CBS was the big winner in Thursday ratings, riding the NFL to a 3.0 in viewers 18-49, and an 11 share. That easily beat ABC, which sat at 1.9/7.
CBS had Thursday Night Kickoff at 2.3, then the game, Bears versus Packers, at 3.2.
On ABC, it was the two-hour season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy at 2.3, up 15% over its May finale, then the premiere of How to Get Away With Murder at 1.1. Murder’s season finale last winter did a 1.5.
NBC was at 1.6/6. The premiere of Superstore did a 1.2, up 50% from last spring’s closer, and The Good Place a 1.3, down a tenth from its premiere. Will & Grace returned, after 11 years off the air, at 3.0, with 10.19 million total viewers. NBC said it was the best debut for a comedy, excluding post-Olympic previews, since The Office six years ago. Great News scored a 1.3, up 63% from its season finale, and Chicago Fire premiered at 1.5, which was 15% better than its spring finale.
Fox scored a 0.9/4. Gotham fell 20% to 0.8, and Seth MacFarlane’s The Orville rated a flat 1.1.
Telemundo rated a 0.7/3 and Univision a 0.5/2.
The CW did 0.3/1, with Penn & Teller: Fool Us at a level 0.4 and Whose Line Is It Anyway? down a tenth at 0.3.
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.
