TV Ratings: Judge Harvey Off To A Great Start

The premiere of Judge Steve Harvey was the most-watched non-football program on ABC last week, its audience of 5.2 million people nearly two million more than a season-opening episode of the much better known “The Bachelor,” reports The Associated Press citing the Nielsen company data.

Just before the debut, the Daily Beast’s Kyndall Cunningham predicted “Judge Steve Harvey” would leave viewers laughing and in awe of the host’s branding capabilities.

“Despite the innate absurdity of the project — mainly in that Harvey is not a judge nor has any legal experience — his entry into the ecosystem of network court shows is an undeniably astute move,” Cunningham wrote.

He arbitrates disputes, much like any TV judge, but his show lacks the self-serious demeanor of other shows that try to replicate a real-life courtroom, she said.

CBS was the most popular network in prime time last week, averaging 5.5 million viewers. NBC had 5.2 million, ABC had 4.8 million, Fox had 3.3 million, Univision had 1.7 million, Ion Television had 1.04 million and Telemundo had 950,000.

📺Top 20 Prime-Time Shows (Total Viewers):

1. NFL Football: L.A. Chargers at Las Vegas, NBC, 17.69 million.

2. NFL Football: Dallas at Philadelphia, ABC, 13.7 million.

3. “NFL Pregame,” NBC, 13.08 million

4. “The OT,” Fox, 12.11 million.

5. “NFL Pregame,” ABC, 11.93 million.

6. NFL Football: Cleveland at Pittsburgh, ESPN, 11.78 million.

7. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 9.9 million.

8. “Football Night in America, Part 3,” NBC, 9.59 million.

9. “FBI,” CBS, 8.52 million.

10. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 7.39 million.

11. “The Equalizer,” CBS, 7.18 million.

12. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 7.15 million.

13. “NCIS,” CBS, 6.939 million.

14. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 6.937 million.

15. “NFL Pregame” (Monday), ESPN, 6.68 million.

16. NFL Football: Dallas at Philadelphia, ESPN, 6.51 million.

17. “Ghosts,” CBS, 6.48 million.

18. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 6.07 million.

19. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 6.063 million.

20. “FBI: International,” CBS, 6.062 million.

Late Night TV

The Evening News

David Muir, Lester Holt, and Norah O’Donnell were back in the evening news anchor seat last week after taking some time off for the holidays.  TV Newser reports New year, same trend: ABC World News Tonight finished the opening week of 2022 as the No. 1 evening newscast, both in total viewers (9.39 million) and among adults 25-54 (1.80 million).

ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 162 of the past 163 weeks in average total viewers, and 91 of the last 93 weeks among adults 25-54.

Cable TV

ESPN was the top-rated cable network, averaging 3.37 million viewers in prime time. Fox News Channel had 2.25 million viewers, MSNBC had 1.24 million, Hallmark had 1.2 million and HGTV had 1.17 million.

Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

On the programming front, The Five, which was the most-watched show on cable news in Q4 of last year, kicked off 2022 as the most-watched show on cable news yet again, averaging 3.44 million total viewers. Tucker Carlson Tonight averaged the most adults 25-54 on cable news last week, delivering 561,000 on average at 8 p.m.

Tucker Carlson Tonight was the second-most-watched cable news show of the week (3.25 million), followed by Hannity (2.57 million), Special Report with Bret Baier (2.49 million) and MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show (2.14 million) rounding the top five in average total viewers.

The Five was the No. 2 cable news show of the week among adults 25-54 (469,000), with Hannity (410,000), Special Report (377,000) and Fox News Primetime (363,000) rounding out the top five.