NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” returned to the top of the prime-time television ratings after a one-week absence, continuing its streak of being the most-watched entertainment program every week an original episode has aired this summer and last summer, according to figures released Tuesday.
“America’s Got Talent” averaged 11.554 million viewers, the only prime-time program to average more than 8 million viewers between July 9 and Sunday, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen.
“America’s Got Talent” has been the most-watched prime-time program for four of the five weeks since the conclusion of the NBA Finals. The only interruption to the streak came during the week of July 2-8 when NBC aired a rerun because of the customarily lower television viewership on Independence Day eve.
A rerun “Best of Auditions” recap episode of “America’s Got Talent” was fourth for the week, averaging 5.983 million viewers.
The CBS news magazine “60 Minutes” was second for the week, averaging 7.3 million viewers, one week after finishing first when it averaged 7.45 million viewers.
The premiere of the CBS obstacle course competition series “TKO: Total Knock Out” was second in its Wednesday 9-10 p.m. time slot and 24th for the week, averaging 3.99 million viewers, the most among the summer’s five alternative series premieres.
“TKO: Total Knock Out” retained 73.3 percent of the 5.441-million average audience of the “Big Brother” episode that preceded it.
An original episode of the canceled medical drama “Code Black” that followed on CBS won the 10-11 p.m. time slot and was ninth for the week, averaging 5.721 million viewers, 43.4 percent more than “TKO: Total Knock Out.”
The week’s other premiere on the four major broadcast networks, the CBS true crime series “Whistleblower,” won its Friday 8-9 p.m. time slot and was 45th for the week, averaging 3.036 million viewers.
NBC alternative series accounted for four of the week’s six most-watched programs, helping the network to its second consecutive weekly victory.
NBC averaged 4.3 million viewers for its 21 hours, 39 minutes of prime-time programming for ratings purposes.
CBS averaged 3.96 million viewers for its 21 hours, 37 minutes of prime-time programming, finishing second for the second consecutive week after three consecutive first-place finishes.
ABC averaged 3.4 million viewers for its 21 hours, 39 minutes of prime-time programming to finish third for the fifth consecutive week after back-to-back victories when it aired the NBA Finals.
ABC’s most-watched program for the second consecutive week was “Celebrity Family Feud,” third for the week, averaging 6.408 million viewers.
Fox finished fourth among the major broadcast networks for the 25th consecutive week, averaging 2.12 million viewers for its 15 hours, 17 minutes of prime-time programming.
Fox’s most-watched program was “MasterChef,” 36th among the week’s broadcast and cable programs, averaging 3.31 million viewers.
An episode of the Fox News Channel opinion talk show “Hannity” was the most-watched cable television program for the fifth time in the past six weeks.
The July 9 episode, which included President Donald Trump’s announcement of the appointment of appellate court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court was the week’s most-watched cable program, averaging 5.824 million viewers, eighth overall.
The Thursday episode was second for the week, averaging 3.996 million, 23rd for the week.
Fox News Channel had each of the week’s 11 most-watched prime-time cable programs to be the most-watched cable network for the sixth consecutive week, averaging 2.688 million viewers.
MSNBC was second, averaging 1.576 million and USA Network third, averaging 1.484 million.
The most-watched Spanish-language prime-time program was the Thursday episode of the Telemundo telenovela “El Senor de los Cielos,” which averaged 1.839 million viewers to finish 70th among broadcast programs. Its overall place was not available.
Telemundo averaged 1.13 million viewers to be the most-watched Spanish-language network, ending Univision’s 35-week winning streak. Univision was second, averaging 1.05 million viewers.
UniMas was third, averaging 300,000 viewers, followed by Estrella TV, which averaged 270,000, and Azteca America, which averaged 100,000.
ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” was the most-watched network nightly newscast for the 33rd consecutive week and 44th of past 45, averaging 7.714 million viewers.
The “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was second, averaging 7.205 million viewers.
The “CBS Evening News” averaged 5.33 million viewers. It has finished third each week since the week of Sept. 25-29, 2006.
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were the Tuesday episode of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”; CBS’ “60 Minutes”; ABC’s “Celebrity Family Feud”; the Wednesday “America’s Got Talent” rerun; NBC’s “World of Dance” and “Little Big Shots”; CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory”; the July 2 episode of “Hannity” on Fox News Channel; CBS’ “Code Black”; and ABC’s “The Bachelorette.”
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