Primetime Ratings: Pre-Season Football Paces NBC
Football-showing NBC won the Thursday ratings race easily, posting a 2.3 score in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 10 share. CBS was runner-up at a distant 1.1/5. The ratings are not time zone adjusted and are subject to change.
NBC had pre-season football throughout prime, the Hall of Fame Game featuring the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals, with Dallas winning.
CBS had repeated comedies, then Big Brother at a flat 1.9 and Zoo at a level 0.5.
Fox was at 0.7/.3. Beat Shazam scored a 0.8 and Love Connection a 0.6. Both ratings were flat.
Among Spanish-language networks, Telemundo weighed in at 0.6/3 and Univision at 0.5/2, both the same as last week.
ABC did a 0.5/2. Boy Band rated a flat 0.5 and Battle of the Network Stars a level 0.6, before The Gong Show scored a 0.6. That too was flat with last week.
The CW rated a 0.4/2, with Penn & Teller: Fool Us at 0.4 and Whose Line Is It Anyway? at 0.4. Both shows climbed 33% over last week.
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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.