The “Field of Dreams Game” had a dream ending for Chicago White Sox fans, and its Nielsen ratings were a dream for Fox. The walk-off win over the New York Yankees was the most-watched regular season baseball game on any network in 16 years (since the Yankees played the Boston Red Sox on Oct. 1, 2005).
And Thursday was a busy night on broadcast TV. In addition to the big baseball game on Fox, NBC brought back “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” — a former Fox series — for one final run. CBS aired “Big Brother.”
The “Field of Dreams Game,” based on the 1989 Kevin Costner movie, had a final scene fit for Hollywood. Trailing for most of the game, the New York Yankees took the lead in the top of the 9th inning after scoring four runs on the Chicago closer — a tall order against the first-place team in the A.L. Central.
But in the bottom half of the inning, Tim Anderson’s two-run homer into the cornfield ended the game, 9-8. Cue fireworks above the Iowa stalks.
Fox was first in ratings with the “Field of Dreams” game generating a 1.5 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic. The network was also first in total viewers with an average of 5.871 million, which came courtesy of the baseball.
CBS was second in ratings with a 0.5 and in viewers with 2.5 million. At 8, “Big Brother” got a 0.9 and 3.9 million viewers. At 9, “Love Island” had a 0.4 and 1.9 million viewers. A repeat followed.
Univision was third in ratings with a 0.4 and fourth in viewers with 1.5 million.
ABC and Telemundo tied for fourth in ratings, each with a 0.3. ABC was third in viewers with 2 million and Telemundo was sixth with 1 million.
For ABC, “Holey Moley” at 8 got a 0.4 and 2.7 million viewers. “When Nature Calls” at 9 settled for a 0.2 and 1.6 million viewers. “The Hustler” at 10 managed a 0.3 and 1.6 million viewers.
NBC was sixth in ratings with a 0.2 and fourth in viewers with 1.3 million. At 8, the Season 8 premiere of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” received a 0.4 and 1.8 million viewers. At 8:30, a second episode got a 0.3 and 1.3 million viewers. “Making It” at 9 had a 0.2 and 1.3 million viewers. An encore closed primetime.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1 and in viewers with 794,500. The “Walker” Season 1 finale at 8 drew a 0.1 and 1.1 million viewers. At 9, “The Outpost” settled for a 0.1 and 492,000 viewers.
