Jul 17, 2016 4 min read

It’s been decades since broadcast networks ruled TV, yet Nielsen’s most published weekly ratings still ignore cable. To be fair, Nielsen also releases a weekly cable ratings list, but it’s seldom publicized. More importantly, the two rating gauges have never regularly been combined. Until now.

Zap2it, an Internet television site, has begun meshing Nielsen’s cable and network ratings. While it’s interesting (and humorous – cable wrestling has more viewers than most network scripted shows), it’s just as telling that many network series repeats grab a larger audience than some first-run cable offerings.

During the most recent tally, three cable shows made the top 25. None, however, cracked the top five, which were, in order, “America’s Got Talent,” “The Olympic Trials,” “Big Brother”/Thursday, “Big Brother”/Wednesday and a repeat of “America’s Got Talent.”

ESPN tied for the No. 6 slot (with “Big Brother”/Sunday”) with its “Euro 2016 Final – Portugal/France.” Following were “Celebrity Family Feud,” “$100,000 Pyramid,” and “Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks Special.”

Two episodes of USA’s WWE Monday Night Raw, at 9 and 10 p.m., also cracked the top 25.

Certainly, Fourth of July week is a low-viewing week in a low-viewing month. It’s nonetheless obvious the networks’ trend of the past few years has bled over to cable. The tip for top ratings: Focus on broadcasting live or perceived-to-be-live programming, especially sports.

Of the top 25 shows across the board, just 20 percent were scripted – “Big Bang Theory,” “Life in Pieces,” “20/20,” “Night Shift” and “Uncle Buck.”

And while game/variety shows, ranging from “Big Brother” to “The Match Game” are all taped or filmed, they are perceived as live shows by many. The “live” trend bodes especially well for three upcoming events – the summer Olympics and the Republican and Democratic conventions. All three should boast high entertainment value (which isn’t always true of the conventions).

Perhaps Major League Baseball should keep the “entertainment” component in mind. Last week’s MLB All-Star Game, once a ratings bonanza, may rank as the least-watched MLB All-Star Game of all time.

It should be noted the baseball all-star event draws a bigger audience than any other “all-star” game, no doubt because of the obvious misnomer. While those events may feature all-star athletes, they hardly qualify as a game.

• ABC has buzzed-in a win by devoting a large chunk of this summer’s prime-time schedule to game shows, which scored well in the ratings. “To Tell the Truth,” which just ended its season, should be back next summer, along with “Celebrity Family Feud,” “The $100,000 Pyramid” and “Match Game.” And without the pesky Olympics or conventions chewing up blocks of prime time next summer, there could be even more game show revivals. “The Gong Show,” anyone?

• NBC likewise made a smart, if controversial move, by trying to reinvent the variety show with “Maya and Marty.” The six-week trial run did much better than expected; it’s likely to return next summer and for a longer stint. Some questioned why NBC would even attempt a variety format after Neil Patrick Harris’s “Best Show Ever” bombed last year. But “Maya and Marty” was not nearly as disjointed, and it was a nice fit after “America’s Got Talent.”

• Even though the revival of “Uncle Buck” did well in the ratings, ABC immediately announced its cancellation when the season finale aired. Perhaps the cast wanted too much compensation for a second season, or perhaps ABC already has a fully stocked library of new sitcoms, but when “Buck” was jettisoned from the regular season to summer, it was already clear ABC didn’t believe the show had a future on the network.

• Two ratings-challenged summer series that won’t be back: CBS’s “Braindead” and NBC’s “Aquarius.”

• Rob Lowe, who may have the record of continuous years on TV series (going all the way back to “The West Wing,”) is joining the cast of “Code Black” this fall.

• Emmy nominations were announced Thursday. If the networks already haven’t waved the white flag, they soon will.