‘Talent’ And ‘Thrones’ The Week’s Big Winners

NEW YORK (AP) — Sports, talent derbies, news and voyeurism kept unscripted fare high on the Nielsen roster last week.

A big exception: premium cable HBO’s scripted sensation “Game of Thrones,” which continued its reign with a best-yet audience of 10.2 million in its 9 p.m. Sunday berth. For the week, “GOT” ranked behind only NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” The only other scripted show in the week’s Top 10: a repeat of CBS’ sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” in 10th place. Otherwise, “World of Dance” and NFL football on NBC, and CBS’ “Big Brother” and “60 Minutes” filled the slots.

Meanwhile, it was not a good week for Fox, which was totally shut out of the Top 20.

Overall in primetime for the week, NBC averaged 5.4 million viewers. CBS was second with 4.1 million, ABC had 3.2 million, Fox had 1.6 million, just ahead of Univision with 1.5 million, while Telemundo had 1.34 million, Ion Television had 1.28 million, and the CW had 950,000.

Fox News Channel was again the week’s most popular cable network in primetime, averaging 2.14 million viewers. MSNBC had 1.70 million, USA had 1.53 million and HGTV had 1.48 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.7 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.4 million and the “CBS Evening News had 5.7 million viewers.

The Top 20

Primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for July 31-Aug 6. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.

1. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 13.33 million.

2. “Game of Thrones,” HBO, 10.17 million.

3. NFL Pre-Season: Arizona Vs. Dallas, NBC, 8.25 million.

4. NFL Pre-Season Pre-Kick, NBC, 7.06 million.

5. “World of Dance,” NBC, 7.00 million.

6. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 6.58 million.

7. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 6.55 million.

8. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 6.46 million.

9. “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 6.42 million.

10. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 6.19 million.

11. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 6.01 million.

12. “American Ninja Warrior,” NBC, 5.88 million.

13. “The Bachelorette,” ABC, 5.76 million.

14. “NCIS,” CBS, 5.69 million.

15. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 5.39 million.

16. Program Break, HBO, 5.26 million.

17. “Bull,” CBS, 5.24 million.

18. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.03 million.

19. “America’s Got Talent” (Wed), NBC, 4.80 million.

20. “Kevin Can Wait” (Thur), CBS, 4.59 million.