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'Ninja Warrior' ratings leap over rivals

NBC’s American Ninja Warrior jumped over rivals for its second week on the air this summer, muscling out ABC’s Bachelorette and Fox’s MasterChef. The world’s toughest obstacle competition was up 19 percent to rank as Monday’s top-rated show in the demo.

It’s a nice headline for a series that started as an addictive Japanese sensation (Sasuke) airing on the network formerly known as G4. Ninja Warrior spawned a U.S. version that was gradually promoted up the network ranks to air on NBC in 2011. Thankfully, the NBC edition has maintained the Japanese original’s extreme level of difficulty (nobody has yet finished the final U.S. course) and focus on the athletic prowess of the contestants rather than the falls (unlike ABC’s silly take on this genre, Wipeout).

Since Monday, May 26 was Memorial Day, it’s perhaps no surprise that shows went up across the board this week: Fox’s MasterChef was up 21 percent, 24 was up 20 percent, Bachelorette was up 6 percent. ABC’s Mistresses also returned with the same debut number as last year.

Last, but certainly not least: The CW’s Beauty and the Beast returned from hiatus to post its most-watched episode in more than a year. Full chart:

NET/TIME/SHOW18-49 RATINGTOTAL VIEWERS (+000)
FOX8-9PMASTERCHEF-1.75,081
9-10P24: LV-DAY-1.86,240
ABC8-10PBACHLRTTE-1.76,499
10-11PMISTRESSES-P1.24,478
CBS8:00P2BROKE GRL-R1.04,806
8:30PMOM-R1.04,682
9:00PMIKE&MOLLY-R1.15,518
9:30PMKE&MLYRS1.25,571
10-11P48 HR MO-S1.26,132
NBC8-9PLST CMC-MO-RS1.34,260
9-11PAMRN NINJA-1.95,262
CW8:00PWHSE-ANYWAY-0.51,676
8:30PWHOSE-ENC-R0.51,553
9-10PBEAUTY&BST-0.41,108

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Tandra Barner