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Why NBC Is Suddenly Hot on Sunday Night

Mar 14, 2016  •  Post A Comment

NBC pulled off something over the weekend that it hasn’t accomplished in almost 12 years, winning an in-season Sunday night in total viewers among the broadcast networks with a prime-time slate of entertainment programming. The network announced that it was the first time that happened since May 16, 2004, when it won with “Dateline,” “Law &Order : Criminal Intent” and “Crossing Jordan.”

A big catalyst is the new 8 p.m. variety show “Little Big Shots,” hosted by Steve Harvey. The program held almost all of its 18-49 audience from its sneak preview Tuesday night, when it led out from “The Voice,” and Sunday’s broadcast was up in total viewers.

Based on Nielsen overnights, “Little Big Shots” delivered a 2.8 average rating Sunday in the 18-49 demo, more than double the 1.3 for ABC’s “Once Upon a Time,” its closest time slot competition on the Big 4 broadcast nets. The NBC show averaged 14.8 million total viewers, up 16% from Tuesday and the best number for regularly scheduled entertainment programming on NBC on a Sunday night since “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” delivered 15.7 million on March 13, 2005.

The variety show’s lead-out on NBC, “The Carmichael Show,” had a series-high 1.5 average in 18-49 at 9 p.m. to come in as the night’s top comedy.

little big shots-nbc

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