TV Ratings: Olympics Coverage Boosts 'Go On' Preview for NBC

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NBC is touting its new fall fare during the Summer Olympics. If you can, why not.

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Last night, the network previewed Matthew Perry's half-hour comedy Go On following its coverage of the Games and the upcoming series averaged 18.5 million total viewers and a 6.4 rating among adults 18-49 from 11:04-11:30 p.m. Though that was down a substantial amount from its Olympics lead-in, those numbers are still significant to note. (It is expected to go down when finals come in later Thursday.)

The bar has been set: Go On will make its time period premiere Tuesday, Sept. 11 at 9 p.m. NBC will also utilize the Olympics for rookie series Animal Practice this Sunday following the closing ceremony.

The Olympics coverage, which featured Misty May-Treanor and Kerry Walsh Jennings' gold-medal three-peat in women's beach volleyball, averaged 29.7 million viewers and a 9.2 rating, down from the previous night in both categories. The night was up double digits, however, from the same night during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Elsewhere on the dial, only two originals aired: a tide-changing episode of Big Brother (5.3 million viewers, 1.8), which hit a series low, and ABC's Final Witness (2.8 million, 0.8), up 14 percent.

While NBC captured the easy nightly victory, CBS was the only other broadcast network to hit above a 1.0 rating for the night, averaging a 1.2. ABC (0.9), Fox (0.7) and the CW (0.4) followed.

UPDATE: According to fast official ratings from Nielsen, NBC's commercial-free Go On preview, which the network says aired from 11:06-11:30 p.m., averaged 16.1 million and a 5.6 rating. By the second half of the episode (11:18-11:30 p.m.), Go On retained 84 percent of its audience.

E-mail: Philiana.Ng@thr.com