A Super Bowl LX rematch begins the 2026 NFL season.
Photo by MMG via Wikimedia Commons
There was a boatload of college football on TV over the weekend (with one more game still to come this evening), and the NFL season will kick off Wednesday. So let me spoil, oh, the next five months or so of the weekly on-air ratings: Football is gonna be at the top.
The league is extremely aware of that, and it’s spent the past few years seeking more windows for its games. The season kickoff, usually on a Thursday, is on Wednesday this year, followed by another game Thursday before a full slate Sunday. There will be a Thanksgiving Eve game and a Friday after Thanksgiving game later in the year. Games will be on ABC and ESPN, CBS, Fox, NBC and Peacock, Prime Video, and Netflix. It’s almost literally everywhere.
The good news if you’re not a football sicko is that the fall premiere schedule is starting to ramp up as well. It’s a small uptick this week, but a whole lot of shows are on their way later this month.
Before this week’s dates: The Creative Arts Emmys, honoring behind-the-scenes crew members and guest actors, took place over the weekend. Here are the winners from night one and night two of the ceremony. Notable ones include multiple wins for The Muppet Show revival — pick it up already, Disney! — Mariska Hargitay’s HBO documentary My Mom Jayne, and the recently canceled Spider-Noir. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert also won its first ever Emmy for writing for a variety series for its final season.
Hargitay is also hosting the Primetime Emmys, which are on Sept. 14 and therefore will be in next week’s calendar.
One other note: Weekly ratings will be delayed for the holiday this week, so I’ll likely send a combined on-air and streaming ratings newsletter on Thursday.
Happy Labor Day to those of you in the U.S. The calendar for this week is below. All times are ET/PT unless noted.