NETWORK UPDATE: Time-zone adjusted numbers for Game 1 of THE NBA FINALS increased to 6.0, 0.3 above last year’s Game 1. However, those same adjustments reduced the primetime JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE by a full point to 1.1, and the NBA COUNTDOWN pre-game show by 0.8 to 2.0. In addition, HELL’S KITCHEN went up 0.1 from the morning’s rating (GANG RELATED was unchanged). The rerun of THE ORIGINALS slipped 0.1.
THURSDAY CABLE: PAWN STARS (History) topped the night, but its 0.8 was down 0.3 from last week. AMERICAN RESTORATION followed at 0.7. LOITER SQUAD (Adult Swim) was at 0.8/0.7, down 0.1 in its first segment. THE CHALLENGE (MTV) held at 0.6.
The NBA Finals delivered for ABC.
ABC: Perhaps the best news for ABC last night wasn’t that the NBA FINALS scored a huge 5.1 rating, up 0.2 from last year’s preliminary numbers for Game 1, but that the game and a special JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: GAME NIGHT at 8PM (2.1) propelled the late-night JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE into its first win over The Tonight Show in the Jimmy Fallon era, with a 1.3 rating in the demo compared to 1.0 for Fallon. That’s a function of its lead-in, of course, but if some of those viewers stick around after the Finals are over, it could make a difference in the late-night race.
NBC: Facing much stronger competition, UNDATEABLE dropped 0.3 from last week’s premiere to 1.0. HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT, which ran before the game itself had started, slipped 0.1 to 1.1, and LAST COMIC STANDING fell 0.2 to 1.4.
FOX: HELL’S KITCHEN was steady at 1.6, but GANG RELATED dropped 0.2 to a new low 0.8.
CBS: Reruns, highlighted by 2.0 for THE BIG BANG THEORY.
CW: Reruns at 0.3/0.3.
ABC and NBC are new tonight, with a D-Day themed Brian Williams special on NBC.
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