'Talent' tops Tuesday

Ratings Flash - Rick Kissell

By RICK KISSELL

For a second straight week, and despite this time facing the NBA Finals on ABC, NBC reigned supreme in Tuesday's ratings race behind a winning two-hour edition of "America's Got Talent."

According to preliminary nationals from Nielsen, "America's Got Talent" averaged a 3.9 rating/12 share in adults 18-49 and 11.8 million viewers overall from 8 to 10 p.m., down a bit in rating but even in share with its premiere scores from 9 to 11 p.m. a week earlier. This reps NBC's best demo delivery in the time period (excluding the Olympics) in 18 months; it's also a good sign for the second-year series, since this week it opposed basketball action in its second hour in most of the country and in its first hour in the West. NBC closed out the night with a second-place finish for a repeat of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2.6/8 in 18-49, 8.8 million viewers overall).

Over at ABC, Game 3 of the NBA Finals averaged a 3.2/9 in 18-49 and 8 million viewers overall on Alphabet affiliates from 9 to 11 o'clock, with the nationals expected to rise a bit from there but still come in well below last year's comparable game between the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat (5.1/15 and 12.25 million viewers overall).

Fox's "On the Lot" continues to perform poorly at 8 (1.2/4 in 18-49, 2.9 million viewers overall), and it seems to be dragging down repeats of "House" at 9 (2.2/6 in 18-49, 6.4 million viewers overall).

CBS was led by a repeat of "NCIS" at 8 (2.2/7 in 18-49, 9.8 million viewers overall) and a special "48 Hours Mystery" at 10 (2.1/6 in 18-49, 7.2 million viewers overall).

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: NBC, 3.5/11; ABC, 2.8/8; CBS, 2.0/6; Univision, 1.8/5; Fox, 1.7/5; CW, 0.6/2.

In total viewers: NBC, 10.8 million; CBS, 8.0 million; ABC, 7.0 million; Fox, 4.6 million; Univision, 3.8 million; CW, 1.6 million.