CBS’s long-running reality show “Big Brother” enjoyed modest week-to-week growth on Thursday night, combining with a steady “Under the Dome” to hand the network a win in both the key 18-49 demographic and in total viewers. Meanwhile, ABC’s “Mistresses” and NBC’s “Aquarius” showed notable growth over last week, according to preliminary numbers.
CBS was first place in the demo and total viewers with a 1.4 rating/5 share in the demo and 5.8 million total viewers. Following repeats of “The Big Bang Theory” and “Mom,” “Big Brother” at 9 inched up in the demo to a 1.9/7 — the night’s top demo performance — and had 5.9 million total viewers. “Under the Dome” the following hour held steady with last week for a 1.0 and drew 5.1 million total viewers.
Fox took second place in the demo and third in total viewers with a 0.9/3 and 2.8 million. Its slate was on par with the previous Thursday, starting with “Boom” at 8, which posted a 0.7/3 and had 2.2 million total viewers. “Wayward Pines” the following hour likewise held steady, posting a 1.0/4 with 3.3 million total viewers.
ABC tied with Univision for third in the demo and was second in total viewers with a 0.8/3 and 4 million. The network’s slate was marked by week-to-week improvements, with “Astronaut Wives Club” at 8 climbing 14 percent to a 0.8/3 and drawing 4.3 million total viewers. “Mistresses” the following hour jumped 33 percent, also taking a 0.8/3 rating, and had 3.5 million total viewers. “Rookie Blue” at 10 held steady with last week for a 0.7/2 and drew 4.2 million total viewers.
Univision was fifth in total viewers with 2.3 million.
NBC tied for fifth with Telemundo in ratings with a 0.6/2 and held fourth place in viewers with 2.4 million, compared to 1.4 million for Telemundo. Despite the ranking, the network’s slate yielded a couple of nice advances over last Thursday. “Food Fighters” at 8 climbed 14 percent over last week’s premiere, scoring a 0.8/3, and had 3.3 million total viewers. The following hour, “Aquarius” jumped 25 percent from last week to a 0.5/2 with 2.5 million total viewers. The recently canceled “Hannibal” at 10 was steady with last week, tying a series low of 0.4/1, and had 1.4 million total viewers.
The CW had a 0.2 for the night with 755,000 total viewers. “Beauty and the Beast” at 8 tied a series low of 0.2/1 and had 901,000 viewers. The premiere of “Dates” at 9 posted a 0.2/1 — even with last year’s debut of “Backpackers” — and drew 695,000 total viewers. However, a second episode at 9:30 suffered a steep drop-off, posting a 0.1/1 with 523,000 total viewers.