TV Ratings: Eddie Murphy Delivers For NBC

With Eddie Murphy aboard as host after a decades-long absence, the NBC show earned its biggest audience since 2017, according to The Associated Press citing Nielsen data.

Just shy of 10 million viewers tuned in to see Murphy back on the late-night comedy show that helped launch his career. His last appearance was in 1984.

Murphy reprised some of his landmark “SNL” characters on last Saturday’s show, including Mr. Robinson, Gumby and Buckwheat. The actor-comedian was joined during his opening monologue by Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock and Tracy Morgan.

NBC also earned bragging rights for its prime-time performance last week with an average 6.2 million viewers, powered by its Sunday night NFL telecast. The network is No. 1 for the season to date, the first time since 1999 that it has led in total viewers at this point in the TV year.

CBS was second with an average of 4.95 million, Nielsen said. Fox had 4.3 million, ABC had 2.9 million, ION Television had 1.3 million, Univision had 1.24 million, Telemundo had 790,000 and the CW had 700,000.

⏩ Broadcast Prime-Time:

1. “NFL Sunday Post-Game Show,” Fox, 20 million.
2. “Sunday Night Football: Kansas City at Chicago,” NBC, 17 million.
3. “”Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC. 13.3 million.
4. “The OT,” Fox, 13.1 million.
5. “NFL: Indianapolis at New Orleans,” ESPN, 11.4 million.
6. “NCIS,” CBS, 11.1 million.
7. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 9.8 million.
8. “The Voice,” NBC, 8.8 million.
9. “The Voice (Tuesday)”, NBC, 8.7 million.
10. “Thursday Night Football: L-A Rams at San Francisco,”   NFL Network, 8.5 million.

11. “FBI,” CBS, 8.47 million.
12. “The Masked Singer,” Fox, 8.4 million.
13. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 7.1 million.
14. “Thursday Night Football Pre-Kick,” NFL Network, 7 million.
15. “The Voice,” NBC, 6.7 million.
16. “Survivor,” CBS, 6.5 million.
17. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 6.44 million.
18. “Bull,” CBS, 6.4 million.
19. “The Masked Singer,” Fox, 6.2 million.
20. “Bob Hearts Abishola,” CBS, 6.1 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” led the evening newscasts with an average of 8.8 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was next with 7.9 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.8 million viewers.

Fox News Channel was the week’s most-watched cable network, averaging 3.1 million viewers in prime time. ESPN had 2.2 million, MSNBC had 1.8 million, Hallmark had 1.7 million, and CNN had 1.5 million.