In its last blast, "The Big Bang Theory" topped the TV ratings by a light-year.
The back-to-back, two-episode finale of the nerdy CBS comedy's 12-season run drew 18.5 million live viewers Thursday night to easily win the week, the Nielsen company said Tuesday.
Sunday night's much-ballyhooed finale of HBO's "Game of Thrones" was a distant second with 13.61 million live viewers.
This image released by HBO shows Emilia Clarke in a scene from the final episode of "Game of Thrones," that aired Sunday, May 19, 2019. (HBO via AP)
"Game of Thrones," however, had a comparable 18.4 million viewers when HBO's same-night reruns and streaming services are included, making it the most-watched episode of any kind in the history of the cable channel.
Despite mixed fan reaction to the eighth and final "Thrones" season , it was a ratings winner throughout, competing with and usually beating shows that appear in three times more homes. The viewer numbers also grew as the season progressed, with the season premiere setting a record that was topped by three subsequent episodes.
"Big Bang" was a colossal ratings winner that helped keep CBS the top network for much of its record run of 279 episodes, the most ever for a multi-camera series.
Thursday night's hour-long finale saw the show's group of geeky misfits take one last trip together to support married couple Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Amy (Mayim Bialik) after they won the Nobel Prize in physics.
A prequel spinoff, "Young Sheldon," is pulling similar numbers in its second season and will extend the life of the franchise. It finished third in last week's ratings in a timeslot just after the finale.
"Unraveling the Mystery: A Big Bang Farewell," a special that aired later the same night, was fourth.
That two-hour "Big Bang" block helped give CBS six of the top 10 shows and an easy win of the week in primetime with an average of 5 million viewers. NBC averaged 3.8 million, ABC 3.5 million, Fox 1.9 million, Univision and ION Television 970,000 apiece, the CW 950,000 and Telemundo 760,000.
Fox News Channel was the week's most popular cable network with a primetime average of 2.4 million viewers. ESPN rode the NBA playoffs to second with 2.1 million. MSNBC averaged 1.7 million, the Hallmark Channel 1.5 million and TBS 1.4 million.
ABC's "World News Tonight" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8 million viewers. NBC's "Nightly News" was second with 7.1 million and the "CBS Evening News" averaged 5.3 million viewers.
For the week of May 13-19, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 18.5 million; "Game of Thrones," HBO, 13.61 million; "Young Sheldon," CBS, 13.6 million; "NCIS," CBS, 11.7 million; "Unraveling the Mystery: A Big Bang Farewell," CBS, 11.6 million; "American Idol" (Sunday), ABC, 8.7 million; "FBI," CBS, 8.6 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.4 million; "NBA Playoffs-Conference Finals, Portland at Golden State (Thursday), ESPN, 8 million; "Chicago Med," NBC, 7.98 million.
ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is owned by Fox Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks.
Online: http://www.nielsen.com
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton .
PHOENIX (AP) — Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jake Cronenworth hit back-to-back homers, Dylan Cease pitched 6 2/3 strong innings and the San Diego Padres won their third game in a row, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-1 on Friday night.
Manny Machado hit a two-run homer. Cronenworth finished with three extra-base hits, adding two doubles.
The Padres had a big offensive game on the same night they learned they might be adding another good hitter. San Diego is close to acquiring two-time batting champion Luis Arráez in a deal with the Marlins.
“I think it's great — you're always looking for more offense and a left-handed bat to balance out the lineup,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “But listen, nothing's official. We'll leave it at that.”
The Diamondbacks have lost 10 straight series openers after beating the Colorado Rockies on opening day.
D-backs pitcher Slade Cecconi (1-2) retired the first nine batters he faced, but ran into trouble in the fourth. Jurickson Profar walked to start the inning and Tatis launched a shot to left-center — his seventh homer of the season.
Cronenworth followed with another homer to make it 3-0 and rookie Jackson Merrill broke an 0-for-20 stretch at the plate with a one-out RBI double for a 4-0 lead.
Cronenworth had a down 2023 season, but has looked much more like the hitter who was an All-Star in 2021 and 2022 through the first month of this season. He's batting .279 with six homers and 25 RBIs.
It was Cronenworth’s second straight game with a homer. He hit a grand slam in the team’s 6-2 victory over the Reds on Wednesday.
“It's the right approach with the right swing,” Shildt said. “He's married both. He's driving the ball to all different parts of the field and not trying to do to much.”
Cecconi didn't make it out of the fifth, giving up six runs over 4 1/3 innings.
The Padres' three-homer outburst provided plenty of support for Cease (4-2), the hard-throwing right-hander who gave up just one run on three hits while striking out eight. He didn't allow a walk.
“I think my fastball command was a lot better, which is really a lot of the battle,” Cease said. “When I'm getting my fastball where it needs to go, it opens up a lot of stuff.”
Machado made it 7-0 in the fifth with a two-run homer to left center off reliever Matt Bowman. The scorched line drive came off Machado's bat at 111.7 mph.
The sliding D-backs — defending National League champions — have lost 10 of their past 15 games and fell to 14-19 for the season.
“We got beat tonight,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. "We got out-managed, we got out-pitched, we got out-hit, we got out-coached. We've got to find a way to get the job done and play our type of baseball. That's the bottom line.
“We're grinding away. We're trying.”
Arizona finished with just three hits. Eugenio Suárez had an RBI single in the fifth.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Diamondbacks: Lovullo told reporters that closer Paul Sewald (oblique) and OF Alex Thomas (hamstring) could return to the active roster as soon as Tuesday against the Reds.
UP NEXT
The D-backs will throw RHP Brandon Pfaadt (1-1, 4.63 ERA) while the Padres will counter with RHP Michael King (2-3, 5.00 ERA) on Saturday night.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Arizona Diamondbacks' Ketel Marte, left, celebrates his double as San Diego Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, front right, of South Korea, and umpire Phil Cuzzi (10) look for the baseball during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, May 3, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
San Diego Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, May 3, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt watches the action on the field during the second inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks Friday, May 3, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
San Diego Padres' Manny Machado (13) rounds the bases after hitting a two run home run as Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker, left, pauses at first base during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, May 3, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Matt Bowman, center, rubs up a new baseball after giving up a two-run home run to San Diego Padres' Manny Machado, left, during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, May 3, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
San Diego Padres' Manny Machado points to the sky as he rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, May 3, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Arizona Diamondbacks' Ketel Marte, right, slides safely into second base with a double as San Diego Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, of South Korea, applies a late tag during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, May 3, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
San Diego Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr., right, celebrates his two-run home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks with Padres' Manny Machado (13) during the fourth inning of a baseball game Friday, May 3, 2024, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
