Preliminary Ratings: Thursday 08/20/15

CBS and NBC are neck-and=neck, in the Thursday night ratings, as both networks average the same number of total viewers and the three demo ratings are within a tenth of a point of each other. However, I suspect sports preemptions in a couple of NBC markets, between baseball and/or football games.

BIG BROTHER was the top program of the night, hauling in 6.6 million viewers and a 2.1 rating in Adults 18-49. That is up 10% in the demo rating and in total viewers, from last week's numbers. UNDER THE DOME saw a rise in total viewership, but remained flat, week-to-week.

The season finale of THE ASTRONAUT WIVES CLUB was up over last week's ratings, adding 800,000 in total viewers and was up a notch in each of the demographic categories. The series never caught on with viewers, doing about as good as some regular season encores have done, this summer.

We'll see how much NBC slides when finals are released, but I expect numbers to be closer to ABC's than CBS'.

Preliminary L+SD Network Averages:

	Total viewers	A18-34	A18-49	A25-54
ABC	3.70 million	0.5	0.6	1.0
CBS	5.70 million	0.9	1.4	1.9
CW	0.90 million	0.2	0.2	0.3
FOX	2.60 million	0.6	0.7	0.9
NBC	5.70 million	0.7	1.3	1.8

Time	Net	Program	Viewers*	A18-34	A18-49	A25-54
8:00	ABC	The Astronaut Wives Club	4.00	0.5	0.7	1.1
9:00	ABC	Mistresses	3.40	0.6	0.8	1.0
10:00	ABC	Rookie Blue	3.70	0.3	0.6	0.8
8:00	CBS	The Big Bang Theory [R]	7.10	0.8	1.4	2.2
8:30	CBS	Mom [R]	5.60	0.7	1.2	1.8
9:00	CBS	Big Brother	6.60	1.6	2.1	2.6
10:00	CBS	Under The Dome	4.20	0.4	0.8	1.2
8:00	CW	Beauty & The Beast	0.90	0.2	0.2	0.3
9:00	CW	Arrow [R]	0.80	0.1	0.2	0.3
8:00	FOX	Boom!	2.40	0.6	0.7	1.0
9:00	FOX	Bones [R]	2.70	0.6	0.7	0.8
8:00	NBC	Food Fighters	4.80	0.7	1.1	1.5
9:00	NBC	Dateline	6.20	0.7	1.4	1.9

* - in millions