• by Wayne Friedman , August 19, 2009

It's mid-August, and one network is still trying to tease our prime-time reality sports yearnings.

"Shaq Vs." on ABC performed with a Nielsen Media Research 1.7 rating/5 share among 18-49 viewers -- one of the better results ABC has earned in any 9 p.m. summertime period. It came in third place, bettering Fox's "More to Love" -- on an overall viewer basis, 4.2 million versus 3.8 million. ("More To Love" tied "Shaq Vs." among 18-49 viewers.)

The bad news was that the entertainment/competition show -- where NBAer Shaquille O'Neal takes on other athletes in their own sports -- went against the heavy hitters of the summer: CBS' "Big Brother" and "America's Got Talent" -- which came up with a 3.0/9 and a 3.1/9, respectively.

But O'Neal's show premiere did better than ABC's other summer sports competition show "The Superstars" in its premiere, which earned a 1.5/5.

Fox got by both NBC and CBS on the night, as its "Hell's Kitchen" took the best results: a 3.5/12 in the 8 p.m. time slot. Fox averaged a 2.6/8 for the night; NBC earned a 2.5/8; and CBS took a 2.0/6.

ABC's other reality effort -- its game show, "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" -- stayed low, with a 1.3/4 in the 8 p.m. time period. All this landed ABC after CBS at a 1.4/4, tied with Univision.

MyNetworkTV, with repeats of "Street Patrol" and "Jail", did a tick better than CW's two repeats of "90210," coming in with a 0.4 rating/1.4 share among 18-49 viewers to CW's 0.3 rating/1.0 share.