Nielsen’s top 20 has no scripted program

NEW YORK — There’s something missing in the Nielsen company’s listing of last week’s 20 most popular prime-time programs, something that once would have seemed inconceivable.

Not a single scripted program is included — no drama or no comedy.

The most-watched scripted show of the week, NBC’s drama “Transplant,” ranked No. 42 with 3.63 million viewers.

On what would normally be the eve of the start of a new season, the television production cupboard is bare because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Instead, the top 20 included four NFL games, much to the networks’ relief, and two NBA playoff games. Games like “Dancing With the Stars,” “America’s Got Talent” and “Big Brother” filled more time.

And there was plenty of news, led by the season premiere of “60 Minutes” on CBS. Thirteen individual programs on Fox News Channel alone had a bigger audience than “Transplant.”

The top 20 had one entry that was at least ABOUT scripted drama and comedy, with the annual telecast of the Emmy Awards on ABC. But the Emmys had its smallest audience ever, and even lagged behind the Academy of Country Music Awards last week.

NBC led the week in prime-time, averaging 4.8 million viewers. CBS had 4.1 million, ABC had 3.8 million, Univision had 1.4 million, Fox had 1.3 million, ION Television had 1.1 million and Telemundo had 1.06 million.