TV Ratings: Everything Old Is New Again For ABC

ABC’s special, star-filled live presentations of old episodes of “The Facts of Life” and “Diff’rent Strokes” reached some 4.8 million viewers last week, reports The Associated Press citing new Nielsen data.

That wasn’t earth-shattering, and didn’t even crack Nielsen’s list of top 30 programs. But it was the network’s most-watched program. With stars like Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Hart, John Lithgow, Jon Stewart and Snoop Dogg, the annual exercise hosted by Jimmy Kimmel got some good word-of-mouth.

Otherwise, it was a fairly typical week in television, with football dominating and CBS’ “60 Minutes” the top non-sports broadcast.

CBS eked out a weekly win, averaging 5.94 million viewers in prime time to NBC’s 5.89 million. Fox averaged 4.5 million, ABC had 2.8 million, Univision had 1.5 million, Telemundo had 1 million and Ion Television had 880,000.

📺Top 20 Prime Time Shows (Total Audience)

1. NFL Football: Chicago at Green Bay, NBC, 18.56 million.

2. NFL Football: Pittsburgh at Minnesota, Fox, 14.04 million.

3. NFL Football: New England at Buffalo, ESPN, 13.28 million.

4. “NFL Pregame,” NBC, 12.48 million.

5. “NFL Postgame,” Fox, 10.93 million.

6. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 9.32 million.

7. “NFL Pregame,” Fox, 8.78 million.

8. “Yellowstone,” Paramount, 7.54 million.

9. “Football Night in America, Part 3,” NBC, 7.35 million.

10. “NCIS,” CBS, 7.25 million.

11. “FBI,” CBS, 7.03 million.

12. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 6.96 million.

13. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 6.89 million.

14. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 6.79 million.

15. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 6.77 million.

16. “NFL Pregame,” ESPN, 6.72 million.

17. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 6.59 million.

18. “FBI: International,” CBS, 5.79 million.

19. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.76 million.

20. “Ghosts,” CBS, 5.75 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race, averaging 8 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.4 million viewers and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.2 million.

Graphics courtesy of RoadMN

ESPN was the top cable network in prime time, averaging 2.49 million viewers. Fox News Channel had 2.3 million, Hallmark had 1.57 million, MSNBC had 1.12 million and Paramount had 894,000.

Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

On the programming front, The Five was the most-watched cable news show of the week, averaging 3.38 million total viewers in the 5 p.m. hour, according to TV Newser. 

The panel program ranked No. 2 on cable news in the key A25-54 demo (477,000). Tucker Carlson Tonight was No. 1 on cable news last week among adults 25-54 (529,000), and No. 2 in total viewers (3.18 million) at 8 p.m. Hannity was third in cable news across the board, with 2.70 million viewers and 427,000 in the 25-54 demo. Special Report with Bret Baier was the fourth with 2.64 million total viewers and 392,000 A25-54. The Ingraham Angle came in fifth, averaging 2.23 million total viewers and 359,000 adults 25-54.

Fox also had 14 of the top 15 cable news shows in total viewers, including the top six, and 14 of the top 15 cable news shows among adults 25-54, including the top 12.

MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show was the top-rated non-Fox News show last week, averaging 2.05 million total viewers, and 255,000 adults 25-54 at 9 p.m. It was the seventh-most-watched cable news show and No. 13 among adults 25-54 on cable news last week.