Welcome to the 2013-14 broadcast network TV season–where what was supposed to be the first clash of the titans has already turned out to be no contest at all.
NBC: With the much-hyped return of the original judges on THE VOICE, the show premiered for its second fall cycle with a huge 4.9 rating, way up from last fall’s 4.2, and even up from the spring premiere’s 4.8. It’s the highest premiere since the show’s post-Super Bowl start. This set things up perfectly for the debut of THE BLACKLIST, which blasted past CBS and ABC to a 3.8. That’s a bit lower than the 4.1 that Revolution had in its kick-off, but Blacklist is much more likely to hold up over the long haul. The night was a big fat win for the Peacock.
CBS: The Eye has only one real hit left on Mondays… and it’s the one that’s going away at the end of this season. Propelled by its meet-The-Mother storyline, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER started its final season with a full-hour 3.6, even with last season’s premiere. After that, the night went off a cliff. 2 BROKE GIRLS fell to 2.8, still a decent number but down an awful 0.9 from last fall’s premiere, not to mention down 0.8 from its lead-in. That was bad news for MOM, which managed an OK 2.5 in its premiere. And then HOSTAGES, which with its serialized nature badly needed a hot start, had just a 1.8–the same as last fall’s Hawaii 5-0, which was so borderline that it was shunted off to Fridays this year.
FOX: The network held up very well against the barrage of new competition. BONES slipped 0.4 to 1.9, and then more importantly, SLEEPY HOLLOW also lost just 0.4, leaving it with a very strong 3.1 that was behind only The Voice in the hour.
ABC: DANCING WITH THE STARS took a big hit with the return of The Voice, down 0.8 from last week to 2.3 (although with its old-skewing audience, the race was much closer in total viewers). CASTLE rode its big spring cliffhanger to a 2.2 premiere, up 0.1 from last year’s start.
CW: Still in reruns, at 0.2/0.2/0.3.
Tonight America finally gets to see the most-publicied, least-seen pilot of the year: ABC;s AGENTS OF SHIELD. It’s the start of an ambitious all-new night, followed by THE GOLDBERGS, TROPHY WIFE and LUCKY 7. Meanwhile, CBS adds PERSON OF INTEREST to its NCIS double bill, NBC gives CHICAGO FIRE a permanent The Voice lead-in, and FOX, which had a fair early start last week, hopes that when the dust settles, it doesn’t lose too much ground.
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