Primetime Ratings: NFL Opener Paces NBC
By Michael Malone published
Chiefs-Texans down from last year’s Packers-Bears starter

The NFL is back, and the season opener paced NBC to a giant win in Thursday prime ratings. NBC had a 5.2 in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 29 share. Way off the pace was CBS at 0.6/3.
Football Night in America started things off on NBC and led into the Kansas City Chiefs-Houston Texans. The Chiefs are the defending champs. Last year’s opener, Packers-Bears, gave NBC a 6.2 with a 29 share.
CBS had Big Brother at 1.0 and Love Island at 0.4, both flat. A Bull rerun finished up prime.
Univision scored a 0.4/2. La Rosa de Guadalupe shot up 67% to 0.5 and Medicos got a 0.4, then Dulce Ambicion a 0.3, the latter two flat.
ABC and Telemundo both scored a 0.3/2. ABC had the two-hour Holey Moley finale at 0.4 and 0.3, down from the previous week’s 0.5. A Shark Attack special got a 0.3.
On Telemundo, Exatlon Estados Unidos fell 25% to 0.3 and Todo Por Mi Hija climbed 33% to 0.4. Enemigo Intimo 2 grew 50% to 0.3.
Fox got a 0.3/1 with Beat Shazam repeats.
The CW rated a 0.1/1. Mysteries Decoded got a flat 0.1 and a Penn & Teller: Fool Us rerun followed.
Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.
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