Preliminary Ratings: Wednesday 09/17/14

NBC swept Wednesday night with a strong combination of the season finale of AMERICA'S GOT TALENT and the series premiere of the new crime drama MYSTERIES OF LAURA.

AMERICA'S GOT TALENT closed out another summer, winning the night as the most watched program and the top draw in the A18-49 ratings. Compared to the 2013 finale, AGT is up a few hundred thousand viewers, but slipped 8% in the demo. The A18-49 rating is even down from the night before, by the same 8% margin.

MYSTERIES OF LAURA got off to a great start, winning the 10 p.m. time slot, drawing 10.4 million viewers and retaining 87% of its lead in. NBC did a great job of choosing the right program to highlight out of the AGT finale. But, come next week, when LAURA faces new episodes of NCIS and the ABC comedies, we'll see just how satisfied viewers were with their sampling of the series.

CBS closed out the 2013 summer for both BIG BROTHER and EXTANT. Both series placed second in their respective time slots and drawing near season averages for their finales. BIG BROTHER will be back in 2015, but the future of EXTANT does not look good at all.

FOX premiered its new drama RED BAND SOCIETY to little fanfare. Just four million viewers tuned in to see the new series. It and the lead in, HELL'S KITCHEN, pulled in very similar numbers, to help FOX tie for second place in the nightly A18-49 ratings.

Preliminary Network Averages:

ABC - 4.4 million viewers, 1.0 rating in A18-49

CBS - 5.7 million viewers, 1.4 rating in A18-49

CW - 1.2 million viewers, 0.4 rating in A18-49

FOX - 4.0 million viewers, 1.4 rating in A18-49

NBC - 11.5 million viewers, 2.2 rating in A18-49

Time	Net	Program	Viewers*	A18-49	+/-
8:00	ABC	The Middle [R]	4.00	1.1
8:30	ABC	The Goldbergs [R]	3.50	1.0	-13%
9:00	ABC	Modern Family [R]	3.60	1.2	3%
9:30	ABC	Modern Family [R]	4.00	1.4	11%
10:00	ABC	Nashville [R]	5.50	0.6	38%
8:00	CBS	Big Brother	6.70	2.2
9:00	CBS	Criminal Minds [R]	4.80	1.0	-28%
10:00	CBS	Extant	5.50	1.1	15%
8:00	CW	Penn & Teller: Fool Us	1.60	0.6
9:00	CW	The 100 [R]	0.70	0.2	-56%
8:00	FOX	Hell's Kitchen	3.90	1.4
9:00	FOX	Red Band Society	4.00	1.3	3%
8:00	NBC	America's Got Talent	12.00	2.3
10:00	NBC	Mysteries of Laura	10.43	2.1	-13%

* - in millions