NFL and This Is Us' Swan Song Top Ratings for 2021-22 TV Season; La Brea and Ghosts Lead Freshman Class

The final numbers are in for the 2021-22 broadcast-TV season, and this year was, as always, a touchdown for football fare.

NBC’s Sunday Night Football and Fox’s last crack at Thursday Night Football for a long while ranked No. 1 and No. 2 for the season — and both ticked up year-over-year — with average ratings of 5.0 and 4.3 in the coveted 18-49 demographic (including Live+7 DVR playback data).

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NBC’s This Is Us (with a 1.5 rating) ranked No. 3 with its swan song, while CBS’ Survivor, Fox’s 9-1-1 and NBC’s Chicago P.D. and Chicago Fire tied for fourth by all averaging a 1.3.

IN THE 18-49 DEMO, among dramas, This Is Us, 9-1-1, Chicago P.D. and Fire were trailed by ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and NBC’s Law & Order: SVU, both of which averaged a 1.2. On the sitcom side, CBS’ Young Sheldon and freshman hit Ghosts led the pack with a 1.0 average.

Of the Top 20-ish non-sports entertainment programs, NBC boasted seven, followed by CBS’ six, ABC’s five and Fox’s four.

IN TOTAL VIEWERS, CBS’ NCIS (averaging 10.9 million, down 13% YOY) threepeated as the season’s most watched drama and was followed closely by CBS’ own FBI (10.3 mil), while the network’s Young Sheldon (with 9.2 million viewers) threepeated as the most watched comedy.

All told, CBS delivered a whopping 12 of the Top 20 most watched entertainment programs, followed by NBC (six) and Fox (two); ABC’s most watched program, American Idol, landed at No. 22.

Listed below are my hand-curated rankings for the broadcast networks’ assorted offerings; last season’s can be found here. Hit Comments to share what surprises, delights or depresses you.

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