• by Wayne Friedman , August 19, 2011

Ramping up some big fall-season sports programming -- and closing down some summer reality shows -- were the highlights on this mid Thursday in August.

Early Nielsen results show a NFL pre-season game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers gave Fox a moderately healthy 3.3 rating/10 share among 18-49 viewers, the best-rated program of the night.

CBS's strong summer reality effort, "Big Brother," took in a 3.0/5 -- down slightly from its preliminary numbers a week ago. A week ago, the show was also affected by the NFL -- partly due to local TV stations running NFL pre-season games.

Likewise, ABC witnessed some declines from its Thursday shows for the same reasons. "Wipeout" was flat at a 1.9/7; "Expedition Impossible" was down 20% to a 1.3/4; and "Rookie Blue" was off 14% to a 1.2/4.

Everything else was in repeats on the broadcast networks.

For the night, according to Nielsen, Fox preliminarily averaged among 18-49 viewers with a 3.0/9; CBS earned a 2.0/9; ABC scored a 1.5/5; Univision took a 1.3/4; NBC earned a 0.8/3; and CW finished at a 0.3/1. The Thursday before, CBS was on top in early results with a 2.3/7; Fox (without an NFL game) had a 2.1/7; followed by ABC at a 1.6/5; Univision with a 1.3/4; NBC at a 1.0/3; and CW with a 0.4/1.