The InBweteen ratings so-so; Amazing Race, MasterChef lose to American Ninja Warrior

The first Wednesday ratings of summer TV are in, and with that, we’ve learned a number of interesting things about viewership patterns. For example, it is as difficult to get huge ratings for any program this summer as it’s ever been. Beyond just that, a lot of these reality competition shows may be in competition with each other.

At the moment, we have to give a tip of the cap to American Ninja Warrior, which did win the night with a 1.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic. That’s not something to sneeze at, even if it is down from some previous seasons of the show. We feel like at this point, it’s pretty clear that American Ninja Warrior is going to be more than fine as the season goes on. It has a devoted following, and for some, it’s basically like watching a sporting event. The only thing holding it back at the moment is airing opposite both The Amazing Race and also MasterChef.

Let’s talk about those two shows for a moment. The latest Amazing Race episode last night ended up generating a 0.8 rating in the demo, which isn’t necessarily amazing (see what we did there?), but it’s not so terrible either. The biggest issue The Amazing Race constantly faces is that CBS just throws it randomly onto the schedule without a whole lot of care as to the timing or the competition. It’s mostly just left to fend for itself, so it’s a pretty good thing that it has a diehard fan base.

Meanwhile, MasterChef premiered to a 0.8 rating in the demo, which is down a little bit from previous seasons. There is a sort of diminishing returns with this show at this point in its run, but we don’t exactly think that the network is spending millions upon millions on it, other than paying the judges. A lot of it is shot within a single studio, and the contestants aren’t exactly paid the big bucks ahead of time. It’s not like Fox is backing up a Brinks truck in order to pay all of them.

One more interesting subject from the ratings last night is, of course, the premiere of The InBetween. NBC didn’t exactly show oodles of faith in the show by putting the series on in the summer, even if it has a fairly decent lead-in. This is a timeslot that really killed Reverie last summer, and the premiere ratings for The InBetween are really so-so at best. At the moment, the show has a 0.6 rating in the demo. If it keeps that for the rest of the summer, we got to say that there’s maybe a chance it comes back. The problem is that most new shows tend to lose between 15-20% of their viewership soon after they air the first episode, which means that we’re probably going to see a decline, which in turn means that there could be danger down the road. Just don’t give up on it yet, because you never quite know what’s going to happen in the world of ratings. Maybe they still will catch a little fire, given that it does seem like most people who watched it last night did enjoy it.

Oh, and if you did miss it, be sure to visit the link here so you can check out our full review of the in-between Premiere from last night.

Tonight, the NBA finals are beginning, and with that in mind, there are going to be some lower ratings elsewhere. Go ahead and be prepared, and also … go Raptors.

What did you watch on TV Wednesday night? be sure to share right now in the comments below. (Photo: NBC.)