Primetime Ratings: ‘Resurrection’ Delivers Big Debut for ABC

ABC’s new drama Resurrection premiered to a 3.6 rating among adults 18-49 and 13.3 million total viewers Sunday night, according to Nielsen overnight numbers—making it the night’s top-rated show and helping ABC finish first among the broadcasters with a 2.2 rating and a 7 share. The debut was up 140% from last year’s March 3 midseason drama premiere of Red Widow in the same timeslot.

ABC kicked off the night with clip-show special Once Upon a Time: Wicked is Coming, drawing a 1.4. Leading into Resurrection was Once Upon a Time, which returned from a three-month hiatus to a 2.3, up 21% from its last original episode Dec. 15. Moving into a new 10 p.m. time period and benefiting from Resurrection’s lead-in, Revenge drew a 1.9, up 46% from its last original broadcast Jan. 19 at 9 p.m.

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey premiered to a 2.1 on Fox, where it averaged 5.8 million total viewers. The science series from producer Seth MacFarlane received a multi-platform debut, garnering 8.5 million total viewers across 10 Fox networks. The core demo rating across all 10 networks was 2.9. 

Fox finished second with a 1.7/5. Bob’s Burgers moved to a new time period at 7 p.m., posting a 0.9, down 40% from its last original episode, Jan. 26 at 8:30 p.m. The network aired back-to-back new episodes of The Simpsons, with the special 7:30 p.m. broadcast drawing a 1.2 and the 8 p.m. broadcast down one tenth from the last regular-timeslot original at 1.6. Family Guy also premiered in a new time period, drawing a 2.2 at 8:30 p.m., up 10% from its 9 p.m. broadcast Jan. 26.

CBS finished third with a 1.6/5. Newsmagazine 60 Minutes grew 15% from its last original Jan. 23 to 1.5. The Amazing Race was up 20% from last week at 1.8. The Good Wife and The Mentalist returned after two months off with the former down 28% from its last original Jan. 12 at 1.3, and the latter down 11% at 1.6.

NBC finished fourth at 1.13. Dateline was down 15% from its last Sunday broadcast Jan. 5 at 1.1. The newsmagazine was followed by a rerun of The Voice.