Thursday Overnights: ‘Big Brother’ on CBS Tops Alarmingly Modest-Rated Evening

Household Rating/Share
Fox: 2.3/ 4, CBS: 2.2/ 4, NBC: 2.0/ 4, ABC: 1.7/ 3, CW: 0.5/ 1

-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening:
Fox: + 5, NBC and CW: no change, ABC: -19, CBS: -31

Ratings Breakdown:
The immediate observation: the five broadcast networks combined totaled under an 8-overnight household rating on this third July Thursday. And 85 percent of the schedule were original telecasts. The obvious question: How much lower will they go this summer?

CBS’ veteran “Big Brother” (which is about to get very interesting) topped the night with a 2.7 rating/ 5 share in the overnight households at 9 p.m. Comparably, this built from lead-in “Love Island” (#4: 1.8/ 4) by 50 percent, and it bested competing “Masterchef” on Fox (#2: 1.9/ 4) and “Hollywood Game Night” on NBC (#3: 1.8/ 3) by 42 percent and 50 percent, respectively.

Also original in the 9 p.m. hour last night was CW drama “The Outpost” at a 0.5/ 1 (which led out of a 0.6/ 1 in households for “iZombie” at 8 p.m.).

Elsewhere, CBS’ soon-to-conclude “Elementary” reached the 150-episode mark with a 2.0/ 4 at 10 p.m. (#1), which outdelivered competing ABC drama “Reef Break” (#3: 1.5/ 3) by 33 percent.

The remainder of the overnight household results for Thursday, July 18 are as follows:

8:00 p.m.
ABC – “Holy Moley”: 2.4/ 5 (#2)
CBS – “Love Island”: 1.9/ 4 (#4)
NBC – “The Wall” (R): 2.3/ 5 (#2)
Fox – “Masterchef”: 2.6/ 5 (#1)
CW – “iZombie”: 0.6/ 1 (#5)

8:30 p.m.
ABC – “Holy Moley”: 2.0/ 4 (#3)
CBS – “Love Island”: 1.7/ 3 (#4)
NBC – “The Wall” (R): 2.4/ 5 (#2)
Fox – “Masterchef”: 2.6/ 5 (#1)
CW – “iZombie”: 0.5/ 1 (#5)

9:00 p.m.
ABC – “Family Food Fight”: 1.5/ 3 (#4)
CBS – “Big Brother”: 2.7/ 5 (#1)
NBC – “Hollywood Game Night”: 1.9/ 4 (#2t)
Fox – “Spin the Wheel”: 1.9/ 4 (#2t)
CW – “The Outpost”: 0.5/ 1 (#5)

9:30 p.m.
ABC – “Family Food Fight”: 1.3/ 2 (#4)
CBS – “Big Brother”: 2.7/ 5 (#1)
NBC – “Hollywood Game Night”: 1.8/ 3 (#3)
Fox – “Spin the Wheel”: 1.9/ 4 (#2)
CW – “The Outpost”: 0.4/ 1 (#5)

10:00 p.m.
ABC – “Reef Break”: 1.5/ 3 (#3)
CBS – “Elementary”: 2.0/ 4 (#1)
NBC – “Law & Order: SVU” (R): 1.8/ 3 (#2)

10:30 p.m.
ABC – “Reef Break”: 1.5/ 3 (#3)
CBS – “Elementary”: 2.0/ 4 (#1)
NBC – “Law & Order: SVU” (R): 1.7/ 3 (#2)

Source: Nielsen Media Research