On the second night of the new fall season, ABC aired four new shows. While the night got off to a great start with Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but the end of the evening, ABC went from a huge high to an all-time low with the unlucky Lucky 7.
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Agents of SHIELD kicked off the night with 12.12 million viewers. While that was only third place in total viewers (against NCIS and The Voice), it actually tied The Voice in the important 18-49 demographic, scoring the highest rating in that demo for any new show in four years.
ABC’s unusual decision to follow the superhero hit with two new comedies had mixed results. The Goldbergs maintained a fair amount of its lead-in with 8.9 million viewers, but the number was down to 6.7 million at 9:30pm for the premiere of Trophy Wife.
Things got even more grim at 10pm when ABC debuted its new drama, Lucky 7, with just 4.4 million viewers. That might be an all-time low for a fall scripted series premiere on ABC. I went back seven years, and the worst I could find was the legal drama The Whole Truth in 2010, which started off with 4.91 million viewers (and was axed after four episodes). Even My Generation, which only got two episodes before being canceled, started off with 5.22 million.
As for other networks, NBC maintained strong numbers with The Voice, averaging over 14.3 million viewers (though the ratings jumped up significantly for the second hour, which is when it will regularly air starting next week). That helped boost Chicago Fire on its new night, which hit an all-time high with 8.9 million. That’s up 2.7 million from the season 1 finale.
On CBS, the trio of high-rated hits was down a bit, but still on top for the night. NCIS started season 11 with 20 million while NCIS: Los Angeles premiered with 16.3 million, both down about half a million from last year. On its new night, Person of Interest was down about 2 million from its premiere last season, but that still left it with 12.4 million viewers.
Finally, FOX saw a big drop-off in its second week of comedies.
–Dads went from 5.76 million to 3.65 million.
–Brooklyn Nine-Nine went from 6.17 million to 4.03 million.
–New Girl when from 5.53 million to 4.04 million.
–The Mindy Project went from 3.83 million to 2.94 million.
Here’s a look at how the night went for the four major networks.
8pm
20.02 million: NCIS (CBS)
14.35 million: The Voice (NBC)
12.12 million: Agents of SHIELD (ABC)
3.65 million: Dads (FOX)
8:30pm
4.03 million: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX)
9pm
16.35 million: NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS)
8.94 million: The Goldbergs (ABC)
4.04 million: New Girl (FOX)
9:30pm
6.69 million: Trophy Wife (ABC)
2.94 million: The Mindy Project (FOX)
10pm
12.44 million: Person of Interest (CBS)
8.9 million: Chicago Fire (NBC)
4.43 million: Lucky 7 (ABC)
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
