TV Ratings: 'Big Bang' Climbs, NFL Dips
The CBS comedy sees the night's most improvement, while ABC sees a steady return for 'Baking Show.'
After last week's robust showing for Thursday Night Football, NBC and the NFL Network's shared telecast of the Atlanta Falcon's narrow victory over the New Orleans Saints only lost a little steam.
Initial returns from Nielsen have the telecast averaging a 10.2 overnight rating among households before any time zone adjustments, just a five percent week-over-week dip. It's enough for an easy NBC win, and one that significantly outperforms its early Thursday NFL showings this season, but again down from 2016. The overnight score represents a 14 percent spill from the comparable game last season. Still, in a NFL season beset by more ratings dips, particularly in primetime, NBC's run of Thursday games has held up comparatively well.
CBS led the competition with new episodes of The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon. The network's flagship comedy averaged a 2.8 rating among adults 18-49 and 14.3 million viewers. In the demo, the show jumped 17 percent. Sheldon was similarly improved, albeit incrementally, earning a 2.2 rating. Mom (1.4 adults), Life in Pieces (1.1 adults) and SWAT (0.9 adults) followed.
A rejiggered version of The Great American Baking Show returned to ABC after some encore holiday specials. The show, like the British original, lost Mary Berry as a judge. This latest iteration of the softer stateside cousin averaged a 0.8 rating among adults 18-49 in its first half and held that score in its second hour.
Fox aired new episodes of Gotham (0.8 adults) and The Orville (0.9 adults), and the CW aired Supernatural (0.5 adults) and Arrow (0.4 adults).
