Led by ’60 Minutes,’ CBS takes top four broadcast spots in weekly TV ratings

CBS swept the top four spots in the latest prime-time weekly television ratings, even without airing original episodes of the season’s three top ranked entertainment series, “The Equalizer,” “NCIS” and “FBI.”

“60 Minutes” averaged 8.481 million viewers to finish first for the fifth time in the 30-week-old 2020-21 television season, according to live-plus-same-day figures released Tuesday by Nielsen.

“Young Sheldon” was second, averaging 7.463 million viewers and “Blue Bloods” third, averaging a season-high 6.826 million viewers.

The 56th annual Academy of Country Music Awards was the only other program between April 12 and Sunday to average more than 6 million viewers, averaging 6.276 million viewers to finish fourth.

With no new original episodes of its “Chicago” franchise, NBC’s singing competition “The Voice” was the highest-rated non-CBS program, averaging 5.829 million viewers to finish fifth for the week.

The Sunday edition of “American Idol” was ABC’s biggest draw for the fourth consecutive week, averaging 5.439 million viewers, ninth for the week.

Fox’s top-rated program for the fifth week in a row was “The Masked Singer,” 12th for the week, averaging 5.169 million viewers.

The martial arts action-adventure series “Kung Fu” had The CW’s biggest audience for the second time in the two weeks it has aired, averaging 1.372 million viewers, 94th among broadcast programs. Its overall rank was not available.

CBS finished first in the network race for the 13th consecutive week and 15th time this season, averaging 4.45 million viewers. ABC was second for the third time in four weeks, averaging 3.6 million viewers. NBC was third, averaging 3.09 million.

Fox was fourth for the 12th consecutive week, averaging 1.97 million viewers. The CW again was fifth among the five major English-language broadcast networks, averaging 710,000 viewers.

An episode of the Fox News Channel political show “Tucker Carlson Tonight” topped cable ratings for the second consecutive week, with the Thursday episode averaging 3.221 million viewers, 41st overall.

“Tucker Carlson Tonight” accounted for each of the week’s four highest-ranked prime-time cable programs, helping Fox News Channel to its third consecutive first-place finish and 11th in the past 12 weeks.

“Grey’s Anatomy” was the most-streamed program in the latest weekly figures, covering March 15-21. Viewership for the long-running ABC medical drama was the lowest for a weekly leader since Nielsen began releasing figures last September.