Wednesday TV Ratings 7/6/22: Big Brother Returns Down But Strong, The Challenge: USA Has Middling Start, Mysteries Decoded Evaporates in Return (UPDATED)

Ratings Analysis: Reality juggernaut 'Big Brother' (0.81) brought some life back to summer ratings for its twenty-fourth season premiere on CBS. Although this marks a somewhat steep 25% decline from its year-ago start (1.08), this weaker version of 'Brother' still stands head and shoulders above almost all other offerings. Lead-out program 'The Challenge: USA' (0.41) barely scraped together 50% retention of 'Big Brother' for its series debut and looked middling at best out the gate. The CW's 'Mysteries Decoded' (0.04) was a shadow of its former self for its first broadcast since 2020 and led into a stable 'Wellington Paranormal' (0.03, 0.00) and a 'Wellington' rerun (0.02). The NBC repeat of 'Chicago Med' (0.32) was up by six-hundredths from last week while 'Chicago Fire' (0.30) and 'PD' (0.29) were steady. Fox programs 'MasterChef' (0.25) and 'So You Think You Can Dance' (0.18) went into repeat-mode after airing originals the week prior. ABC's repeat of 'The Goldbergs' (0.24) tied last week's but encores of 'The Conners' (0.29), 'Abbott Elementary' (0.20), 'Home Economics' (0.17), and 'Press Your Luck' (0.21) all declined on a week-to-week basis.

Finals Update: All shows held their preliminary ratings.

Time	Show	18-49 Rating/Share	Viewers (mil)	Network
8 PM	Big Brother (P)	0.81/8	3.84	CBS
	Chicago Med (R)	0.32/3	3.12	NBC
	The Conners (R)	0.29/3	2.14	ABC
	MasterChef (R)	0.25/3	1.39	Fox
	Mysteries Decoded (P)	0.04/0	0.50	The CW
8:30 PM	The Goldbergs (R)	0.24/2	1.35	ABC
9 PM	Chicago Fire (R)	0.30/3	3.05	NBC
	Abbott Elementary (R)	0.20/2	1.12	ABC
	So You Think You Can Dance (R)	0.18/2	1.03	Fox
	Wellington Paranormal	0.03/0	0.26	The CW
9:30 PM	The Challenge: USA (Series Premiere)	0.41/4	2.33	CBS
	Home Economics (R)	0.17/2	0.96	ABC
	Wellington Paranormal (R)	0.02/0	0.21	The CW
10 PM	Chicago PD (R)	0.29/3	2.86	NBC
	Press Your Luck (R)	0.21/1	1.36	ABC