Ratings: ‘Undateable,’ ‘Rookie Blue’ season 5 struggle against ‘Big Brother 16’

We understand that it is impossible to avoid every piece of competition on the air, but if we were most networks on Thursday night, this is the one “Big Brother” show we would miss. This is traditionally the live eviction, the most-dramatic and popular show where even superfans have no definitive idea what is going to happen next.

Yet, there were multiple popular shows that went up against the CBS hit Thursday, and all of them suffered. But first (to quote Julie Chen), we should note that “Big Brother” matched the 2.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic that it scored Wednesday night. That is sensational for the summer, especially since most shows tend to fall year-to-year.

• “Undateable” – Seeing the NBC comedy hit a series low 0.8 rating at 9:00 p.m. makes us sad, mostly because this is a fairly funny show that is genuinely better than most anything comedy-wise that NBC premiered this past year save for maybe “About a Boy.” It has a great cast; the only thing going against it is the fact that it airs during the summer.
• “Rookie Blue” – ABC actually had almost five million viewers, but the problem is that this only amounted to a 0.8 rating. The show skews old, but it may not be time to worry about its numbers yet. It’s a little easier to keep this one around thanks to it being a Canadian series rather than something they finance on their own.

Here’s another startling number for you: “Hell’s Kitchen” (1.7) was the only show that even came close to “Big Brother” last night; the next-best performer in the demo was “Last Comic Standing,” which drew less than half of its number with a 1.0.