Post-Olympics 'America's Got Talent' Return Dominates Tuesday Ratings

In the wake of NBC's Cavalcade-of-Unpopular-Decisions Summer Olympics coverage, at least the returning "America's Got Talent" returned without missing a beat, The Hollywood Reporter detailed Wednesday morning.

The prime-time talent parade's two-hour outing did respectable business Tuesday night, pulling in 7.9 million viewers for a 2.3 rating among the Adults 18-49 demographic. In the 10 p.m. ET hour, the second "Stars Earn Stripes" episode fell three-tenths of a point off its premiere number to give the celebrity competition series a 1.4 in the same demographic.

It was nevertheless enough to give NBC the early-week win, with FOX coming in barely second last night. The Gordon Ramsay double-shot of "Hotel Hell" and "MasterChef" came out ahead overall, with "Hell" rising 11 percent off its Monday series premiere to a 2.1 number, while the return of "MasterChef" slipped one-tenth of a point to a 2.7 adult rating.

The competition between first- and second-place networks was far tighter than the battle between FOX and those behind it. CBS's night of repeats drew 6.5 million viewers on average for an average rating of 1.1 among adults. ABC, likewise, turned out a slate of comedy repeats leading into ABC News' new "NY Med" episode. "NY Med" earned a 1.0 rating for the night, with the network's evening overall averaging a 0.8 rating and 2.98 million viewers.

Still, as always, at least none of the above were The CW. "L.A. Complex" scored a 0.2 number to keep it a distant last.