Primetime Ratings: ‘The Good Place,’ ‘Kevin Can Wait’ Start Strong

UPDATED: Enjoying a healthy lead in from The Voice, NBC’s new comedy The Good Place got off on a good foot. The Voice opened to a 3.3 in viewers 18-49, per Nielsen’s overnights, while The Good Place debuted at 2.3 at 10 p.m., with a 2.6 in the first half-hour. The Voice concluded last spring at 2.1, after kicking off a year ago at 3.5.  

NBC did a 3.0 rating in 18-49, and a 10 share. CBS posted a 2.2/8, ABC a 1.4/5, Fox a 1.3/4 and CW a 0.3/1.

On CBS, Big Bang Theory opened to a 3.6, up from its 3.3 finale last spring but down from last September’s booming 4.5 opener. Kevin James rookie Kevin Can Wait premiered at a solid 2.6. Part two of The Case Of: JonBenet Ramsey did a 1.8. That did a 2.8 the night before.

On ABC, Dancing with the Stars, featuring Vanilla Ice paying respect to Married With Children and Frank Sinatra, posted a 1.7, down 35% from its premiere. The season finale of Match Game rated a flat 0.9.

Over at Fox, the season premiere of Gotham did a 1.2 and Lucifer a 1.3; both were consistent with their finales last spring, while Gotham had started the season at 1.6 and Lucifer at 2.4, the latter with an X-Files lead-in.

The CW had Supergirl repeats.

Michael Malone

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.