The summer season on the broadcast networks kicked off Thursday night to decidedly mixed results. ABC’s game-show lineup performed solidly and led the night among adults 18-49. NBC got a good showing from its Celebrity Escape Room special, which was part of the annual Red Nose Day fundraiser. Fox’s pregnancy dating show Labor of Love, however, got off to a weak start.
ABC’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was the most-watched show in primetime with 5.98 million viewers and scored a 0.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic. The season premiere of Holey Moley (4.44 million viewers, 0.8 in the demo) had its second-largest total audience ever and was above last season’s average in total viewers. To Tell the Truth (3.77 million, 0.7) led the 10 p.m. hour in both viewers and adults 18-49 and was also above last season’s average.
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Labor of Love — in which former Bachelor contestant Kristy Katzmann looks for a man to settle down and start a family with — crashed for Fox, managing just a 0.2 in the demo and under a million viewers (909,000, to be precise). Lead-in Celebrity Watch Party (0.3 in 18-49, 1.4 million viewers) was on par with last week’s numbers.
Celebrity Escape Room, featuring Jack Black, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Ben Stiller and Adam Scott, tied with Millionaire and Holey Moley for the demo lead with a 0.8 and drew 3.8 million viewers. The Red Nose Day special (0.4, 1.94 million) was on par with last year’s numbers, and more important, has raised some $14 million for anti-poverty programs thus far.
CBS’ Man With a Plan (0.6 in adults 18-49, 5.35 million viewers) and Broke (0.5, 4.32 million) were off a little versus last week. The CW’s Burden of Truth began its third season with its largest total audience (619,000) since the season one finale and was steady in adults 18-49 with 0.1. In the Dark (535,000, 0.1) was up week to week in viewers.
ABC’s 0.7 rating among adults 18-49 led primetime. CBS, NBC and Univision tied for second place with 0.5. Fox and Telemundo also tied with 0.3, and The CW drew a 0.1.
Bookmark THR.com/Ratings for more ratings news and numbers.
