Tuesday TV Ratings 9/16/25: Dancing with the Stars Erupts to Highest Premiere Rating Since 2020, High Potential Returns Down, WNBA Playoffs Rise [+ Analysis]

ABC's Dancing with the Stars made its return in explosive fashion, beginning the season with a mammoth 1.06 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic, a whopping 45% improvement on last year's premiere (0.73). At ten, High Potential (0.34) retained less than a third of its Dancing lead-in for its season premiere, but the series was only a hundredth shy of its year-ago launch (0.35). America's Got Talent (0.40, +0.02) was up from last week on NBC, but a 10 p.m. fall preview special (0.13) did not impress. CBS aired repeats of NCIS (0.17) and NCIS: Origins (0.12/0.10). On Fox, The 1% Club (0.25/0.23) finished strong. WWE NXT (0.17, +0.03) gained some momentum on the CW. Key: (P) = premiere. (R) = repeat. (F) = finale.

Time	Show	18-49 Rating	18-49 Share	Viewers (mil)	Network
8 PM	Dancing with the Stars (P)	1.06	17	5.38	ABC
	America's Got Talent	0.40	6	4.33	NBC
	The 1% Club	0.25	4	1.91	Fox
	NCIS (R)	0.17	3	2.45	CBS
	WWE NXT	0.17	3	0.74	CW
9 PM	The 1% Club (F)	0.23	3	1.67	Fox
	NCIS: Origins (R)	0.12	2	1.95	CBS
10 PM	High Potential (P)	0.34	7	4.34	ABC
	NBC Fall Preview	0.13	3	1.43	NBC
	NCIS: Origins (R)	0.10	2	1.53	CBS

Cable Highlights:

Show	Network	18-49 Viewers	Viewers (mil.)
WNBA Playoffs: Aces v. Storm	ESPN	0.21	0.95
WNBA Playoffs: Dream v. Fever	ESPN	0.19	1.28
Gutfeld!	Fox News	0.18	3.22
Jesse Watters Primetime	Fox News	0.18	3.22
Hannity	Fox News	0.15	2.81
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City	Bravo	0.10	0.37
Women's College Volleyball: NE v. Creighton	FS1	0.10	0.37
Alien: Earth	FX	0.08	0.39
MLB: Padres v. Mets	TBS	0.06	0.26
NewsNight	CNN	0.05	0.48
The Source with Kaitlan Collins	CNN	0.05	0.49
The Chrisleys: Back to Reality	Lifetime	0.04	0.35
The Briefing with Jen Psaki	MSNBC	0.04	1.11
Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell	MSNBC	0.04	1.17
All In with Chris Hayes	MSNBC	0.04	0.98
The Chrisleys: Back to Reality	Lifetime	0.03	0.36
Love Thy Nader	Freeform	0.02	0.05