RATINGS RECAP: 9/20/11

ABC
8:00 Dancing with the Stars Special
Viewers: 11.0 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1
9:00 Dancing with the Stars Results
Viewers: 14.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.9
10:00 Body of Proof
Viewers: 9.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.2

CBS 
8:00 NCIS
Viewers: 20.0 million, 18-49 demo: 4.3
9:00 NCIS: Los Angeles
Viewers: 16.7 million, 18-49 demo: 3.6
10:00 Unforgettable
Viewers: 14.1 million, 18-49 demo: 2.9

NBC
8:00 The Biggest Loser
Viewers: 6.2 million, 18-49 demo: 2.3
10:00 Parenthood
Viewers: 5.3 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1

FOX
8:00 Glee
Viewers: 9.2 million, 18-49 demo: 4.0
9:00 New Girl
Viewers: 10.3 million, 18-49 demo: 4.8
9:30 Raising Hope
Viewers: 6.7 million, 18-49 demo: 3.1

FOX had bad news then good news on the second night of premiere week. The bad news is that the Glee phenomenon seems to be fading quickly as the third season premiere was down heavily from last year's season premiere (12.5 million viewers, 5.6 demo). Though the demo is still very strong, this is not a great start. Considering how it started to tumble last year, that will likely only continue this year. However, the news was incredibly positive at 9pm as the series premiere of New Girl not just grew but grew substantially from its lead-in to a dominating 4.8 demo. This is great sampling for a show that has gotten a lot of positive buzz and FOX has to be thrilled with these results. It looks like viewers are certainly giving new shows a chance this year. At 9:30pm, the season premiere of Raising Hope felt the bump of a successful companion and was almost dead even with it series premiere a year ago but well above the normal numbers it was getting last year. 

Elsewhere, CBS had a second night in a row of very strong results. The indestructible NCIS was up six tenths in viewers and three tenths in the demo from its premiere last season... and it is in season nine! It's amazing the way this show holds up year after year. It already beat Glee in the demo (it took second for most of the year last year) and shows no signs of slowing down. The season premiere of NCIS: Los Angeles followed and saw a similar bump as well from its season two premiere. So far, in two nights, every CBS show except Hawaii Five-0 is up from last year's premieres. The series premiere of Unforgettable followed and got a very good sampling, winning both viewers and the demo easily. Since drops are coming though in future weeks, I don't know if it will be able to ultimately do any better than The Good Wife in this timeslot.

ABC had decent numbers but there were some big drops from last year. A Dancing with the Stars special was serviceable at 8pm and will air there for a few weeks until the new sitcoms come but the results show was down massively from last fall's 18.5 million and 4.4 in the demo rating for the first results show. This may be one of the weakest editions of Dancing ever if the first two nights are any indication. Sophomore medical drama Body of Proof followed and took second in both viewers and the demo. It was pretty even with Detroit 1-8-7's premiere numbers last September (though Detroit had a much bigger lead-in) but it was below its own premiere numbers last March. I think there is a ton of crossover appeal between this and Unforgettable which may dilute both shows a bit.

Once again, NBC was in the basement though the results were not as terrible as Monday night. The Biggest Loser was down again from last fall's premiere of 7.2 million viewers and a 2.9 demo. This show is definitely on the decline but what could NBC replace it with? They have so many problems in their schedule so that's why it continues to be two hours. At 10pm, Parenthood was down a million viewers but just a tenth in the demo from last week's season premiere and the competition was much stiffer this time around. While the numbers aren't great, the good news is that it was only a tenth behind Body of Proof in the demo and should be able to overtake it soon.