48 Hours Wins 12th Season as Saturday’s Most-Watched, Non-Sports Show

By Chris Ariens 

48 Hours ends its 30th anniversary season as the No. 1 non-sports show on Saturday nights.

For the 2017-2018 broadcast season, the CBS News magazine averaged 4.65 million viewers and a 1.0 rating / 4 share in the adults 25-54 demo. This is the 12th season in a row the crime show has been the No. 1 non-sports show on Saturday nights.

48 Hours launched in 1986 as the documentary 48 HOURS ON CRACK STREET featuring the reporting of 10 CBS News correspondents and 15 crews over a period of one 48-hour weekend to chronicle the mid-1980’s crack epidemic. In 1988, it evolved into a regular series built around a team of correspondents covering one subject for 48 consecutive hours. These days, its a single-correspondent deep dive into a criminal case: murder, investigation, trial, verdict.

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It’s back on the CBS schedule for its 31st season, at the same time, 10 p.m. ET Saturdays.

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