TV Ratings Thursday: ‘The Night Shift’ finale and ‘Love Connection’ tick up

Masked Scheduler's Ratings Smackdown

Tales of MUST SEE TV will return on Tuesday by while you’re breathlessly waiting…

A few weeks ago, after watching GLOW, I offered a primer to those who may be interested in learning a bit more about professional wrestling. Well I want to add something to the list and that’s the MAE YOUNG CLASSIC which dropped its first four episodes on Monday on the WWE NETWORK. This Classic brings together 32 of the best independent (mostly) women wrestlers from all over the world in a single elimination tournament. The first four episodes encompasses the first round and there are some excellent matches here. You also get to know the women and their back stories. There were several surprises here and a lot of emotion.

I’m not shilling for the Network but if you wait a week or two and subscribe for a month you will get the entire tournament including the live final and the next WWE PPV, NO MERCY is surprisingly strong. So, again, if you liked GLOW this is for you.

There seems to be a lot of musical chairs going on in the executive suites of the various TV platforms. Yesterday the President of Entertainment of FOX left to be replaced by the EVP of Development at the FOX TV Studio who now needs to be replaced. The now ex-Prez of FBC is heading over to AMC to replace the guy who went over to HULU. Meanwhile the dudes who were running SONY Television lest and went over to APPLE which is getting into the original programming business and the former head of Entertainment at WGN America is also heading over to APPLE with his number two is now at You Tube which is also now in the original programming game. This is just what I know because I know all these people. There are countless other moves taking place. The summer into September is a time for a lot of moves in the TV business. Once the season starts, and there is the inevitable failure, there will be more changes.

I have always had a theory that once you are in the TV game you can always find a job no matter how much you screw up. There is one person each year who can’t find a spot and winds up working at a Dairy Queen. Think about that when you go in for a soft ice cream.

Enjoy the long weekend.

Email is masked.scheduler@gmail.com and Twitter @maskedscheduler

Broadcast primetime live + same-day ratings for Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017

Note: Local pre-emptions for NFL preseason games on, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, and The CW affiliates will likely result in greater adjustments than usual in the final ratings.

The numbers for Thursday:

It was a rerun-heavy night in the Wednesday ratings this week. CBS led once again with “Big Brother” scoring a 1.8 rating in adults 18-49, the same as what it had scored the week before. Also on CBS, “Zoo” ticked up three-tenths from a 0.6 to a 0.9.

The season finale of “The Night Shift” raked in a 0.9 on NBC, one-tenth higher than its previous 0.8. On FOX, an encore airing of “Beat Shazam” scored a 1.3 in the preliminary ratings, while “Love Connection” experienced a notable increase, rising from a 0.6 to a 1.3 this time around as well.

Due to the NFL pre-emptions on all of the major networks, though, it’s likely that most of these numbers will experience some noteworthy adjustments in the finals later this afternoon.

Network averages:

Definitions:
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings are available at approximately 11 a.m. ET the day after telecast. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. 
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. 
Time Shifted Viewing: Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live +Same-Day and Live +7 Day. Time-shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs. Live+SD includes viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3 a.m. local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live +7 ratings include  viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.

Source: The Nielsen Company.