nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for tuesday, september 13, 2011)

Here are the highlights of the 13 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night:

NBC (8.23 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.4, #1) took home top honors on Tuesday thanks to the penultimate episode of "America's Got Talent" (13.20 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.6, #1). Said broadcast was bookended by the season finale of "It's Worth What?" (4.70 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.1, #9) and the season premiere of "Parenthood" (6.78 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 2.3, #2). "Parenthood" possted its largest overall audience in the past year, since its year-ago season premiere on 9/14/10.

ABC (7.65 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.7, #2) then claimed the silver with a new "Wipeout" (6.09 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 2.0, #3) and the two-hour special "Jacqueline Kennedy: In Her Own Words" (8.43 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.5, #7).

Next up was CBS (8.88 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.6, #3) with encores of "NCIS" (10.12 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.7, #T4), "NCIS: Los Angeles" (8.48 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.6, #6) and another "NCIS: Los Angeles" (8.04 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.7, #T4).

Meanwhile, The CW (2.32 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.0, #4) offered up the return of "90210" (1.63 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T11) and the premiere of "Ringer" (2.74 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.2, #8). The former was off from last year's "One Tree Hill" season premiere (2.18 million viewers; adults 18-49: 1.1) while "Ringer" improved on "Life Unexpected" second season debut (1.74 million viewers; adults 18-49: 0.8). Overall, "Ringer" posted the largest audience in the network's Tuesday, 9:00/8:00c time period in over two years and the highest 18-49 rating since the debut of "Melrose Place" (1.3 on 9/8/09).

And finally, repeats of "Glee" (2.73 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.0, #10), "Raising Hope" (1.89 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T11) and another "Raising Hope" (1.92 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T11) on FOX (2.18 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.9, #5) rounded out the evening.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49): America's Got Talent (24.1%), It's Worth What? (0.0%).

In late-night metered market ratings (via NBC's press release):

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.9/8; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.3/6 with an encore; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 3.4/8; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.6/5.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 0.9/4; "Late Show," 0.6/3 with an encore; "Nightline," 1.0/5; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.6/4.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.4/5 in metered-market households) beat CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.2/4). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.6/4 in 18-49) topped "Late Late Show" (0.3/2).

At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.8/4 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.4/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

Here are the highlights of the 12 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (9/14/10):

NBC (9.48 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.8, #1) was the network to beat on Tuesday thanks to the summer finale of "Minue to Win It" (6.49 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.9, #5) followed by a new "America's Got Talent" (14.26 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.8, #1) and the return of "Parenthood" (7.69 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.7, #3).

Early notes from the Peacock indicate "Parenthood" matched its third-highest rating ever in adults 18-49 and delivered its second-biggest overall audience to date.

Second place then went to ABC (6.17 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.3, #2) with a new "Wipeout" (7.59 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 2.8, #2), the season finale of "Wipeout" (6.11 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 2.6, #4) and the special "Final Witness" (4.83 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.4, #10).

Next up was FOX (4.60 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.7, #3) with repeats of "Glee" (4.47 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.6, #8) and another "Glee" (4.73 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.8, #T6).

Meanwhile, CBS (7.20 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.3, #4) offered up repeats of "NCIS" (10.49 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.8, #T6), "NCIS: Los Angeles" (8.16 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.5, #9) plus the special "Fashion's Night Out 2010" (2.96 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.6, #13).

And finally, the season premieres of "One Tree Hill" (2.18 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.1, #11) and "Life Unexpected" (1.74 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.8, #12) on The CW (1.95 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.9, #5) rounded out the evening.

A year ago (9/8/10), The CW offered up the more potent combination of "90210" (2.56 million viewers; adults 18-49: 1.3) and "Melrose Place" (2.27 million viewers; adults 18-49: 1.3).

In late-night metered market ratings, NBC's "Leno" (3.1/8) took top honors over ABC's "Nightline" (2.8/7) and CBS's "Letterman" (2.0/5). Rounding out the night then were "Kimmel" (1.3/4) on ABC "Ferguson" (1.2/4) on CBS and "Fallon" (1.4/5) and "Daly" (0.8/4) on NBC.

Source: Nielsen Media Research