TV networks gave viewers few holiday distractions last week

NEW YORK (AP) - The nation’s birthday week was observed by the networks mostly by scripted repeats along with the usual slate of reality and game shows.

Although NBC’s two-hour “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks” special ranked sixth and 16th for the week, the top-ranked prime-time shows were CBS’ “60 Minutes” rerun and, in second place, a “Big Bang Theory” repeat, according to Nielsen.

The week’s most-talked-about show was likely “Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence,” a two-hour investigation into the celebrated aviator’s mysterious disappearance on a round-the-world flight 80 years ago. Although it wouldn’t have cracked the broadcast Top 20, the History documentary was by far the week’s most-watched cable program, drawing 4.32 million viewers.

Among broadcast networks, CBS won the week in prime time, averaging 8.92 million viewers. NBC had 7.73 million, ABC had 6.11 million, Fox had 5.34 million, Univision had 1.78 million, the CW had 1.73 million, Telemundo had 1.44 million, and ION Television had 1.26 million.

Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 1.96 million viewers in prime time. HGTV had 1.51 million, USA had 1.43 million and History was right behind with 1.42 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.42 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.16 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.71 million.

For the week of July 3-9, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.43 million; “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 7.13 million; “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 6.84 million; “Little Big Shots: Forever Young,” NBC, 6.72 million; “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 6.39 million; “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks,” NBC, 6.36 million; “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 6.15 million; “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 6.09 million; “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.50 million; “American Ninja Warrior,” NBC, 5.09 million.

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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks.

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Online:

https://www.nielsen.com