The premiere of Neil Patrick Harris‘ “Best Time Ever” and the first part of the season finale of “America’s Got Talent” propelled NBC to an easy win in Tuesday night’s ratings.
Harris’ live variety show at 10 p.m. drew a 1.9 rating/7 share in the advertiser coveted 18-49 demographic and 6.7 million total viewers. Lead-in “America’s Got Talent” at 8 topped the night with a 2.3 rating/9 share and 11.2 million viewers.
Things were not so rosy for the CBS drama “Zoo,” of which the season finale drew just a 0.9 rating/3 share and 4.8 million total viewers, down 10 percent in the main demo from last week and almost 50 percent in total viewers from when the show premiered.
Overall, NBC was first in ratings with a 2.2 rating/8 share in the key demo and in total viewers with an average of 9.7 million, according to preliminary numbers.
CBS was second in ratings with a 1.2/4 and in viewers with 5.3 million, driven largely by a special “Big Brother” in the 8 o’clock time slot. That show posted a 2.0/8 and 6.4 million total viewers. “Zoo” followed at 9; a rerun ran after that.
ABC was third in ratings with a 1.0 rating/4 share and in viewers with 5 million. Following repeats, a special “Dancing With the Stars” recap show received a 1.1/4 and 5.7 million viewers.
Univision was fourth in ratings with a 0.9 rating/5 share and in viewers with 5.4 million.
Telemundo was fifth in ratings with a 0.7/3 and in viewers with 1.7 million.
Fox was sixth in ratings with a 0.5/2 and in viewers with 1.4 million, airing only “Scary Movie” during its primetime block.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.3/1 and in viewers with 1.2 million, airing just reruns.