The first big volleys of the Fall TV season were… inconclusive.
NBC: The network would be delighted if MYSTERIES OF LAURA could duplicate last night’s 2.1 rating when it airs in its regular timeslot. On the face of it, the show did a solid job of retaining its 2.3 lead-in from the season finale of AMERICA’S GOT TALENT (which incidentally was down 0.2 form last season’s finale). However, Talent peaked in its last half hour at 2.7, and Laura‘s audience trailed off as it aired, so the spread between the network’s rating at 9:30PM and 10:30PM was a nastier 0.8, from 2.7 to 1.9. That’s still a good rating for NBC on Wednesdays, but the going will be much tougher at 8PM without any network lead-in and against stronger competition.
FOX: RED BAND SOCIETY isn’t looking like any kind of breakout hit with 1.3 in its premiere. On the plus side, it held almost all of its 1.4 HELL’S KITCHEN lead-in (down 0.1 from last week), and also remained stable throughout its hour. If Red Band can stick with those numbers, it could have a place in the currently depressed world of FOX primetime.
CBS: The season finale of EXTANT was up 0.3 from last week to 1.1, although that’s somewhat misleading since last week’s Wednesday primetime was disrupted by a presidential speech that pushed part of Extant out of primetime. BIG BROTHER was down 0.2 to 2.2.
CW: PENN & TELLER: FOOL US gained 0.1 to 0.6.
ABC: Reruns, led by MODERN FAMILY at 1.4.
Apart from THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL, the only network action tonight is on NBC, which airs a 2-hour BIGGEST LOSER premiere and then another run of the Mysteries of Laura pilot. However, cable is rife with season finales: RUSH and SATISFACTION on USA, MARRIED and YOU’RE THE WORST on FX, and THE HONORABLE WOMAN on Sundance.
DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL
The chart above goes beyond the adult 18-49 rating, adding other key advertiser sales demographics (adult 18-34 and 25-54 ratings), audience skews (women 18-49, men 18-49 and adults 50+ shares), and total viewership (ages 2 or more expressed in thousands of people).
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