If itโs a lousy week for President Donald Trump, itโs usually a good week for Rachel Maddow.
MSNBCโs marquee personality took advantage of a busy week of bad news for the president, led by former lawyer Michael Cohenโs plea deal and former campaign manager Paul Manafortโs conviction on corruption charges.
She had the top-rated show on cable television on Tuesday with 3.89 million viewers. Maddow beat the usual cable ratings leader, Fox News Channelโs Sean Hannity, for the week. Hannity won August overall.
Even MSNBCโs Lawrence OโDonnell managed to tie Hannityโs best showing of the week. MSNBC spread the love around the dial: its โMorning Joeโ had its best ratings week ever, the Nielsen company said.
Behind its summer juggernaut โAmericaโs Got Talent,โ now being shown on two nights, NBC won the week in prime-time with an average of 4.9 million viewers. CBS had 4 million viewers, ABC had 3.6 million, Fox had 2.6 million, ION Television had 1.4 million, Univision and Telemundo were tied with 1.21 million and the CW had 770,000.
Fox News Channel led the cable networks with an average of 2.26 million viewers, taking advantage of its weekend strength. MSNBC had 2.12 million, USA had 1.42 million, HGTV had 1.39 million and CNN had 1.27 million.
ABCโs โWorld News Tonightโ topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8 million viewers. The โNBC Nightly Newsโ had 7.4 million and the โCBS Evening Newsโ had 5.7 million.
Below are primetime viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Aug. 20-26. Listings include the weekโs ranking and viewership.
1. โAmericaโs Got Talentโ (Tuesday), NBC, 11.21 million.
2. โAmericaโs Got Talentโ (Wednesday), NBC, 9.7 million.
3. โ60 Minutes,โ CBS, 7.38 million.
4. NFL Exhibition Game: Arizona at Dallas, NBC, 7.17 million.
5. NFL Exhibition Game: Philadelphia at Cleveland,โ Fox, 6.5 million.
6. โCelebrity Family Feud,โ ABC, 6.31 million.
7. โNFL Pre-Game Show,โ NBC, 6.12 million.
8. โThe Big Bang Theory,โ CBS, 5.83 million.
9. โBig Brotherโ (Wednesday), CBS, 5.72 million.
10. โBig Brotherโ (Sunday), CBS, 5.67 million.
11. โBig Brotherโ (Thursday), CBS, 5.63 million.
12. โNCIS,โ CBS, 5.24 million.
13. โThe $100,000 Pyramid,โ ABC, 5.16 million.
14. โDateline Classic,โ NBC, 5.13 million.
15. โWorld of Dance,โ NBC, 5.06 million.
16. โAmerican Ninja Warrior,โ NBC, 5.01 million.
17. โNFL Pre-Game Show,โ Fox, 4.9 million.
18. โMom,โ CBS, 4.89 million.
19. โAmericaโs Funniest Home Videos,โ ABC, 4.72 million.
20. โBachelor in Paradiseโ (Monday), ABC, 4.62 million.
ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co.; CBS is a division of CBS Corp.; Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox; NBC is owned by NBC Universal.