere of Hell’s Kitchen. The series rose three tenths of a point from last week’s Monday outing, averaging a 2.1 rating with adults 18-49. The premiere of layoff reality show Does Someone Have to Go? (1.3 adults) lost a sizable portion of its lead-in, but still managed to top the 9 p.m. hour. Fox averaged a 1.7 rating with adults 18-49 and 4.3 million viewers.

It looks as though ABC and CBS will finish in a tie for No. 1 during the May sweeps, just as they did on the final night of the four-week period used to set local ad rates. ABC and CBS both averaged a 2.2 adults 18-49 rating and 7 share Wednesday. That likely means the two will end the sweeps in a tie as well. They were both averaging a 1.8 going into this week. Last night was the final night of sweeps and the official TV season.

On the strength of The Voice, NBC won the penultimate night of the May sweeps by a slight margin over ABC, which entered the night tied with CBS for No. 1 for the month. Voice averaged a 3.1 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m., its lowest-rated Tuesday episode of the season and down 11% from last week. But it was still easily the night’s No. 1 show, well ahead of No. 2 Dancing with the Stars, which aired a two-hour season finale.

Last night’s final Dancing with the Stars performance show of the season surged to its best rating since its season premiere. Stars averaged a 2.5 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., up 25% over last week. That was off 14% from part one of last year’s spring finale, but in line with the year-to-year declines the show has seen this season. The ABC reality show will air part two of its finale tonight.

The Billboard Music Awards soared to its best rating in a decade as ABC dominated the final Sunday night of sweeps. The show averaged a 3.6 adults 18-49 rating, up 33% over last year and its highest rating since 2003. The show also drew 9.4 million total viewers, its best showing in 12 years and up 28% from last year.

For once, the American Idol finale faced very steep competition, after years of the other networks moving their top shows out of the path of Fox’s 800-pound gorilla. The result was the expected series-low finale for the aging singing show, which plunged from last year’s ender, though it did finish second for the night overall and improved on last week’s rating. Idol averaged a 3.7 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., down 42% from a 6.4 for last year’s 11^th-season ender. It also became the first finale in Idol’s 12 seasons to draw fewer than 20 million total viewers, finishing with 13.6 million.

s expected, part one of the season finale of American Idol plummeted from last season. Last night’s one-hour episode at 8 p.m. was up 16% from the first hour of last week’s two-hour show, to a 2.9 adults 18-49 rating. But that was down 34% from a 4.4 from last year’s penultimate episode, which aired on the final Tuesday of sweeps. This year Fox did not put the Idol finale on the last two nights of sweeps for the first time in years. The show’s ratings have faded to series lows this season, and so last night’s rating was not a surprise, though it still lifted Fox to its 18th straight victory on Wednesday, an impressive feat.

The night’s highest-rated show lifted NBC to a very narrow victory over CBS on Tuesday. The Voice drew a 3.4 adults 18-49 rating, with a 9 p.m. episode that fell 8% from last week to its lowest rating this season. NBC finished the night with a 2.4 adults 18-49 rating and 7 share, with CBS just behind with a 2.3/7.

After eight seasons of teasing, How I Met Your Mother finally revealed the titular mom last night, and the results were, as Barney might say, legendary. The sitcom surged 31% from last week and just barely beat NBC’s juggernaut The Voice in their shared timeslot. Mother‘s finale averaged a 3.4 adults 18-49 rating, up from a 2.6 last week and its best rating since February. Mother finished a tenth ahead of Voice in the 8 p.m. half hour, though the latter, which aired for two hours, was the night’s top show overall with a 3.6. Mother was second.

Even with Survivor falling to its lowest-rated finale in its 26 seasons, CBS still earned an easy victory Sunday night. Survivor averaged a 2.6 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., down 10% from a 2.9 for last spring’s finale. That rating will likely rise when final numbers come out tomorrow, as the winner of this season wasn’t announced until 10:09 p.m. Survivor was the night’s highest-rated show, admirable considering how long the show has been running, as a number of other finales aired.

ABC’s Scandal hit a new series high last night with its penultimate episode of the season, finishing with a better rating than American Idol for the first time. Scandal averaged a 3.2 adults 18-49 rating at 10 p.m., up 23% from last week’s 2.6 and the No. 3 show on the night behind CBS’s The Big Bang Theory (4.6) and Two and a Half Men (3.4). The red-hot drama, which is well up over its abbreviated first-season run, also improved on lead-in Grey’s Anatomy by 10%.

In their first head-to-head matchup of the season, both NBC’s The Voice and Fox’s American Idol had something to chirp about. Voice topped its rival among adults 18-49 by a small margin during their shared hour. But Idol finished with the higher rating for the night thanks to a strong second hour, after Voice had gone off the air. Voice averaged a 2.7 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., ahead of Idol’s 2.5 in the hour. It was the lowest rating of the season for the special edition of NBC’s hit singing show, which usually airs only on Monday and Tuesday.

The Voice boosted NBC to another strong Tuesday night, and lead-out Grimm won its timeslot for the second straight week. Voice averaged a 3.6 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., down 8% from last week to a new season low. But the show was still easily the night’s top program, with No. 2 NCIS on CBS averaging a 2.9 at 8 p.m. Voice also gave a boost to lead-out Grimm, which averaged a 1.9, even to last week, to win the 10 p.m. hour. NBC finished first in all six half hours of primetime.

On a generally slow night for broadcast, two 10 p.m. dramas saw solid gains over last week. NBC’s Revolution, which finished first in the timeslot, averaged a 2.1 adults 18-49 rating, up 17% over last week’s season-low 1.8. It grew despite a smaller lead-in from The Voice, easily the night’s top show, which slid 9 percent from last week to a season-low 3.9. And CBS’s 10 p.m. drama, Hawaii Five-0, also improved over last week, up 12% to a 1.9.

Several shows saw week-to-week gains for their season finales last night, and Fox won the evening thanks to NASCAR runover.The network averaged a 2.1 adults 18-49 rating and 6 share in primetime, peaking with a 2.7 from 8 to 8:30 p.m., when the race finished up. That shifted Fox’s shows back, with The Simpsons (1.7) starting at 8:25 p.m., followed by Bob’s Burgers (2.0), Family Guy (2.1) and American Dad (2.1).

CBS won its second straight sweeps Thursday night, finishing with the top two shows in primetime. The Big Bang Theory averaged a 4.6 adults 18-49 rating, up a tenth over last week and easily the No. 1 show of the night. Lead-out Two and a Half Men rebounded from last week’s series low with a 3.1, up 11%. Fox’s American Idol dipped to another season-low rating, a 2.5, its worst Thursday number this season and a series low for a regularly scheduled episode.

A number of hit shows saw big declines on the seventh day of the May sweeps, including Fox’s American Idol, which fell to a Wednesday season low. The program averaged a 2.8 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., down 13% from last week. It still boosted Fox to its 16th straight Wednesday night victory. Idol faced more original competition last night than it had in weeks.

On a rather lackluster night for broadcast, ABC and NBC saw improvements in the 10 p.m. timeslot. NBC’s Grimm averaged a 2.0 adults 18-49 rating at 10 p.m., up 54% from its most recent Friday outing and winning the hour on broadcast. Still, Grimm did lose quite a bit of its substantial lead-in from The Voice, which averaged a season-low 3.7 for a two-hour episode at 8 p.m. Meanwhile, on ABC, Diane Sawyer’s interview with Amanda Knox averaged a 1.7 at 10 p.m., second in the timeslot and marking a 12-week high for the network in the hour.

The finales of Bones and The Following gave Fox a boost last night. The network drew its best Monday rating in six weeks, averaging a 2.3 adults 18-49 rating and 6 share, finishing second on the night behind NBC with a 3.4/9. Bones averaged a 2.1 at 8 p.m., its best rating since March 18 and up 11% over last year’s finale. Following drew a 2.6 at 9 p.m., growing 8% over last week with its top-rated episode since March 11. The first-year show has already been renewed for next season, as has Bones.

May sweeps began on Thursday and that means a lot of season finales in the coming weeks. CBS aired one last night, with the fourth-season ender of The Good Wife improving over last week. The show averaged a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating, up 7% over last week. It was down a tenth from last year’s finale and managed only a third-place finish in the demo in the hour. But among the adults 25-54 that CBS targets, Wife took first at 9 p.m. with a 2.3, and it also won in total viewers with 9 million.

Airing opposite the NFL Draft, which drew a large crowd to ESPN and NFL Network last night, CBS won the first night of the May sweeps with relative ease. The network averaged a 2.6 adults 18-49 rating and 8 share in primetime, comfortably ahead of Fox, which finished second with a 2.2/7, and ABC, which was third with a 2.2/6. Nearly every show on the night saw declines versus its previous original outing, hurt by the draft and the large amount of original programming on broadcast.

Fox won its 15th straight Wednesday night against some rerun-heavy competition on Wednesday. American Idol averaged a 3.2 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., down 3% from last week. It was easily the top-rated show on an evening when every other Big Four network aired at least one repeat. CBS’s Survivor, the night’s No. 2 program with a 2.7, was the only other show to draw better than a 1.8.

NBC had the night’s top show, but CBS had the more consistent lineup, leading the latter to a very tight Tuesday night win. CBS averaged a 2.2 adults 18-49 rating and 6 share in primetime, just ahead of NBC’s 2.1/6. Voice was the No. 1 show of the evening, averaging a 4.0 at 8 p.m. The night’s No. 2 show, NCIS, aired in the same timeslot and drew a 2.7. But while NCIS lead-out NCIS: Los Angeles retained most of its lead-in with a 2.6, NBC’s ratings plummeted.

One week before its season finale, Fox’s The Following surged to a five-week high, becoming Monday night’s highest-rated scripted series and No. 2 show overall, behind NBC’s dominant-as-usual The Voice. Following averaged a 2.4 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m., up 14% from last week. It marked the first time that Following has drawn a better rating than Revolution, the 10 p.m. NBC drama that follows Voice.

CBS won its eighth straight Sunday night with two of its shows seeing gains over the prior week. The Amazing Race was the night’s top show among adults 18-49, drawing a 2.4 rating, according to Nielsen overnights, up 4 percent over the previous week. It won its 8 p.m. timeslot and topped ABC’s competing Once Upon a Time, the night’s No. 2 show, by 0.3.

American Idol posted a week-to-week gain for the fourth straight episode, boosting Fox to its 14th straight Wednesday win last night. Idol averaged a 3.3 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., up a tenth from last week. Idol’s been on the rebound since dropping to series lows several weeks ago. The hit singing show has five finalists left.

NBC’s The Voice continued to post strong ratings last night, tying its previous Tuesday season high. The 8 p.m. episode of Voice averaged a 4.5 adults 18-49 rating, up 2% from last week, when it drew a 4.4. Voice has been adding about 0.2 when final numbers come out late in the afternoon, so it’s likely that the show set a season high last night. Voice grew from a 4.1 in its first half hour to a 4.8 in its second.

The shocking bombings in Boston yesterday afternoon drew viewers to their televisions to find out more about what had happened, and that was evident in last night’s ratings. A special on NBC about the bombings drew the second-highest rating of any show in primetime. NBC News’ Terror in Boston averaged a 3.1 adults 18-49 rating, and 8.9 million total viewers. NBC was the only Big Four network to air a primetime program focusing on the bombings, which drew a huge amount of attention on the cable news networks and social media as well.

An exciting finish to The Masters lifted CBS to an easy primetime victory last night. The final hour of the year’s first major averaged a 4.1 adults 18-49 rating at 7 p.m., topping the average of the other five major broadcast networks combined. The Masters peaked with a 4.4 from 7 to 7:30 as Adam Scott prevailed in a sudden-death playoff to win his first title at Augusta. The runover boosted CBS to first at 8 p.m. as well with 60 Minutes drawing a 2.4, up 71% from last week.

Hannibal doesn’t have a lot of viewers, but the ones who are watching appear to be a loyal crowd. The new NBC drama became just the second new show this season to retain 100 percent of its premiere audience. Hannibal averaged a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating at 10 p.m. last night, matching last week’s debut. The show faced a lot less competition. Last week Scandal and Elementary were originals, and last night both were repeats.

Fox won Wednesday night for the 13^th straight week, with American Idol seeing week-to-week gains for the first time in several episodes. Idol averaged a 3.2 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., up 4% over last week. The show had fallen to a season low two weeks ago but has posted gains each of the two weeks since, indicating that viewers may be gaining interest in the program.

Ready for Love, the reality show following three bachelors as they search for their soulmates, debuted to low numbers last night despite getting a hefty lead-in from The Voice. Love averaged a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating from 9 to 11 p.m., losing 62% of Voice‘s rating. The show declined from a 2.1 in its first half hour to a 1.2 in its final half hour, and it finished behind even Univision at 10 p.m.