TV Ratings: NBC's Olympics Wins Again, Though Fatigue Shows

9:20 AM PDT 8/10/2012 by Jordan Zakarin

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With the games winding down, audience numbers slipped for the peacock, as ABC's "Wipeout" trended up.

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It's another gold for NBC, but without the swimming and gymnastic stars that have powered many of its big nights, ratings were down on its London 2012 broadcast.

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The network pulled in an average of 22 million viewers on Thursday night, for a 6.8 rating in the coveted 18-49 demographic. Even with track star Usain Bolt's record run on tape delay and highlights of the soccer ladies taking gold, stats were down, especially against last Thursday's 35.7 million that tuned in for Gabby Douglas' gold-medal performance. On Wednesday, NBC had 29.7 million, for a 9.2 rating.

Meanwhile, ABC's Wipeout jumped up from a 1.4 last week to a 1.65, with an average of 5.03 million viewers. Rookie Blue also so a spike, to a 3.2 and 5 million viewers.

CBS' The Big Bang Theory continues to prove strong in reruns, pacing behind the Olympics in the 8 pm hour with a 1.8 demo and 6.9 million viewers. Two and a Half Men saw the eye network drop to 1.75, but they spiked to 2.1/6.22 for a new episode of Big Brother at 9 pm.

FOX was behind with the combination of Raising Hope at 1.1, and Glee at 1.0.