ABC’s “Truth and Lies: The Menendez Brothers” special topped its two hours in Thursday’s TV ratings, though CBS ultimately ended up winning primetime outright.
Les Moonves can once again thank his “Big Bang Theory” for carrying the whole evening. At 8 p.m., the Jim Parsons’ sitcom scored a 3.6 rating/13 share in the key 18-49 demographic and hauled in 16.7 million viewers. As per usual, nothing else came close to those Nielsen numbers.
ABC finished runner-up in both the main demo and among overall audience members.
CBS was first in ratings with a 1.7 rating/6 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 8.7 million, according to preliminary numbers. After “Big Bang,” Joel McHale’s 8:30 “Great Indoors” episode posted a 1.9/7 and 9.7 million viewers. At 9, “Mom” had a 1.7/6 and 8.5 million viewers. “Life in Pieces” at 9:30 received a 1.4/5 and 6.7 million viewers. “Pure Genius” at 10 got a 0.8/3 and 5.3 million viewers.
ABC was second in ratings with a 1.4/5 and in viewers with 6.3 million. “The Great American Baking Show” at 8 produced a 1.0/4 and 5 million viewers. The Menendez special from 9-11 averaged a 1.6/6 and 7 million viewers.
Fox was third in ratings with a 1.2/4 and fourth in viewers with 3.6 million. “Hell’s Kitchen” was the only program on the network’s primetime schedule.
NBC was fourth in ratings with a 1.1/4 and third in viewers with 5.1 million. “Superstore” at 8 had a 1.2/5 and 4.5 million viewers. “The Good Place” at 8:30 got a 1.0/4 and 3.6 million viewers. “Chicago Med” at 9 received a 1.2/4 and 6.2 million viewers. At 10, “The Blacklist” put up a 1.0/4 and 5.2 million viewers.
Univision and Telemundo tied for fifth in ratings, both with a 0.7/2. Univision was fifth in total viewers with 2 million, Telemundo was sixth with 1.7 million.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.3/1 and in viewers with 915,000, airing just repeats.