If ABC was hoping A Million Little Things would be their This Is Us, it may have some work to do after its initial start last night.
A Million Little Things, which has been heavily promoted at the network, drew a 1.1 demo rating in the 18-49 and 5.1 million viewers. By comparison, the Season 2 premiere of Designated Survivor last September also drew a 1.1 rating but 5.5 million viewers in the same time slot. Designated Survivor was also down significantly from its series premiere the previous year. This isn’t a bad start for the show but I think ABC was hoping for numbers that were a tad higher.
ABC had another series premiere which fared a bit better before A Million Little Things. The single-cam comedy Single Parents-drew a 1.3 rating and 4.9 million viewers & the show retained most of the lead-in it got from the season premiere of Modern Family, which was down a little over 20% in both measures from last season with a 1.6 demo rating and 5.4 million viewers. Earlier in the night on ABC, both the season premiere of The Goldbergs (1.4, 5.1 million viewers) and American Housewife (1.2, 4.4 million viewers) saw declines similar to those experienced by Modern Family.
On FOX, the season premiere of Empire was the top-rated show of the night with a 1.9 demo rating and 6.1 million viewers, though it was also down approximately 21% in the key demo and 14% in total viewers from last season. The season premiere of Star saw smaller declines, dropping approximately 15% in the demo and 12% in viewers with a 1.5 demo score and 4.7 million viewers.
On NBC, the all-Chicago lineup earned consistent ratings across the night, with Med, Fire, and P.D. all drawing 1.2 ratings in the demo (NBC also led the night in total viewers). Chicago Med and Chicago P.D. were in line with their 2017-18 averages, and Fire was slightly above. In total viewers, Chicago Med drew 7.68 million viewers, Chicago Fire hit 7.96 million viewers and Chicago PD registered 7.14 million viewers.
