Discovery, Inc.-owned cable channel will take these ”90 Day Fiancé“-universe ratings — for better and for richer
TLC will take these audience deliveries, to have and to hold.

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Click Here Already a subscriber? LoginLast fall, this weekly column dove into the “90 Day Fiancé” universe’s TV ratings. Well, that dominance proved it was not seasonal, as the show and its (many) spinoffs just led TLC to summer-long Sunday and Monday primetime wins in the delivery of adults 18-49. We’re not just referring to cable — that top ranking includes broadcast television, too.
On Sundays this summer, ABC (862,000 viewers 18-49) was the No. 2 network in primetime by that metric across all of TV. NBC (851,000) was television’s runner-up on Mondays. TLC averaged deliveries of 1.4 million viewers 18-49 on Sundays and 1.1 on Mondays.
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On Sundays from 8 p.m.-10 p.m., “90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?” averaged 1.6 million viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, which is the key demographic for advertisers on most of TV’s primetime entertainment programming. (TLC actually sells most of its ads based on women 18-49, a demo which it totally dominates. We wanted to give the rest of TV a chance by including the men and removing any argument of skewing statistics by sex.)
Counting all programs with at least three telecasts this summer, “90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?” is the top program across all of television on Sunday nights.
Across the summer season, for which we are generally counting June, July and August (perfectly, a 90-day period), the 8-10 p.m. time slot also included two hours of the “Tell All” version of “90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days,” which posted 2.3 million viewers among people 18-49.
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At 10 p.m., TLC mostly aired “Smothered” this summer, which averaged 733,000 demo viewers. All numbers in this story come from Nielsen’s Live + 3 Days audience-measurement metric.
Two Sunday episodes of “Smothered: Knows Best” averaged 594,000 adults 18-49, and three episodes of “Darcey & Stacey” had 937,000. That series follows Darcey Silva, a “90 Day”-universe alum, and her sister Stacey.
Mondays included more shows, but mostly it was “90 Day Fiancé: B90 Strikes Back” (816,000 viewers 18-49) from 8 to 9, “90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way” (1.6 million viewers 18-49) from 9-10 and “90 Day Pillow Talk: The Other Way” (824,000 demo viewers) from 10 to 11.
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That 8 o’clock-on-Mondays hour also included two “Tell More” episodes of “90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days” on TLC, averaging to 1.6 million viewers ages 18-49.
At 9, one “Self-Quarantine”-coded episode of “90 Day Fiancé” averaged 766,000 viewers. At 10, one “What Now?”-titled episode received 750,000 viewers in the demo.
Yeah, there’s a lot of “90 Day Fiancé” iterations. And, in aggregate, it all seems to be working.
7 TV Shows That Have Cracked Real Mysteries, From 'The Jinx' to 'Unsolved Mysteries' (Photos)
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Robert Durst in HBO's "The Jinx"
The debut of Netflix's "Unsolved Mysteries" reboot earlier this month has set off a clamoring for cold cases to be reopened and brought to justice. In that spirit, we've compiled a list of TV shows that have actually solved crimes, exonerated people, and found answers to the unknown, from "The Jinx" miniseries that lead to the arrest of Robert Durst, to "Extinct or Alive," which found a living animal thought to have died out over 100 years ago.
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Netflix
"Unsolved Mysteries"
Back before the Netflix reboot, this classic series was on network television. Creator Terry Meurer told TheWrap that during its original 23-year run, the series helped to solve over 260 cold cases. She has high hopes that this new incarnation of the series will have the same luck.
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Oxygen
"Cold Justice"
This crime series from Dick Wolf and Magical Elves works with local law enforcement to solve cold cases. The resulted thus far: 45 arrests and 18 convictions, according to Oxygen.
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HBO
"The Jinx"
This miniseries written by "All Good Things" director Andrew Jarecki led to Robert Durst's long-awaited arrest for the murder of Susan Berman just one day before the finale of "The Jinx" aired on TV. Durst had admired Jarecki's work on "All Good Things" and had offered to be interviewed for the miniseries.
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Photo credit Mark Romanov and John Harrington
"Extinct or Alive"
This one has more to do with animals than humans, but we have to give Animal Planet credit for discovering live members of a species that was believed to have been extinct. Last year, series host and biologist Forrest Galante found a female Fernandina Tortoise -- presumed extinct since 1906 -- on a remote volcanic island in the Galapagos.
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Discovery
"Expedition Unknown"
Host Josh Gates took part in finding one of 12 treasure boxes that were buried in different American cities nearly 40 years ago by Bryon Preiss, whose 1982 book "The Secret" gave elaborate clues to the boxes whereabouts. In one episode, Gates meets a family who located the Boston box.
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Fox
"America's Most Wanted"
This long-running Fox series was successful in finding many fugitives wanted by the FBI, including Ricky Allen Bright, Steven Ray Stout, Robert Lee Jones and more, according to CBS News.
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Netflix
"Curb Your Enthusiasm"
This Larry David HBO series unknowingly captured the key to freeing Juan Catalan, a man who was on death row for a murder he did not commit. "Curb" had been filming at Dodger Stadium on the day of the murder, providing evidence that Catalan was watching the game with his 6-year-old daughter and could not have been at the crime scene. Catalan and David both later appeared in the 2017 Netflix documentary "Long Shot."
These shows have lead to both arrests and exonerations
The debut of Netflix's "Unsolved Mysteries" reboot earlier this month has set off a clamoring for cold cases to be reopened and brought to justice. In that spirit, we've compiled a list of TV shows that have actually solved crimes, exonerated people, and found answers to the unknown, from "The Jinx" miniseries that lead to the arrest of Robert Durst, to "Extinct or Alive," which found a living animal thought to have died out over 100 years ago.
Tony Maglio
TV Editor • tony.maglio@thewrap.com • Twitter: @tonymaglio