NETWORK UPDATE: ROOKIE BLUE narrowly avoided a new series low by finding an extra 0.1 in final numbers.
THURSDAY CABLE: Sports ruled the day and night. As detailed in today’s WORLD CUP SKEDBALL report, the US vs. Germany match had a big 3.0 rating despite the 11AM Eastern start time of the telecast (and it would have been even bigger if ESPN didn’t include its pre- and post-show coverage with the match itself). At night, too, ESPN had the lead with its NBA DRAFT coverage at 1.5. The highest rated regular series was PAWN STARS (History) at 0.8, which was nevertheless down 0.3 from last week. AMERICAN RESTORATION was down a more modest 0.1 to 0.6. In their 2d weeks, Syfy’s DEFIANCE and DOMINION were both at 0.4, down a worrisome 0.2 for each. On TLC, both KATE PLUS 8 and HERE COMES HONEY BOO BOO were at 0.6, down 0.2 and 0.1 respectively. THE CHALLENGE (MTV) rose 0.1 to 0.7. MARON (IFC) had a 0.055. (Note: SundanceTV appears not to be a Nielsen client, so there are no numbers available for RECTIFY.)
Big Brother remained strong on its 2d night.
CBS: The summer’s first Thursday BIG BROTHER was the highest-rated show of the night at 2.3, the same as Wednesday’s premiere and up 0.2 from the first Thursday installment of 2013. The rest of the night was made up of reruns, led of course by THE BIG BANG THEORY at 1.7.
ABC: The season premiere of NY MED was at 0.9, down 0.3 from last summer’s premiere (which was on a Tuesday). It was, however, the most-watched show in its hour, suggesting that it’s skewing old. The rest of the night was dreary for ABC, as BLACK BOX fell 0.1 to hit a new 0.6 low, and ROOKIE BLUE (facing Big Brother directly) dropped 0.2 from last week’s premiere to tie its low 0.8.
NBC: LAST COMIC STANDING took a big hit, down 0.4 from last week to a series low 1.0. Also at a series low, although it had a shorter slide, was UNDATEABLE, down 0.1 in both of its half-hours to 0.8. That was the same rating as the rerun HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT that started the evening.
FOX: HELL’S KITCHEN slipped 0.1 to 1.7, and GANG RELATED remained at 0.8.
CW: A pair of barely measurable 0.1 reruns.
Remember RAKE? The FOX flop burns off an hour tonight. The only other new programming on the networks is on NBC, which has a medical special followed by CROSSBONES.
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