Gay TV Hits: Here Are Nielsen’s Top 20 Shows Among Viewers With Same-Sex Partners

“Murphy Brown” has a strong showing

This is Us - Season 3
Photo by: Ron Batzdorff/NBC

Nielsen unveiled an update to its demographics breakdown on Thursday, allowing the company to track the viewing habits of a portion of the LGBT audience for the first time.

Along with that information, Nielsen also released a list of the top 20 shows watched most by viewers with same-gender partners or spouses. The data covers broadcasts during the week of Monday, Sept. 24 through Sunday, Sept. 30.

Surprisingly, CBS’ reboot of “Murphy Brown” topped the list, with a total of 339,000 viewers with same-gender partners or spouses. That same broadcast didn’t even crack the top 20 among a general audience. Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story: Apocalypse” and “9-1-1” also made appearances on the list despite not ranking among total viewers, with 238,000 and 164,000 viewers, respectively.

However, much like the general audience, same-gender couples also tuned in to NBC’s new high-concept drama “Manifest,” the third season of the weepy “This Is Us,” the final run of “The Big Bang Theory” and its spinoff “Young Sheldon,” as well as the uplifting medical dramas “New Amsterdam” and “The Good Doctor.”

Noticeably absent are the many CBS procedurals, which all ranked among the top 20 for the week. “NCIS” and its offshoots, “Bull,” “Magnum P.I.,” “Blue Bloods” and Dick Wolf’s new “FBI” all failed to make the cut. In their place is more soapy, serialized fare like the aforementioned Ryan Murphy dramas, Fox’s “Empire” and Shonda Rhimes’ “Grey’s Anatomy” at ABC.

At no. 16 with 143,000 viewers with same-gender partners, MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” is the sole cable news program on either list.

See the full list, followed by the top 20 broadcasts among all TV watchers, below.

  1. “Murphy Brown,” CBS: 339,000
  2. “Manifest,” NBC: 293,000
  3. “AHS: Apocalypse,” FX: 238,000
  4. “This Is Us,” NBC: 236,000
  5. “The Big Bang Theory” (Monday), CBS: 230,000
  6. “The Good Doctor,” ABC: 205,000
  7. “Modern Family,” ABC: 202,000
  8. “The Big Bang Theory” (Thursday), CBS: 200,000
  9. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC: 197,000
  10. “Young Sheldon” (Monday), CBS: 176,000
  11. “Mom,” CBS: 173,000
  12. “9-1-1,” Fox: 164,000
  13. “60 Minutes,” CBS: 154,000
  14. “The Voice” (Tuesday): 147,000
  15. “Young Sheldon” (Thursday): 145,000
  16. “The Rachel Maddow Show,” MSNBC: 143,000
  17. “Grey’s Anatomy,” ABC: 142,000
  18. “New Amsterdam,” NBC: 135,000
  19. “Empire,” Fox: 133,000
  20. “Law & Order: SVU,” NBC: 131,000
  1. “Manifest,” NBC: 18,399,000
  2. “The Big Bang Theory” (Monday), CBS: 18,221,000
  3. “The Big Bang Theory” (Thursday), CBS: 16,863,000
  4. “NCIS,” CBS: 16,660,000
  5. “This Is Us,” NBC: 16,291,000
  6. “Young Sheldon” (Monday), CBS: 14,398,000
  7. “The Good Doctor,” ABC: 14,204,000
  8. “FBI,” CBS: 14,161,000
  9. “60 Minutes,” CBS: 14,126,000
  10. “New Amsterdam,” NBC: 14,105,000
  11. “Young Sheldon” (Thursday), CBS: 13,639,000
  12. “Blue Bloods,” CBS: 13,348,000
  13. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS: 12,723,000
  14. “Bull,” CBS: 12,576,000
  15. “God Friended Me,” CBS: 12,151,000
  16. “Magnum P.I.,” CBS: 11,993,000
  17. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC: 11,968,000
  18. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC: 11,812,000
  19. “Chicago Fire,” NBC: 11,587,000
  20. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS: 11,466,000

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