TV Ratings: ‘The Bachelor’ Slides in Monday Night Primetime Numbers Amid Controversy
Although Monday’s primetime crown winner was ABC’s long-running dating game show “The Bachelor” in Nielsen Live+Same Day adults 18-49 dey demographic rankings, total viewership slipped from the prior week amid a controversy surrounding host Chris Harrison and frontrunner contestant Rachael Kirkconnell over past racist behavior.
The “hometown dates” episode of Matt James’ season, usually one of the most highly anticipated climaxes of the show, lured 5.23 million viewers, placing “The Bachelor” in fifth for ratings sorted by total viewership. The show was down 16.67% in the key demo compared to last week (1.2 versus 1.44), and down 5.07% in watchers.
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Also on at 8 p.m. on Feb. 22 was Fox’s “9-1-1,” which came second in the overall key demo ratings, garnering a 1.0 and came first in the overall viewership scores with 6.54 million viewers. CBS also debuted a new episode of “The Neighborhood” (0.8, 5.74), NBC ran a new episode of “Ellen’s Game of Games” (0.5, 2.96) and The CW aired a new episode of “All American” (0.2, 0.75). After the 8 to 10 p.m. window, the alphabet network dropped a new episode of “The Good Doctor,” which drew a 0.5 in the key demo and 3.80 million viewers, landing the medical drama in seventh place in the ages 18-49 rankings.
Elsewhere on television, CBS dropped new episodes of “Bob Loves Abishola” at 8:30 p.m. (0.6, 5.41), “All Rise” at 9 p.m. (0.4, 4.10) and “The Bull” at 10 p.m. (0.4, 5.03). Meanwhile, NBC ran another new episode of “Ellen’s Game of Games” at 9 p.m. (0.6, 2.66) and “The Wall” at 10 p.m. (0.5, 2.37).
Additionally, The CW aired a new episode of the DC Comics Arrowverse series “Black Lightning” at 9 p.m., which obtained a 0.1 in the key demo and 0.38 million viewers.
Over on the Spanish language giants, Univision dropped new episodes of Mexican telenovelas “Vencer el desamor” at 8 p.m. (0.5, 1.70), and the Mexican telenovela adaptation of a Turkish hit “¿Te acuerdas de mí?” at 9 p.m. (0.4, 1.45) and “Dulce Ambición” at 10 p.m. (0.3, 1.23). Throughout the evening, Telemundo ran a new episode of the athletic skill and endurance competition series “Exatlón Estados Unidos” (0.3, 1.0) at 8 p.m., as well as a new episode of the Silvia Navarro-starring telenovela “La Suerte de Loli” at 9 p.m. (0.3, 1.03). Telemundo Global Studios-produced telenovela “Buscando a Friday” also debuted a new episode last night at 10 p.m., scoring a 0.3 in the key demo and about 932,000 viewers.
Overall on Monday night, ABC was number one in the key demo, obtaining a 1.0 rating and 4.75 million viewers. In terms of overall viewership, Fox came out on top with 5.88 million viewers, garnering a 0.9 in the key demo. CBS and NBC tied for third, each drawing a 0.5 rating in the key demo— CBS, however, was up ahead in viewers (4.9 million) versus NBC (2.66 million). Univision came in fourth drawing a 0.4 in the key demo and 1.46 million viewers. Telemundo ended the night with a 0.3 key demo rating and 988,000 viewers. The CW ranked at the bottom with a 0.2 rating and 565,000 viewers.
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