Nielsen ratings: NFL season opens, 'Boardwalk' is back
NFL nirvana. Thursday was like Christmas for football fans (and NBC executives), as 26.9 million viewers tuned into the early kickoff of Sunday Night Football, which beat last year's opening game (25.1 million). Sunday's game drew 23.7 million, down from last year's 25.4 million.
Hello, goodbye. The final-season opener of HBO's Boardwalk Empire (2.2 million viewers Sunday) was up slightly from last fall's premiere, and was followed by the first-season finale of The Leftovers, which held steady with 1.5 million.
Fox's reality. Even with a Sunday football lead-in, just 4.6 million viewers were ready to move to Utopia, the network's new "build a society" reality series. Wednesday's 11th season finale of So You Think You Can Dance didn't set any toes twinkling with 4.1 million, down from last year's 4.4 million.
Top 20 shows of the week
1. NFL Football: Green Bay at Seattle, NBC, 26.9 million
2. NFL Football: Indianapolis at Denver, NBC, 23.7 million
3. NFL Thursday Pre-Kick Show, NBC, 21.0 million
4. Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick Show, NBC, 18.8 million
5. Football Night in America Pt. 3, NBC, 14.0 million
6. The OT, Fox, 12.5 million
7. NFL Opening Kickoff Show, NBC, 11.8 million
8. NCIS (Tuesday, 9 p.m.), CBS, 10.6 million
9. America's Got Talent (Wed., 9 p.m.), NBC, 10.5 million
10. NCIS, CBS, 10.4 million
11. America's Got Talent (Tue.), NBC, 9.0 million
12. The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 8.2 million
13. 60 Minutes, CBS, 8.1 million
14. NCIS: Los Angeles (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), CBS, 7.3 million
15. Football Night in America Pt. 2, NBC, 7.1 million
* Big Brother, (Sun.), CBS, 7.1 million
17. Unforgettable, CBS, 7.0 million
18. Big Brother (Wed.), CBS, 6.6 million
19. Big Brother (Thu.), CBS, 6.5 million
20. America's Got Talent (Wed., 8 p.m.), NBC, 6.4 million
Tops on Twitter
1. Stand Up to Cancer (multiple, Fri.) | Tweets: 121,000 | Unique audience: 3,715,000
2. Love & Hip Hop (VH1, Mon.,) | Tweets: 999,000 | Unique audience: 2,232,000
3. The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story (Lifetime, Mon.) | Tweets: 81,000 | Unique audience: 1,890,000
4. Keeping Up With the Kardashians (E!, Mon.) | Tweets: 44,000 | Unique audience: 1,554,000
5. WWE Raw (USA, Mon.) | Tweets: 167,000 | Unique audience: 1,468,000
6. Teen Wolf (MTV, Mon.) | Tweets: 149,000 | Unique audience: 1,274,000
7. Big Brother (CBS, Thu.) | Tweets: 128,000 | Unique audience: 1,234,000
8. America's Got Talent (NBC, Wed.) | Tweets: 38,000 | Unique audience: 1,224,000
9. Finding Carter (MTV, Tue.) | Tweets: 119,000 | Unique audience: 1,213,000
10. So You Think You Can Dance (Fox, Wed.) Tweets: | 58,000 | Unique audience: 1,150,000
Data from week ending Sept. 7; unique audience measures relevant tweets until 5 a.m. local time the day after telecast for new prime-time and late-night programs except sports. Source: Nielsen
Comcast XFinity On Demand Top 10
1. True Blood, HBO
2. Love & Hip Hop, VH1
3. The Last Ship, TNT
4. Bachelor in Paradise (Tue.), ABC
5. The Strain, FX
6. Bachelor in Paradise (Wed.), ABC
7. Dance Moms, Lifetime
8. Bad Girls Club, Oxygen
9. Under the Dome, CBS
10, Teen Mom 2, MTV
Ranking of video on demand streams for week ending Aug. 30. Source: Comcast