TV Ratings: Gordon Ramsay, 'America's Got Talent' lead to Tuesday split

Gordon Ramsay and friends on "Masterchef."

Credit: FOX

Fast National ratings for Tuesday, September 4, 2012.

Gordon Ramsay helped carry FOX to a Tuesday night demographic win, while NBC was the night's most-watched network thanks to "America's Got Talent."

For the night, FOX averaged a 2.6 rating among adults 18-49, and 6.27 million viewers overall. NBC did a 1.9 rating in the demo, but 7.51 million viewers. They were followed by CBS (0.9, 5.76 million), ABC (0.7, 2.69 million) and the CW (0.3, 644,000).

8 p.m. -- FOX's "Hell's Kitchen" (2.5, 6.05 million) was the hour's highest-rated show in the demo, but "America's Got Talent" (2.2, 8.33 million) was the most-watched. They were followed by an "NCIS" repeat on CBS (1.2, 7.87 million), repeats of "The Middle" and "Last Man Standing" on ABC (0.8, 3.34 million) and a "Hart of Dixie" rerun on the CW (0.3, 819,000).

9 p.m. -- Same result as the 8 o'clock hour: the FOX show with Ramsay (in this case, "Masterchef") won in the demo (2.7, 6.48 million), while "America's Got Talent" had more overall viewers (2.4, 8.86 million). CBS was third with an "NCIS: LA" repeat (1.0, 6.19 million), followed by "Happy Endings" and "Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23" reruns on ABC (0.7, 2.13 million) and a rerun the CW's "The Next" (0.2, 469,000).

10 p.m. -- All three remaining broadcast networks shifted into coverage of the Democratic National Convention, with NBC averaging a 1.3 in the demo and 5.33 million viewers overall, followed by ABC (0.7, 2.59 million) and CBS (0.6, 3.22 million).

All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change, particularly in the case of live events.

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

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Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com