TV Ratings: ‘American Ninja Warrior’ Leads Wednesday, Slow Start for ‘Reverie’

By Cynthia Littleton

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The two-hour return of “American Ninja Warrior” kept the lights on for NBC on a rerun-laden Wednesday but it was a slow start for the premiere of the network’s 10 p.m. sci-fi drama “Reverie.”

“Ninja Warrior” won the night in the adults 18-49 demo derby with a 1.2 rating and 5.4 million viewers from 8-10 p.m., according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen. The unscripted summer franchise was on par with its ratings marks from 2017.

“,” toplined by Sarah Shahi and Dennis Haysbert, shed half of its “Ninja Warrior” lead-in, finishing out with a 0.6 demo rating and 2.9 million viewers in the 10 p.m. slot.

The latest edition of Fox’s “MasterChef” also had a two-hour premiere Wednesday. The cooking competition series was on par with its recent performance, bowing to a 1.0 in the key demo and 3.6 million viewers.

ABC was wall-to-wall comedy reruns for the night, led by the 8 p.m. encore of “The Goldbergs” (0.6 in 18-49, 3.2 million viewers).

CBS served up a rerun of drama “SEAL” and two burn-off runs of the canceled drama “Code Black.” The Eye still won the night in viewers with an average of 5.5 million viewers. NBC and Fox tied for the lead in adults 18-49 with a 1.0. NBC was No. 2 in viewers with 4.5 million.

The CW had a sleepy summer frame with the combo of a “Supergirl” rerun and “The Originals” falling below the 1 million viewer mark (835,000) for the night.