The Fall TV season is underway and NBC and CBS can claim early bragging rights as premieres of their two new shows got off to solid starts.
On NBC, Manifest drew a 2.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 10.3 million total viewers. The series built on its lead-in from The Voice, which premiered to 2.0 demo rating and 9.6 million viewers. Manifest was also the second highest-rated show of the night behind The Big Bang Theory. What’s even more encouraging fr Manifest is that it aired at 10 PM, which tends to be a difficult timeslot for most shows, and it built on its lead-in from The Voice, which suggests that this was a premiere that people were waiting to see.
On CBS, Magnum P.I. launched at the 9 PM hour to a 1.2. demo rating and 8.1 million viewers. CBS started the night with the season premiere of The Big Bang Theory, which was the top show of the night with a 2.4 demo rating and 12.7 million viewers. Despite topping the night, the show was down a hefty 41 percent vs. last season’s debut (and -11 percent from its 2017-18 average). The season premiere of Young Sheldon also drew a 1.7 demo rating and 10.6 million viewers, dropping 55 percent from its series premiere a year ago and coming in 23 percent below its season one average.
Why am I calling Magnum P.I. a solid start? While the demo rating seems low in comparison to the premiere of Manifest, it’s pretty much in line with what CBS’ dramas and action-oriented shows are scoring in the 18-49 demo. This is only week one and we will have to see where it goes, but, it’s a pretty decent start nonetheless. If there is a caveat, it’s that it had a sizeable lead-in from Young Sheldon and it didn’t exactly hold on to its audience but the viewers for the shows are very different. Next week Magnum P.I. doesn’t get the assist from a big lead-in so that will be the real test.
CBS ended their night with the season 3 premiere of Bull which was down some from its usual numbers with a 0.9 demo rating and 7.33 million viewers. The show was off 31 percent vs. 1.3 for its 2017-18 premiere, when it aired on Tuesdays (it averaged 1.2 for the season). Bull did substantially improve on Scorpion‘s premiere in the time period last season (7.33 million vs. 5.73 million).
On ABC, Dancing With the Stars (1.1, 8.07 million viewers, -21 percent) and The Good Doctor (1.4, 7.78 million viewers, -36 percent) also took sizable hits on ABC, and they could go a little bit lower in the finals as the network’s Pittsburgh affiliate pre-empted regular programming for Monday Night Football. The good news for The Good Doctor, much like its first season, is that it build on its lead-in which is always encouraging news. The series was also a big gainer in delayed viewing last year and that should be the case for season 2.
FOX had a pretty decent night with The Resident premiering its second season with a 1.1 demo rating and 4.85 million viewers, a little above its first-season average of 1.0 and tying its best Monday performance from last season (it premiered to a 2.6 after the NFC Championship game in January). The time-period debut of 9-1-1 scored a 1.6 demo rating and 6.56 million viewers, down a full point from Sunday’s NFL-assisted 2.6 but on par with its first-season average. The two shows averaged 5.7 million viewers, giving FOX its most-watched fall Monday since 2014.
