In a week without original episodes of 13 of the 15 most-watched dramas, “Young Sheldon” became the first comedy and second scripted series to top the weekly ratings during the 2019-20 prime-time television season, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen.
“Young Sheldon” averaged a season-high 10.15 million viewers for its final original episode of the season. The CBS action drama “NCIS” is the other scripted series to top the weekly ratings this season with three first-place finishes.
CBS had each of the week’s five most-watched programs, including the news magazine “60 Minutes,” which averaged 9.31 million viewers, the other program to average more than 9 million viewers.
“Blue Bloods” was third, averaging 8.522 million viewers, most among the week’s dramas and 10 p.m. programs. Both of CBS’ other Friday programs, “MacGyver” and “Magnum P.I.” also won their time slots, giving CBS its 30th Friday victory in the season’s 32 weeks.
With NBC airing a rerun of “The Voice,” CBS also had the week’s most-watched alternative program, “Survivor,” fifth for the week averaging 8.096 million viewers, one spot behind a rerun of “NCIS,” which averaged 8.4 million viewers.
CBS was the most-watched network for the 12th consecutive week and 17th time in the season, averaging 5.78 million viewers for its prime-time programming between April 27 and Sunday.
ABC was second, averaging 3.7 million viewers, followed by NBC, which averaged 3.58 million.
Fox was fourth among the broadcast networks for the 13th time in the 13 weeks following its Super Bowl LIV telecast, averaging 2.7 million viewers for its 15 hours of prime-time programming.
CBS, ABC and NBC each aired 22 hours of prime-time programming.
“The Masked Singer” was Fox’s most-watched program, averaging 7.798 million viewers, the most for a non-CBS program, finishing sixth.
A rerun of “The Voice” was NBC’s most-watched program, averaging 6.681 million viewers, 11th for the week.
“American Idol” was ABC’s most-watched program, averaging 6.403 million viewers to finish 13th.
The most-watched cable program was the fifth episode of the 10-part documentary on Michael Jordan’s final season with the Chicago Bulls, “The Last Dance,” which averaged 5.786 million viewers on ESPN and ESPN2, 18th overall.
The sixth episode that followed averaged 5.213 million viewers, second among cable program and 23rd overall.
Fox News Channel was first among cable networks for the 15th consecutive week, averaging 3.691 million viewers. Its most-watched prime-time program was the Thursday edition of the political talk show “Hannity,” which averaged 4.666 million viewers, third among cable programs and 29th overall.
MSNBC was second among cable networks for the eighth time in 11 weeks, averaging 1.783 million viewers. CNN was third, averaging 1.547 million.
An episode of the Univision telenovela “Amor eterno” was the most-watched Spanish-language prime-time program for the fifth consecutive week, with the Monday episode averaging 2.171 million viewers, 66th among broadcast programs. Its overall rank was not available.
Univision was the most-watched Spanish-language network for the 22nd consecutive week and 24th time in 25 weeks, averaging 1.56 million viewers.
Telemundo was second, averaging 910,000 viewers, followed by UniMas (520,000), Estrella TV (180,000) and Azteca America (60,000).
ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir” was the most-watched network nightly newscast for the 22nd consecutive week, the 73rd time in 74 weeks and the 125th time in 127 weeks, averaging 10.54 million viewers.
“NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” was second (9.512 million viewers), followed by the “CBS Evening News” (6.552 million).
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were CBS’ “Young Sheldon,” “60 Minutes,” “Blue Bloods,” a rerun of “NCIS” and “Survivor”; Fox’s “The Masked Singer”; CBS’ “Magnum P.I.” reruns of “FBI” and “FBI: Most Wanted” and Fox’s “9-1-1.”
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