Sunday TV Ratings: ‘American Idol’ Finale Comes Up Behind ‘The Simpsons’

Jim Halterman May 18, 2020, 12:00 pm

Bart Simpson’s still got it! A rerun of Sunday night staple The Simpsons in the 7 o’clock hour grabbed the top spot in the 18-49 demo with a 1.1 rating (and 5.83 million total viewers). In total viewers, the leader for Sunday’s primetime broadcast television schedule was CBS’ 60 Minutes with 9.68 million viewers.

The season finale of ABC’s American Idol, which went virtual in the last few episodes of its third revival season given the COVID-19 pandemic, came in second place in both the key demo and total viewers (1.0 rating and 7.26 million).

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CBS continued its Sunday Night Movies with another big screen blockbuster — Tom Cruise’s 1996 Mission Impossible — but the broadcast only managed a .4 rating and 3.84 million viewers, much lower than last week’s Forrest Gump (0.7 rating, 5.63 million) and the May 3 broadcast of Raiders of the Lost Ark (0.6 rating, 5.19 million).

Here’s the breakdown for Sunday, May 17, 2020 (numbers are fast-affiliate based):

Time	Show	Adults 18-49 ratings	Total Viewers (millions)
7:00 p.m.	The Simpsons– R (Fox)	1.1	5.83
	60 Minutes (CBS)	0.7	9.68
	AFV@Home (ABC)	0.7	4.61
	Little Big Shots (NBC)	0.3	2.14
7:30 p.m.	Bob’s Burgers – R (Fox)	0.6	2.27
8 p.m.	American Idol (ABC)	1.0	7.26
	The Simpsons (Fox)	0.6	1.89
	Mission Impossible (CBS)	0.4	3.84
	Beverly Hills Dog Show (NBC)	0.3	1.94
	Batwoman _ F (CW)	0.2	752,000
8:30 p.m.	Duncanville (Fox)	0.4	1.20
9:00 p.m.	Bob’s Burgers (Fox)	0.5	1.32
	Supergirl – F (CW)	0.2	627,000
9:30 p.m.	Family Guy (Fox)	0.5	1.49
10 p.m.	Taylor Swift: City of Lover (ABC)	0.5	3.63
	The Wall (NBC)	0.3	2.07
10:30 p.m.	Man With A Plan – R (CBS)	0.3	1.92