overnights

Here’s a notable Olympic first: Three original Big Four shows saw week-to-week gains against the Games last night, something that had not happened over the previous two weeks.ABC’s Wipeout, Rookie Blue and CBS’s Big Brother all registered improvements.

Big Brother‘s Wednesday edition fell a bit against NBC’s Olympics last night, tying with Univision’s La Que No Podia Amar as the No. 1 non-sports show on broadcast. Brother averaged a 1.8 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., down 10% from a 2.0 last week. It marked a season low for the show, now in its 14th year. Still, it’s a decent rating against the most dominant Summer Games since 1996. And Brother‘s rating has been going up a tenth of late when final numbers come in.

Univision continued to be the top non-Olympics broadcast network last night with ABC, CBS and Fox largely in reruns.The Spanish-language network had the night’s top non-Games show, La Que No Podia Amar, which averaged a 1.7 adults 18-49 rating. The 10 p.m. show has ranked either first or second to the Games every weeknight since they began more than a week ago.

ABC’s originals continued to struggle against very tough competition from the Olympics. Bachelor Pad fell to another series low last night. The reality show averaged a  1.0 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., down 9% from last week, its previous series low. The network’s other Monday reality program, The Glass House, was even with last week with a 0.6 at 10 p.m.

Big Brother continued to generate okay ratings opposite NBC’s Olympics, but ABC’s Wipeout took a dive on another slow night for the other broadcasters. Brother averaged a 1.9 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m., equal to Wednesday night’s rating and matching a season low. But the show seems to be holding steady, with a similar rating on Sunday night. Though it’s not putting up big ratings against the Games, it’s not taking a big hit, either.

Big Brother‘s audience remained fairly stable, all things considered, against NBC’s dominating Olympics broadcast last night. The veteran CBS show averaged a 1.9 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., matching its rating on Sunday night. The show was down 5% from the same night last week, when it did not face the Games, but it was the top-rated non-Olympic program.

Univision’s viewership held up well against NBC’s dominating Olympics last night. The network had the best non-sports rating of the night with the rest of the Big Four besides NBC airing mostly repeats. Univision averaged a 1.4 adults 18-49 rating and 4 share in primetime, led by a 1.7 for the 10 p.m. telenovela La Que No Podia Amar. It marked the second straight night that Amar was the highest-rated non-Olympic show on broadcast. It finished with a 1.6 rating on Monday night.

Viewers continued to choose the Olympics over other original fare on competing networks last night. ABC’s Bachelor Pad and The Glass House saw week-to-week declines airing against NBC’s highly rated Games coverage. Pad slid 27% from last week’s season premiere to a 1.1 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., a series low for the three-year-old show.

It’s always a risk to continue airing original programming against the highly rated Olympics, and yesterday CBS saw why. Ratings for Big Brother and the new dating show 3 slipped against NBC’s coverage of the Games. Brother averaged a 1.8 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., down 10% from last week and a season low.

Love was in the air last night on Wipeout with a special blind date edition that lifted the show to its best rating this summer. Wipeout averaged a 2.2 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., up 29% from last week. The show drew its best rating since Jan. 12, and surged to a 2.5 during its final hour, besting CBS’s competing Big Brother in the hour by 0.3.

Fox won yet another Wednesday night according to overnight ratings that were delayed for more than five hours Thursday afternoon due to Nielsen processing errors. The network averaged a 1.7 adults 18-49 rating and 5 share in primetime, just barely ahead of second-place NBC at 1.6/5. So You Think You Can Dance took up Fox’s entire primetime schedule, falling a tenth of a point from last week.

Fox cooked up its fifth Tuesday victory in a row last night with both of its Gordon Ramsay reality cooking shows hitting Tuesday season highs. Hell’s Kitchen and MasterChef both averaged a 2.6 adults 18-49 rating, tying NBC’s America’s Got Talent as the top show of the night.

Apparently the interest in The Bachelorette didn’t carry over to Bachelor Pad. The Bachelor spinoff premiered to a series low last night, one night after Bachelorette closed out on a season high. Pad averaged a 1.4 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., down 36% from last summer’s premiere, which averaged a series-high 2.2.

ABC’s decision to move The Bachelorette finale from Monday to Sunday was a good one. The season-ender drew a season-high rating and was up over last year. Bachelorette averaged a 3.0 in adults 18-49 from 8 to 10 p.m., 7% better than last year’s finale, which averaged a 2.8. It marked ABC’s best non-sports summer numbers in the timeslot in six years.

Big Brother helped CBS to another Thursday win, but the show’s rating declined in its second week. Brother averaged a 2.2 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m. last night, dropping 15% from last week’s season premiere, which averaged a 2.6. The show has been down year-to-year in all four of its outings thus far, though last night’s episode did rebound from a 1.9 on Wednesday night.

Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance wasn’t last night’s highest-rated show, but it did give the network the night’s most consistent performance. Dance averaged a 1.8 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., down 10% from last week. The decline was likely from the increase in competition. CBS’s Big Brother made its Wednesday debut yesterday, and it finished in a tie for first on the night with NBC’s America’s Got Talent.

Fox’s Gordon Ramsay shows continued to cook up wins for the network last night. Hell’s Kitchen and MasterChef both saw gains versus their most recent outings, boosting the network to its best non-sports Tuesday night of the summer. Fox averaged a 2.5 adults 18-49 rating and 8 share in primetime, comfortably ahead of second-place NBC at 2.2/6.

Fox’s MasterChef hit a season high among total viewers last night, drawing the series’ second-highest viewer total ever. MasterChef averaged 6.3 million total viewers at 9 p.m., up 7% over the previous week. It was the show’s second-best audience ever, behind only last season’s finale. The show also rose 4% versus last week in adults 18-49, to a 2.6 rating, tying Hell’s Kitchen as the night’s highest-rated program.

Big Brother was once again the No. 1 show on broadcast last night, though it was down from Thursday’s season 14 premiere. Brother averaged a 2.2 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., easily the night’s highest-rated program. The No. 2 show, a repeat of Fox’s Family Guy that helped lift the network to a tie for No. 1 for the night, averaged a 1.8.

Big Brother returned with solid numbers last night, though down a bit from last summer’s season 13 debut. The show averaged a 2.6 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m., down 7% from a 2.8 last summer. The show drew a 2.7 in its first half hour and a 2.5 in its second.

Broadcast elicited little more than a round of yawns last night, with only one Big Four show seeing week-to-week gains and nothing earning more than a 2.0 rating. Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance and NBC’s America’s Got Talent tied as the night’s No. 1 show with a 1.9 adults 18-49 rating apiece. Dance, airing its first live episode, was off 10% from its most recent outing two weeks ago. It was on hiatus last week for the July 4 holiday.

Even airing against tougher competition in Fox’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game, NBC’s America’s Got Talent saw a week-to-week jump. The veteran hit was the night’s No. 2 show behind the game, and it was the top non-sports program, jumping 17% versus last week. Talent averaged a 2.7 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., peaking with a 3.0 rating in its second hour. That tied with the All-Star Game at 9 p.m.

With NBC’s America’s Got Talent not airing on Monday night this week, Fox flexed some muscle. The network, which has been battling with NBC for the lead on Mondays the past month, earned a solid victory among adults 18-49 yesterday with its two Gordon Ramsay cooking programs. Fox averaged a 2.4 adults 18-49 rating and 7 share in primetime, 20% ahead of No. 2 ABC at 2.4/7.

Not airing against the Olympic trials is certainly one way to boost a show’s ratings. ABC’s Secret Millionaire and Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition rebounded from last week’s season lows opposite minimal competition last night, with both shows growing by 25% over last week, when they faced NBC’s highly rated gymnastics and swimming Olympic trials. Both Millionaire and Weight averaged a 1.5 rating in adults 18-49.

CBS has premiered just one new show so far this summer, and so not surprisingly it often lags in last place among the Big Four broadcast networks. But not last night. Despite the fact that CBS aired all reruns, against original competition on ABC and Fox, the network still posted a solid Thursday night victory. An 8:30 p.m. rerun of CBS’s The Big Bang Theory was the night’s highest-rated show with a 2.4 adults 18-49 rating.

NBC’s original broadcast and ensuing encore of the New York celebration best blocks of encores and CBS’s rival pyrotechnics. Univision scored second place in the targeted 18-49 demo, averaging a 1.1 adults rating, while CBS and ABC shared third place with a 0.7 adults rating and posted 4.4 million and 2.7 million viewers respectively.

The Bachelorette is getting closer to choosing her bachelor, and viewers are apparently eager to see who it will be. Bachelorette posted its best rating in six weeks last night as Emily winnowed the final four to three. The show averaged a 2.5 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., up 11% from last week.

Sunday’s women’s gymnastics trials scored the best rating for any Olympic trials since August 2000, boosting NBC to an easy win in primetime. Gymnastics averaged a 3.2 adults 18-49 rating from 9 to 11 p.m., NBC’s best rating in the timeslot since February’s Super Bowl. That was up 60% from the 2008 trials, which aired from 7 to 9 p.m. The two-hour program also drew 9.9 million total viewers, also the best for any trials since 2000.

The summer season of ABC’s Wipeout got off to a solid start last night. The 9 p.m. reality competition posted a 1.9 adults 18-49 rating in its 9 p.m. timeslot, the top-rated show of the night and improving on last season’s finale by 27%. The 1.9 was the highest rating for Wipeout since Jan. 12, and it gave ABC its best summer performance in the Thursday 9 p.m. slot in just over a year, since June 23 of 2011.

After tying for No. 1 with Fox the previous two nights, NBC finally shot ahead on Wednesday thanks to yet another highly rated episode of America’s Got Talent. The show averaged a 2.8 adults 18-49 rating from 9 to 11 p.m., well ahead of the evening’s No. 2 show, Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance, which drew a 2.0.

The NBA finals dominated the past two weeks on broadcast, but with the series over Fox and NBC’s reality shows returned to form. The two networks tied for first place for the second straight night, both averaging a 2.2 adults 18-49 rating and 7 share last night. NBC’s America’s Got Talent was the night’s No. 1 show, averaging a 3.2 at 9 p.m. It was the highest-rated non-sports show on broadcast since June 5.

Mondays are shaping up as the most competitive night of the week. Fox and NBC tied for first last night with strong schedules, and ABC wasn’t too far behind despite a big second-week decline for The Glass House. Fox and NBC both averaged a 2.3 adults 18-49 rating/7 share for the evening, ABC placed third with a 1.9/6.

On one of the slowest summer nights yet for broadcast, NBC prevailed with Olympics trials coverage and a repeat of the summer’s top show, America’s Got Talent. NBC averaged a 1.2 adults 18-49 rating and 4 share in primetime, ahead of No. 2 Univision at 1.1/3. NBC had three of the four highest-rated programs on broadcast last night, all tying with a 1.2 rating.

The series wrapped up a lot quicker than ABC had hoped, but the NBA finals delivered strong ratings for the network while they lasted. Last night the Miami Heat won the title with a 121-106 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, lifting ABC to an easy win on the night. The game averaged a 12.6 household rating, equaling last year’s game five between the Heat and the Dallas Mavericks.

Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance continued to dominate the competition on Wednesday night. The show averaged a 2.4 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., nearly double the No. 2 competitor in the timeslot, Univision, with a 1.3. Though Dance was down 4% from last week, it was up 9% from the same night last year, when it averaged a 2.2.

ABC’s game four of the NBA finals dominated the competition once again last night as the Miami Heat came within one game of wrapping up a championship. ABC more than doubled the night’s No. 2 network, Fox, with a 4.9 rating and 14 share in adults 18-49 in primetime, Fox averaged a 2.1/6. The game peaked with a 6.5 in the 10 p.m. hour, including a 6.9 at 10:30.

The controversy over ABC’s new show Glass House didn’t stir up big ratings. The show debuted to so-so numbers last night, much like everything else that’s bowed so far this summer. Glass averaged a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating at 10 p.m., finishing second to NBC’s American Ninja Warrior in the timeslot. The show held only 70% of its lead-in from The Bachelorette.

The NBA finals continued to dominate the competition last night, though game three’s rating was the lowest of the three contests played so far. The Miami Heat’s 91-85 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder averaged a 10.4 household rating. The game peaked with a 14.7 from 10:30 to 10:45 p.m.

The daring stunt by Nik Wallenda over Niagara Falls netted 13.1 million viewers in the final half hour, according to preliminary ratings, and easily surpassed other networks for the night.