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Ellen DeGeneres Is Now A Reality TV Titan, Producing The Year’s Biggest New Unscripted Hit — Ratings Watch

"Ellen's Game of Games" is another huge smash, following her "Little Big Shots" juggernaut. Also: Winter Olympics leads the Live+3 TV ratings charts for the week ending Feb. 11, 2018.
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres, "Ellen's Game of Games"
Mike Rozman/NBC

Ellen DeGeneres has done it again. The star’s new NBC unscripted series “Ellen’s Game of Games” has become the biggest alternative series launch during the regular season in two years, since the premiere of the Peacock’s “Little Big Shots” — which DeGeneres also executive produces.

“Ellen’s Game of Games” features host DeGeneres (who executive producers through her A Very Good Television Production shingle) as she puts contestants through a wide variety of stunts, quizzes and games as first seen on her daytime talk show. “Game of Games” premiered on Jan. 2 with back-to-back episodes that averaged a strong 2.5 rating and 2.7 rating. The show was almost immediately renewed for a second season based on those numbers. Serving as the Tuesday night lead-in to “This Is Us,” the show has also benefited a bit from that hit’s halo.

“Ellen’s enthusiasm and energy is utterly infectious,” NBC Entertainment alternative president Paul Telegdy said when he renewed the show last month. “It’s been exciting to watch her antics supersized on a primetime stage.”

Hosted by Steve Harvey, “Little Big Shots” was an even bigger phenomenon when it premiered in 2016, and spawned the spinoff “Little Big Shots: Forever Young.” Like “Game of Games,” “Little Big Shots” was inspired by a segment on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” — in that case, one where she features child performers.

Besides those two unscripted shows, DeGeneres is also an executive producer on ABC’s new comedy “Splitting Up Together” and Netflix’s animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham.”

Meanwhile, the biggest story of the week, of course, was the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, which led the week’s ratings charts even though it didn’t start until last Thursday. The Opening Ceremonies averaged 29.2 million viewers on linear TV — making it the most-watched Friday night in four years, according to NBC, besting four World Series games, two NBA Finals games and all three Fridays of the Rio Olympics.

In cable, Atlanta ruled: Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Atlanta” was the top-rated program of the week (1.4 rating). And according to Xfinity, “This Is Us” continues as the most-watched show on demand.

Here are this week’s rankers:

Adults 18-49 ranker, week ending Feb. 11, 2018:

RANK

SHOW & NETWORK

LIVE+3
DAYS
DVR/VOD

RATING

WATCHED
LIVE/
SAME
DAY

RATING

1

Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony NBC 

6.9

6.5

2

Winter Olympics Sunday Prime NBC

5.5

5.4

3

Winter Olympics Saturday Prime NBC

 5.0

4.8

4

This Is Us NBC

4.3

2.7

5

Winter Olympics Thursday Prime NBC

3.9

3.7

6

Grey’s Anatomy ABC

3.1

2.0

7

The Good Doctor ABC

3.0

1.7

8

9-1-1 Fox

2.8

1.7

9

Celebrity Big Brother Wednesday CBS

2.4

1.8

10

The Bachelor ABC 

2.3

1.8

11

Chicago Med NBC

2.2

1.5

12

Law & Order: SVU NBC 

2.1

1.3

tie

Ellen’s Game of Games NBC

2.1

1.9

14

NCIS CBS

2.0

1.5

tie

Celebrity Big Brother Thursday CBS

2.0

1.4

tie

Chicago PD NBC

2.0

1.2

17

Scandal ABC

1.8

1.1

18

The Resident Fox

1.7

1.1

tie

The Middle ABC

1.7

1.2

tie

Celebrity Big Brother Sunday CBS

1.7

1.2

tie

Bull CBS

1.7

1.2

22

Lethal Weapon Fox

1.6

1.1

tie

How to Get Away with Murder ABC

1.6

0.8

tie

Celebrity Big Brother Friday CBS

1.6

1.0

tie

The Blacklist NBC

1.6

1.0

Adults 18-49; ratings points. Source: Nielsen Media Research
Chloe Kim of the US in action during the Women's Snowboard Halfpipe final at the Bokwang Phoenix Park during the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games, South Korea, 13 February 2018.Snowboard - PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games, Bongpyeong-Myeon, Korea - 13 Feb 2018
Chloe Kim wins the Gold MedalFAZRY ISMAIL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Total viewers ranker, week ending Feb. 11, 2018:

RANK

SHOW & NETWORK

LIVE+3
DAYS
DVR/VOD

WATCHED
LIVE/
SAME
DAY

1

Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony NBC 

29.19

27.86

2

Winter Olympics Sunday Prime NBC

23.34

22.70

3

Winter Olympics Saturday Prime NBC 

 22.31

21.41

4

NCIS CBS

16.98

13.90

5

Winter Olympics Thursday Prime NBC 

 16.79

16.00

6

The Good Doctor ABC

15.07

9.64

7

This Is Us NBC

14.71

10.14

8

Bull CBS

14.12

10.90

9

NCIS: New Orleans CBS

11.65

8.39

10

Chicago Med NBC

10.62

7.36 

11

Chicago PD NBC

10.56

7.25

12

Grey’s Anatomy ABC

10.33

7.33

13

9-1-1 Fox 

10.22

6.64

 14

Law & Order: SVU NBC

9.11

6.64

15

Celebrity Big Brother Wednesday CBS

8.68

7.28

16

The Blacklist NBC

8.64

6.35

17

Ellen’s Game of Games NBC

8.45

7.70

18

The Bachelor ABC

7.97

6.83

19

60 Minutes CBS

7.95

7.61

20

Scorpion CBS

7.91

5.55

21

Kevin Can Wait CBS

7.78

6.96

22

Man With a Plan CBS 

7.20

6.47

23

The Middle ABC 

7.12

5.63

tie

Celebrity Big Brother Thursday CBS 

7.12

5.50

25

The Wall NBC

7.10

6.75

Total viewers; in millions. Source: Nielsen Media Research
THIS IS US -- "The Car" Episode 215 -- Pictured: Mandy Moore as Rebecca Pearson -- (Photo by: Ron Batzdorff/NBC)
Mandy Moore, “This Is Us”Ron Batzdorff/NBC

Here is this week’s Xfinity On Demand ranker:

Top 20 TV Series, Feb. 5-11, 2018:

RANK

SHOW

NETWORK

1

This Is Us

NBC

2

9-1-1

Fox

3

The Good Doctor

 ABC

4

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

FX

5

Game of Thrones

 HBO

6

Shameless

Showtime

7

Big Brother: Celebrity Edition

 CBS

8

The Resident

Fox

9

Homeland

Showtime

10

Married At First Sight

FYI

11

The Alienist

TNT

12

Law & Order: SVU

NBC

13

The Chi

Showtime

14

Grey’s Anatomy

ABC

15

The X-Files

Fox

16

The Bachelor

ABC

17

 The Simpsons

Fox

18

Grown-ish

Freeform

19

Divorce

HBO

20

The Big Bang Theory

CBS

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