TV Ratings ‘Talent’ Finale Mostly Holds Its Own Against Lofty GOP Debate

September 17, 2015 8:48am PT by Michael O'Connell

The NBC telecast, broadcast's biggest draw of the night, sheds some from the night (and year) before.

Facing atypically stiff competition from Wednesday night's likely huge GOP debate on CNN, the season finale of America's Got Talent did not quite match up to its performance the night prior.

The second part of the season ender averaged a 2.1 rating among adults 18-49 -- a high for a Wednesday telecast this summer, but down three-tenths of a point from the night prior and from the 2014 finale.

The rest of broadcast was largely quiet for the last Wednesday before the start of the fall season. Fox aired the season finale of MasterChef to a 1.5 rating among adults 18-49. That's steady with the previous episode but down half of a point from its wrap-up last summer.