NBC's premieres were robust with The Voice debuting to a 3.5 rating in adults 18-49, and 12.1 million viewers overall, according to Nielsen overnight numbers, good for a 21% improvement over its spring finale.
That led into ballyhooed 10 p.m. drama Blindspot opening with a 3.1 rating and 10.6 million overall viewers. It was the highest 18-49 number for a regularly scripted series since the season two premiere of The Blacklist exactly a year ago, according to NBC.
NBC won the night with a 3.4/11 in 18-49, ahead of CBS with a 2.3/8, ABC’s 1.6/5, Fox’s 1.3/4 and CW’s 0.4/1.
On CBS, The Big Bang Theory came out with a bang, putting up a 4.5 rating in viewers 18-49, and garnering 17.8 million viewers overall. The 4.5 was a 22% gain from last year’s finale. The series premiere of Life in Pieces showed a 2.7 in 18-49, with 11.5 million viewers total, while returnees Scorpion had a 2.0 in 18-49, down 38% from last year’s 3.2 premiere, and NCIS: Los Angeles a 1.3, off 32% from the previous year’s premiere.
ABC’s Dancing With the Stars posted a 1.8, up 39% from the previous week’s 1.1, while Castle, singled out in the Emmys telecast opening song and dance as being not quite must-see TV, registered a 1.2.
On Fox, Minority Report opened with a 1.1, while Gotham returned to a 1.6, down 10% from last season’s finale.
CW’s Penn & Teller: Fool Us averaged a 0.4, off 20% from the previous week, and Significant Mother was at a 0.3, up 33% over last week.
Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.
