Have revivals hit a snag? The highly-anticipated return of Murphy Brown on CBS was poised for a big ratings return but it looks like viewers weren’t eager to return to her brand of news.
The newsroom sitcom starring Candice Bergen (and included a Hillary Clinton cameo) was seen by 7.4 million viewers and had only a 1.1 rating among adults 18-49 — the lowest of the network’s two-hour comedy block, slipping from its Mom lead-in (1.3 demo rating, 7.99 million viewers). The good news, although slight, was that the show was up 11 percent from Life in Pieces’ debut in the same spot a year ago in total viewers, but it was off a little in the 18-49 demo (vs. 1.2)
By comparison, 2017’s return of Will & Grace on NBC after 11 years off the air had more than 10 million viewers and a strong 3.0 rating in the demo. Earlier this year, Roseanne stunned with a massive 18 million viewers and a 5.1 rating in the demo after 20 years off the air. Murphy Brown arguably has the biggest brand and name recognition of the new shows premiering on CBS so one would expect more people to sample the premiere episode but there may have been a couple of things that turned people away. Reviews for the revival have not been good and it currently has a rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes of 27%. Most reviews suggest that the comedy is dated and out of touch, especially in the current news climate, which is surprising since the sitcom was once on the pulse of what was going on in current events.
Another issue at play may be that our real-life news cycle of politics, “fake news” and all out nonsense feels like a comedy itself so why sit through a show that is trying to poke fun at that? I think this topical brand of comedy may be turning viewers off and that could explain why some chose to stay away.
The rest of CBS’ lineup also saw some declines, with The Big Bang Theory (2.1, 11.74 million viewers) and Young Sheldon (1.6, 10.08 million viewers) both dipped from their premieres Monday (2.5 and 1.7). Mom was off a tick from last season’s premiere 1.4, and SWAT premiered with a series-low 0.7 demo rating in the 18-49 and 4.98 million viewers.
On ABC, the two-hour premiere of Grey’s Anatomy averaged a 1.8 demo rating and 6.79 million viewers, off half a point (23 percent) vs a year ago. How to Get Away with Murder (0.8, 2.99 million viewers) slipped 0.2, or 20 percent, year to year.
On NBC, The Good Place drew a 1.0 demo rating for its hour-long premiere and 3.12 million viewers, down from the 1.4 for its 2017 premiere but close to its 1.1 average for 2017-18. The two-hour debut of Law & Order: SVU (1.1, 5.08 million viewers) is down 21 percent year to year (its 2017-18 same-day average was 1.2).
