By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Television viewers are ready for some football.
Three college matchups scored among the Nielsen company's four most-watched television programs last week. Only an episode of NBC's "America's Got Talent" broke through.
The most popular game was ABC's Saturday night telecast where Georgia handed third-ranked Clemson a loss in Charlotte, North Carolina. The other popular matchups paired Notre Dame and Florida State and Ohio State and Minnesota.
It's all a warmup act for pro football, which starts its season this week and promises to dominate live television viewing.
Since it showed two of the three games, ABC was the week's most-watched network in primetime, with an average of 4.4 million viewers. CBS had 2.6 million, NBC had 2.53 million, Fox had 2.49 million, Univision had 1.5 million, Ion Television had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 1 million.
Fox News Channel led the cable networks, averaging 2.59 million viewers in primetime. MSNBC had 1.218 million, ESPN had 1.217 million, HGTV had 1.05 million and TLC had 921,000.
ABC's "World News Tonight" led the evening news ratings race with an average of 8.2 million viewers. NBC's "Nightly News" had 6.9 million and the "CBS Evening News" had 5 million.
For the week of Aug. 30-Sept. 5, the 20 most-watched programs in primetime, their networks and viewerships:
1. College Football: Georgia vs. Clemson, ABC, 8.86 million.
2. College Football: Notre Dame vs. Florida State, ABC, 7.75 million.
3. "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday), NBC, 7.19 million.
4. College Football: Ohio State at Minnesota, Fox, 6.3 million.
5. "America's Got Talent" (Wednesday), NBC, 6.1 million.
6. "60 Minutes," CBS, 5.91 million.
7. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Monday), Fox News, 4.31 million.
8. "Big Brother" (Thursday), CBS, 4.1 million.
9. "Big Brother" (Wednesday), CBS, 4.01 million.
10. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.85 million.
11. "Hannity" (Monday), Fox News, 3.84 million.
12. "NCIS," CBS, 3.83 million.
13. "College Football Pregame" (Sunday), ABC, 3.82 million.
14. "CMA Summer Jam," ABC, 3.68 million.
15. "American Ninja Warrior," NBC, 3.67 million.
16. "Hannity" (Tuesday), Fox News, 3.62 million.
17. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" (Wednesday), Fox News, 3.52 million.
18. "The $100,000 Pyramid," ABC, 3.514 million.
19. "The Neighborhood," CBS, 3.505 million.
20. "Hannity" (Wednesday), Fox News, 3.393 million.
Jean Smart, Ariana Grande, Michael Keaton among hosts for “SNL” season 50
Fresh off her Emmys win, Jean Smart will kick off the landmark 50th season of "Saturday Night Live."
NBC on Thursday announced the lineup of hosts for the season, which premieres Sept. 28. Joining Smart on the first show will be Jelly Roll as the musical act. He was also at the Emmys, singing during the ceremony's in memoriam segment.
It will be Smart's first time hosting "SNL."
Comedian Nate Bargatze will host on Oct. 5, with Coldplay as the musical guest.
Ariana Grande will host Oct. 12, with musical guest Stevie Nicks.
"Beetlejuice" star Michael Keaton will host on Oct. 19, the last show before Halloween, and Billie Eilish will be that night's musical guest.
The host on Nov. 2 will be "SNL" alum John Mulaney, with breakout sensation Chappell Roan as the music guest.
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