TV Ratings: 'Titan Games' Scores Strong Debut on NBC

The Dwayne Johnson-hosted competition delivers NBC's best non-sports performance in its slot in almost two years.


Unscripted series premieres are 2-for-2 in scoring strong ratings in the new year.


On the heels of a big debut for The Masked Singer on Fox Wednesday, The Titan Games brought in strong numbers for NBC Thursday night. The Dwayne Johnson-hosted competition show (he's also an executive producer) helped NBC to its first Thursday win (excluding nights of sports telecasts) in almost two years.


The Titan Games delivered a 1.8 rating among adults 18-49 and 6.5 million viewers for its two-hour debut, the network's best non-sports performance in the 8-10 p.m. block since March 2, 2017. The premiere topped CBS' Young Sheldon (1.7) head-to-head in their shared half-hour.


The season premiere of The Blacklist followed with a 0.9 in the demo, on par with its 2017-18 average, though its 4.19 million viewers were down a good amount from last season's average of 5.65 million.


Fox's Gotham began its final season with a 0.7, a tick below its 2017-18 average of 0.8. The Orville followed with a 0.6, a 60 percent drop from its NFL-fueled premiere Sunday (which currently stands at 2.1 after three days of delayed viewing).


CBS' Big Bang Theory (tops for the night at 2.2) and Young Sheldon both improved slightly in the 18-49 demo vs. their last new episodes in December and were the top two shows of the night in viewers. Following Big Bang and Young Sheldon reruns in the 9 o'clock hour, SWAT scored season highs of 0.9 in the demo and 5.95 million viewers. ABC got a 0.7 from its news special The Last Days of John F. Kennedy Jr.



NBC led the network race with a 1.5 in adults 18-49, topping CBS' 1.3. ABC finished third at 0.7, edging Fox's 0.6. A rerun slate on The CW averaged 0.2.