As has been the case the last couple of Thursdays, preseason football preemptions (one major market each for NBC, CBS, ABC and CW last night) will play a bit of havoc with the early numbers. Per Mitch Metcalf, expect each network except for FOX to decline about one-tenth of an adult 18-49 rating point in the official nationals later this afternoon. ESPN carried the primary NFL game last night nationally (Carolina at Baltimore). Ratings for that game will be available this afternoon.
ABC: WIPEOUT, MOTIVE and ROOKIE BLUE were all up in preliminary numbers (by 0.2, 0.3 and 0.1), but will probably settle toward last week’s ratings of 1.2/0.8/1.0 when football is factored out later today.
NBC: HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT is currently up 0.1 to 1.3.
CBS: As of now, BIG BROTHER is up 0.1 to 2.3, and the night’s hour of sitcom reruns is up even more sharply.
FOX: The one network without football preemption saw its reruns rise a bit, notably GLEE to 0.7 from last week’s 0.5.
CW: Even with preemptions, the night’s reruns were even at 0.3/0.3.
Tonight CBS airs a national NFL FOOTBALL game (Seattle @ Green Bay), which should dominate the reruns and newsmagazines on the other networks, and on Sunday it’s NBC’s turn (Minnesota @ San Francisco). Sunday also features the MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS, a nostalgic reminder of the days when MTV was the place to turn for music videos.
About the Author
