RATINGS RECAP: 9/30/12

ABC
7:00 Once Upon a Time: Magic is Coming
Viewers: 6.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.9
8:00 Once Upon a Time
Viewers: 11.4 million, 18-49 demo: 3.9
9:00 Revenge
Viewers: 9.7 million, 18-49 demo: 3.2
10:00 666 Park Avenue
Viewers: 6.9 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1

CBS
7:00 60 Minutes
Viewers: 11.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.7
8:00 The Amazing Race
Viewers: 9.4 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5
9:00 The Good Wife
Viewers: 9.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.8
10:00 The Mentalist
Viewers: 11.1 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1

NBC
7:00 Football Night in America
Viewers: 3.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2
8:00 NFL Pregame
Viewers: 12.4 million, 18-49 demo: 4.7
8:30 Sunday Night Football
Viewers: 22.8 million, 18-49 demo: 9.0

FOX
7:00 NFL Overrun
Viewers: 22.3 million, 18-49 demo: 8.5
8:00 The Simpsons
Viewers: 8.1 million, 18-49 demo: 3.8
8:30 Bob's Burgers
Viewers: 5.5 million, 18-49 demo: 2.6
9:00 Family Guy
Viewers: 6.6 million, 18-49 demo: 3.3
9:30 American Dad!
Viewers: 5.3 million, 18-49 demo: 2.5 

On Sunday night, ABC got great results from its returning series but troubling numbers for its new show. At 8pm, the second season premiere of Once Upon a Time delivered huge numbers, way above what it was getting in the spring and just a hair below what it premiered to last fall. This is arguably the best performance for any returning show on any network as there was clearly some pent up hype for this show's return. The good news continued at 9pm where Revenge's move to Sunday seems to be a good one. It delivered its second highest ratings ever and also finished way above what it was getting in the spring. We'll see how Nashville does on Wednesdays but if that show hits, this was a smart move by ABC. The good news did not extend to 10pm however where 666 Park Avenue got low sampling even with big lead-ins. The show couldn't even top the numbers Last Resort got in the difficult Thursday 8pm slot. It's early still but this doesn't seem like a show that is going to grow which means ABC could have another Sunday 10pm hole. 

CBS had soft numbers across the board. Without a direct football lead-in, 60 Minutes skewed ancient and the season premieres of The Amazing Race, The Good Wife, and The Mentalist all underwhelmed. The Amazing Race was down a half point from last year's season premiere. I've said it many times but CBS should really have this and Survivor share a slot and air one cycle a year. It would make the demand higher. At 9pm, the season premiere of The Good Wife nearly tied a series low while the Sunday move for The Mentalist did result in a series low and it was below the cancelled CSI: Miami's season premiere last year. Not a good start for CBS Sunday. FOX's animated lineup was also down from last year's season premieres as is the case for all returning shows. The Simpsons was not down much with a direct football lead-in but the others were down much more.