CBS’ ‘The Talk’ Hits All-Time Weekly Ratings High

CBS’ third-year daytime chatfest “The Talk” continued its hot summer last week, attracting a record audience and matching the demo delivery of the show that inspired it, ABC’s “The View.”

According to Nielsen estimates for the week of July 15-19, “The Talk” averaged 2.62 million viewers overall — up from the 2.544 million it drew the week of June 24 and the 2.542 million it did the week of July 8. Excluding the week of July 1, which was mostly rebroadcasts, “The Talk” has now logged its three largest weekly audiences with each of its last three full weeks.

In key demos, “The Talk” tied “The View” among women 18-49 (0.7 rating/4 share), women 25-54 (1.1/7) and women 18-34 (0.4/3). The ABC show tends to draw more 50-plus viewers than the CBS one, so “The View” continues to attract a larger overall audience (including a little over 3 million last week).

“The Talk” likely is benefiting from recent headlines involving co-host Julie Chen, who used the show to voice her displeasure with some of the racist comments being made inside the “Big Brother” house. (Chen is the longtime host of summer series “Big Brother,” which airs three nights a week on CBS.)

The show, which premiered in October 2010, was recently nominated for five Daytime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Talk Show-Entertainment. Along with Chen, “The Talk” is co-hosted by Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Aisha Tyler and Sheryl Underwood.

Last week “The Talk” featured Wayne Brady, Arsenio Hall, Vicki Lawrence and Carnie Wilson as co-hosts, and guests included the cast of new Lifetime series “Devious Maids.”

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