NETWORK UPDATE: On Saturday, no one cared very much about the final 2 hours of CRISIS, moved off its usual Sunday berth to an ignominious 0.5/0.6. But at least it did better than ABC’s burn-off of THE ASSETS, horrific at 0.2. The only Sunday adjustment was an 0.1 increase for WIPEOUT.
SATURDAY CABLE: As detailed in our SKEDBALL WORLD CUP post, ESPN’s matches once again dominated, led by Germany vs. Ghana (2.4), Nigeria vs. Bosnia (1.7), and Argentina vs. Iran (1.5). The season finale of ORPHAN BLACK (BBCAmerica) slipped infinitesimally to 0.23, while the two half-hours of the ALMOST ROYAL premiere that followed were almost invisible at 0.05/0.03. (The latter was watched by a total of 62,000 people of all ages.) POWER (Starz) was at 0.24 at 9PM and 0.17 at 10PM, holding steady with last week.
SUNDAY CABLE: The night belonged to ESPN, which aired the US vs. Portugal match. Once again, additional information is available at SKEDBALL WORLD CUP, but in Adults 18-49, the match had a massive 5.4 rating. Note that the match was over in most of the US before primetime began, so it shouldn’t have affected the numbers for the night’s other major programming. The season premiere of TRUE BLOOD (HBO) was at 2.2, which was down 0.2 from the Season 6 premiere, although steady with its finale. Once again, LAST WEEK TONIGHT aired after a rerun (in this case, at 0.5), which kept it at 0.4. The series premiere of THE LAST SHIP on TNT scored a solid if unthrilling 1.2 (plus 0.6 for the 11PM re-airing)–fine if it can hold at that level–and was followed by the Season 4 premiere of FALLING SKIES at 1.0 (plus 0.3 at midnight), down a heavy 0.5 from last season’s 2-hour premiere. PENNY DREADFUL (Showtime) had a good night, up more than a tenth to 0.4. NURSE JACKIE and CALIFORNICATION were also up, to 0.26/0.15. On Lifetime, DEVIOUS MAIDS and DROP DEAD DIVA were at 0.6/0.4, down 0.1 for DIVA. On AMC, HALT AND CATCH FIRE showed sudden signs of life, jumping by about 50% to a still-mediocre 0.35. SALEM (WGNAmerica) rose by a tiny bit to 0.18. On the trash-TV side, KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS (E!) gained 0.1 to 1.2, and at Bravo, REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA rose 0.1 to 1.0, followed by a steady 0.7 for MARRIED TO MEDICINE. On TLC, RETURN TO AMISH and SISTER WIVES were at 0.6/0.5.
Rising Star didn’t rise very far.
ABC: NBC’s plan to blunt ABC’s big night played out exactly as the Peacock had hoped. Although the season premiere of WIPEOUT won the early part of the evening at 1.0 (that was 0.2 below last summer’s premiere, but in 2013 the show premiered at the tail end of the regular season and on a Thursday), the launch of RISING STAR reached just 1.5, an unimpressive number considering the effort and hype ABC has put into the show. Of course, it won’t face the same level of competition every week going forward, but now the network will have to redouble its efforts to bring new viewers into the tent.
NBC: The night’s special 2-hour AMERICA’S GOT TALENT had no trouble wiping the floor with Rising Star, beating it by 0.6 with a 2.1 rating. (That was, however, half a point lower than last Tuesday’s regular episode.) The night started with 0.7 for an AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR rerun.
FOX: Mostly reruns, led by FAMILY GUY at 1.3. The exception was the series finale of ENLISTED, down 0.1 to 0.3.
CBS: Reruns, highlighted by 0.5s for 60 MINUTES and THE MENTALIST.
All the networks air their regular summer schedules tonight, aside from CBS, which will prime the pump for next week’s season premiere of UNDER THE DOME with a clip-show recap.
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