“Big Brother” fell 11 percent in TV ratings with its Season 19 start, setting a new low mark for a premiere in the process. Still, the two-hour show was strong enough to hand CBS an outright win across Wednesday’s primetime. Plus, again, this is its 19th season, people.
Head-to-head during the 8 p.m. hour, NBC’s “Little Big Shots: Forever Young” actually finished first in total viewers. It was a rare swap for the two broadcasters, with NBC skewing old and CBS going young.
CBS was first in ratings with a 1.4 rating/6 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 5.1 million, according to preliminary numbers. “Big Brother” at 8 earned a 1.7/8 — down from last year’s 1.9 — and 5.9 million viewers.
Fox was second in ratings with a 0.8/4 and third in viewers with 2.8 million. “MasterChef” at 8 put up a 1.0/5 and 3.5 million viewers. “The F Word” at 9 settled for a 0.6/3 and 2.1 million viewers.
NBC and ABC tied for third in ratings, both with a 0.6. NBC had a 3 share, ABC got a 2. NBC was second in total viewers with 3.9 million, ABC was fourth with 2.7 million.
For NBC, the “LBS” spinoff at 8 posted a 0.9/4 and 6.5 million viewers. “The Carmichael Show” at 9 received a 0.7/3 and 3.5 million viewers. Reruns followed.
For ABC, after repeats, “To Tell the Truth” at 10 had a 0.6/3 and 3.2 million viewers.
Univision and Telemundo tied for fifth in ratings, both with a 0.5/2. Univision was fifth in total viewers with 1.5 million, Telemundo was sixth with 1.4 million.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.2/1 and in viewers with 757,000, airing all reruns.