Primetime Ratings: ‘Supergirl’ Flies Out of the Gates

CBS drama Supergirl premiered with some oomph, the high-flying superhero rookie series scoring a 3.2 rating in viewers 18-49 Monday night, according to Nielsen’s overnights. Just shy of 13 million total viewers watched.

The pilot saw Supergirl, portrayed by Melissa Benoist, suffering through a taxing day job toiling for a media mogul, before using those superpowers—flight, strength, hearing—to save a listing jet and felling an ill-tempered foe.

CBS is betting big on the series, which was created by Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler and Andrew Kreisberg.

Yet it was NBC, on the strength of The Voice, that won a close race.

NBC tallied a 2.8 rating in 18-49, along with a 9 share. CBS had a 2.7/8, both well ahead of ABC’s 1.5/5, Fox’s 1.0/3 and CW’s 0.3/1.

The Voice posted a 3.1, up a tenth from last week, while Blindspot had a 2.2, up 5%.

Supergirl enjoyed a Big Bang Theory lead-in on CBS, the comedy showing a 4.2 rating, up 14% from last week. Scorpion posted a 1.9, up 5%.

ABC’s Dancing With the Stars put up a 1.9, flat with last week, while Castle was a repeat.

Fox featured drama Gotham, at a 1.5, up 13%, and Minority Report at 0.7, up 17% from the previous Tuesday.

It was a rough night for The CW, with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s 0.2 a 100% decrease, leading into Jane the Virgin’s 0.3., down 40% from last week.

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.