RATINGS RECAP: 3/9/14

ABC
7:00 Once Upon a Time Recap
Viewers: 4.4 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2
8:00 Once Upon a Time
Viewers: 7.7 million, 18-49 demo: 2.4
9:00 Resurrection
Viewers: 13.9 million, 18-49 demo: 3.8
10:00 Revenge
Viewers: 6.6 million, 18-49 demo: 1.9

CBS
7:00 60 Minutes
Viewers: 10.7 million, 18-49 demo: 1.5
8:00 The Amazing Race
Viewers: 8.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.9
9:00 The Good Wife
Viewers: 8.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.3
10:00 The Mentalist
Viewers: 10.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6 

NBC
7:00 Dateline NBC
Viewers: 5.6 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1
9:00 The Voice (Repeat)
Viewers: 4.0 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1 

FOX 
7:00 Bob's Burgers
Viewers: 2.2 million, 18-49 demo: 0.9
7:30 The Simpsons
Viewers: 2.7 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2
8:00 The Simpsons
Viewers: 3.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6
8:30 Family Guy
Viewers: 4.6 million, 18-49 demo: 2.2
9:00 Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
Viewers: 5.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.1 

ABC had a stunningly good premiere from Resurrection on Sunday night. First up, Once Upon a Time returned with its first new episode since December and it was up 1.3 million viewers and half a demo point for its best performance since October 13. It looks like the split airing idea also worked for Once as it did for Scandal and Grey's Anatomy. Then at 9pm, Resurrection had an incredible premiere: 13.9 million viewers and a huge 3.8 demo. ABC got people to the show thanks to tons of marketing during the Oscars and an intriguing premise. It tied The Blacklist for the second best drama premiere of the season (after Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.). It was ABC's best regular Sunday 9pm number since 2010 (Desperate Housewives) and best Sunday premiere number since Brothers & Sisters in 2006. Of course, the question is will the audience stay? It was greatly needed good news for ABC. But ABC, and networks in general, can still get big premieres. So many shows like this erode in a big way in future week so we'll see how things go in the weeks to come. Revenge moved to its new 10pm slot and was up a big 1.2 million viewers and six tenths in the demo. Retention out of Resurrection was only 50%, but it was the best Sunday 10pm performance for a regular show on ABC since the premiere of 666 Park Avenue in September 2012. If it can even get the same numbers regularly at 10pm that it was getting at 9pm, that would be a n improvement for the slot.

FOX had a decent performance from its series premiere but the animated lineup, now from 7-9pm, took a hit. Bob's Burgers and The Simpsons saw series lows in the 7pm hour. At its new 8:30pm time, Family Guy was up half a million viewers and two tenths in the demo. The new Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey got off to a decent start considering it's a documentary and had to face the huge premiere of Resurrection, not to mention The Walking Dead on cable. I do think it'll drop a lot next week though as there was probably a high level of curiosity with this show. CBS was left in the dust with the solid premieres on ABC and FOX. They started with 60 Minutes up 1.4 million viewers and a tenth in the demo. At 8pm, The Amazing Race rallied some from its series lows against the Olympics and the Oscars. It was up 2.4 million viewers and half a demo point. That's a very solid jump but still down year to year. I really do not understand why CBS did not just launch The Amazing Race on this night and find a way for The Good Wife or The Mentalist end their seasons early so they could double pump Race later in the season. It made no sense for me for it to air its first two weeks against the Oscars and Olympics. NBC largely sat the night out with Dateline NBC up 1.4 million viewers and two tenths in the demo. They have the premiere of Crisis after the Sunday premiere of Believe next week.