Fox’s event series “Wayward Pines” gained ratings ground in its second week, standing as the top series in its timeslot among young adults on the first night following the conclusion of the regular television season. ABC’s gameshow “500 Questions” was down a bit in its second night, but did outdraw NBC’s charity-themed special “Red Nose Day.”
ESPN was expected to win Thursday in most categories with Game 2 of the NBA’s Western Conference Finals between Houston and Golden State, which averaged a 4.4 overnight household rating, according to Nielsen. It fared nearly 20% better than the comparable game a year ago between San Antonio and Oklahoma City, which aired on TNT.
In Nielsen’s preliminary national estimates for Thursday, Fox’s night opened with a repeat of last week’s “Wayward Pines” premiere (0.8/3 in 18-49, 3.1 million viewers overall), followed by the show’s second episode (1.2/4 in 18-49, 4.6 million viewers overall).
Last week’s premiere underwhelmed in same-night ratings — a 1.0 in the demo opposite the season finales of “Scandal” and “The Blacklist” — but it nearly doubled its demo rating with just three days’ worth of DVR playback (rising to a 1.9). In total viewers, last night’s episode built by more than 800,000 from its premiere total (3.76 million), which grew to 6.2 million in Live+3.
CBS won among the Big Four in 18-49 thanks to encores of its comedy block of “The Big Bang Theory (1.5/6 in 18-49, 8.0 million viewers overall), the night’s top series, “The Odd Couple” (1.3/5 in 18-49, 6.4 million viewers overall), “Mom” (1.2/4 in 18-49, 5.9 million viewers overall) and “Mike & Molly” (1.0/3 in 18-49, 5.1 million viewers overall). A repeat “Elementary” closed out the night (0.6/2 in 18-49, 4.5 million viewers overall).
At ABC, night two of the seven-night series “500 Questions” slipped 17% (0.2) from its premiere night, averaging a 1.0/4 in 18-49 and 4.6 million viewers overall.
NBC’s three-hour “Red Nose Day” averaged a 0.8/3 in 18-49 and 3.2 million viewers overall. It did a 0.8 in both the 8 and 9 o’clock hours, and its 0.7 from 10 to 11 p.m. was good enough to win the timeslot among the major networks. The special raised more than $21 million for children’s charities across the globe and donations will continue for another 30 days.
