Week ending September 24: Football and 'America's Got Talent' rule, but 'The Good Place' returns in a good... you know the rest.

In TV’s own star wars, both Fox’s “The Orville” and CBS’ “Star Trek: Discovery” launched into similar orbits.

The two shows opened solid, a few weeks apart, on their respective live, linear broadcast networks. But in live+3 ratings (which includes three days of DVR and video on-demand usage), both premieres scored an identical total viewer average: 10.6 million each.

Fox’s “The Orville” was at least a light year ahead in the adults 18-49 demo, however, opening to a strong 3.5 rating — compared to the decent, but less stellar, 2.1 rating for “Star Trek: Discovery.”

Both shows premiered on a Sunday, but it’s not quite an apples-to-apples comparison: “Orville” benefited from a direct NFL lead-in (on Sept. 10), while “Discovery” premiered behind “60 Minutes” (on Sept. 24). Also, “Discovery” has been promoted as a CBS All Access property, and the Eye’s digital platform generated record sign-ups in time for the launch of the latest “Star Trek” chapter — which means many fans probably watched it on that outlet.

From this point on, ratings don’t really matter for “Discovery” any more — subscription levels and retention will be what CBS All Access is looking at. (They’ll be dissecting viewership internally, but much like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, those ratings won’t be shared with the media or the general public.)

It’s a much different story for “The Orville,” which must now battle it out on Thursday nights. In its first regular time slot outing, on Sept. 21, the results were promising: The show averaged 6.3 million viewers in live+3, and a 1.8 rating with adults 18-49, making it Fox’s highest-rated Thursday 9 p.m. telecast in more than two years.

After two weeks behind football, “The Orville” will now settle in on Thursdays with a smaller lead-in and lower ratings expectations. But Fox execs are pleased with the sampling the show got at launch: According to the network, which recently saw the live+7 day (which includes a week’s worth of DVR and VOD usage) numbers, “The Orville” was Fox’s most-viewed drama debut since “Empire” in 2015, and the highest-rated drama launch among any broadcast network in adults 18-49 since ABC’s “Designated Survivor” last September.

Meanwhile, despite naysayers claiming NFL ratings have been damaged by #TakeAKnee, the top programs on TV for the week ending Sept. 24 were Sunday Night Football in both adults 18-49 and total viewers. FX’s “American Horror Story: Cult” continues to see massive time-shifted gains, jumping 102% between its live broadcast and three days later. And NBC’s “The Good Place” returned for Season 2 in a good place.

As for the latest on-demand viewership chart from Xfinity, it appears viewers were looking to catch up on “Will & Grace” on the eve of its return, and have also rediscovered HBO’s “Big Little Lies” after the limited-run series’ big Emmy win. Other new shows making waves: PBS’ “The Vietnam War” documentary series, Fox’s “The Orville,” and HBO’s “The Deuce.

Here are this week’s rankers:

Adults 18-49 ranker, week ending Sept. 24, 2017:

RANK SHOW & NETWORK LIVE+3

DAYS

DVR/VOD RATING WATCHED

LIVE/

SAME

DAY RATING 1 NFL Sunday Night Football NBC 6.3 6.3 2 NFL Monday Night Football ESPN 4.3 4.3 3 America’s Got Talent (Tuesday) NBC 3.6 3.0 4 America’s Got Talent (Wednesday) NBC 3.3 3.0 5 60 Minutes CBS NFL Thursday Night Football NFL Network 2.8 2.8 2.7 2.8 7 Big Brother (Thursday) CBS 2.6 2.2 8 American Horror Story: Cult FX 2.4 1.1 9 Star Trek: Discovery CBS 2.1 1.9 10 Dancing With The Stars ABC The Good Place NBC 2.0 2.0 1.6 1.3 12 The Orville (Thursday) Fox 1.8 1.1 13 American Ninja Warrior NBC 1.7 1.5 14 Masterchef (Wed 9pm) Fox 1.6 1.2 15 Gotham Fox The Sinner USA Love & Hip Hop Hollywood 4 VH1 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.0 0.8 1.0 18 Masterchef (Wed 8 pm) Fox Saturday Night Football ABC Teen Mom 2 Season 8 MTV 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.1 1.4 0.7 21 Who Shot Biggie & Tupac Fox The Big Bang Theory (Thu 8 pm) CBS South Park Comedy Central 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.1 1.2 0.7 24 Celebrity Family Feud ABC Fear the Walking Dead AMC Real Housewives of OC Bravo The Big Bang Theory (Thu 9pm) CBS The Big Bang Theory (Mon 8 pm) Bravo The Paley Center Salutes Will & Grace NBC Midnight, Texas NBC 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.1 0.7 0.6 1.2 1.1 1.1 0.8

Adults 18-49; ratings points

Total viewers ranker, week ending Sept. 24, 2017:

RANK SHOW & NETWORK LIVE+3

DAYS

DVR/VOD WATCHED

LIVE/

SAME

DAY 1 NFL Sunday Night Football NBC 17.56 17.48 2 America’s Got Talent (Wednesday) NBC

17.30 15.64 3 America’s Got Talent (Tuesday) NBC 16.82 14.70 4 60 Minutes CBS 15.24 14.83 5 NFL Monday Night Football ESPN 12.36 12.29 6 Dancing With The Stars ABC

12.25 10.72 7 Star Trek: Discovery CBS 10.63 9.49 8 Big Brother (Wednesday) CBS 7.79 6.72 9 NFL Thursday Night Football NFL Network 7.52 7.46 10 The Big Bang Theory (Thu 8pm) CBS 7.49 7.16 11 The Good Place NBC 6.95 5.28 12 NCIS CBS 6.94 6.60 13 American Ninja Warrior NBC 6.70 5.96 14 The Big Bang Theory (Thu 9pm) CBS 6.41 6.10 15 The Orville (Thursday) Fox 6.26 4.05 16 The Big Bang Theory (Mon 8pm) CBS 6.24 5.97 17 Mom (Thu 8:30pm) CBS 6.09 5.96 18 NCIS: New Orleans CBS 5.97 5.65 19 Bull CBS 5.84 5.55 20 Celebrity Family Feud ABC 5.65 5.23 21 Blue Bloods CBS 5.59 5.26 22 NCIS: Los Angeles CBS 5.56 5.30 23 Masterchef (Wed 9pm) Fox 5.32 4.15 24 Dateline Friday NBC Saturday Night Football ABC 5.28 5.28 4.04 5.26

Total viewers; in millions

Here is this week’s Xfinity On Demand ranker:

Top 20 TV Series, Sept. 18-24, 2017:

RANK SHOW NETWORK 1 Game of Thrones HBO 2 The Sinner

USA 3 Outlander Starz 4 The Vietnam War PBS 5 The Orville Fox 6 Rick and Morty

Adult Swim 7 American Horror Story: Cult FX 8 America’s Got Talent NBC 9 Ballers HBO 10 Ray Donovan Showtime 11 This Is Us NBC 12 Teen Mom 2 MTV 13 The Simpsons Fox/FXX 14 The Deuce HBO 15 Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood VH1 16 Big Little Lies HBO 17 Will & Grace NBC 18 South Park Comedy Central 19 Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath A&E 20 Chrisley Knows Best USA

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