RATINGS RECAP: 9/22/14

At the bottom of each ratings recap post, I will post a winner and loser of the night. Not necessarily by raw numbers but by expectation/situation (it's a judgment call but I thought it would be an enjoyable addition this season)

ABC
8:00 Dancing with the Stars
Viewers: 12.8 million, 18-49 demo: 2.2
10:00 Forever
Viewers: 8.6 million, 18-49 demo: 1.7

CBS
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
Viewers: 18.0 million, 18-49 demo: 5.4
8:30 The Big Bang Theory
Viewers: 18.2 million, 18-49 demo: 5.4
9:00 Scorpion
Viewers: 13.8 million, 18-49 demo: 3.2
10:00 Under the Dome
Viewers: 7.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.8

NBC
8:00 The Voice
Viewers: 13.0 million, 18-49 demo: 3.9
10:00 The Blacklist
Viewers: 12.3 million, 18-49 demo: 3.4

FOX
8:00 Gotham
Viewers: 8.2 million, 18-49 demo: 3.2
9:00 Sleepy Hollow
Viewers: 5.5 million, 18-49 demo: 2.0

The 2014-15 season kicked off with a lot of big guns and each network had at least one thing to be happy about. CBS was the big winner of the night as The Big Bang Theory showed no signs of slippage in its move to Monday. It premiered to a huge demo and audience, as usual. While not quite to the height of last year's premiere, it was above numbers it got through most of the spring and it did it against tons of competition. The strong lead-in led to a great sampling for new drama Scorpion. It's 3.2 demo was the best for a CBS drama premiere since Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior back in February 2011. This is a great sampling but it most follow Mom instead of The Big Bang Theory next week. At 10pm, the season finale of summer drama Under the Dome was up half a million viewers and two tenths in the demo for its best performance since July 14.

NBC had the beginning of the new edition of The Voice with new judges Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams. While it had the night's second best demo with a 3.9, it was way behind last year's 5.1 demo premiere. This is still one of TV's strongest shows but it's quite possible that it's best days are behind it. The better news for NBC came at 10pm where The Blacklist came back with a roar. It delivered an incredibly strong number even though it lost a lot of Voice viewers as the hour went on. Both the total viewership and demo numbers were the show's best since the series premiere a year ago. So far, last year's top new show is showing no signs of a sophomore slump.

FOX had good news and bad news. The good news came from Gotham, which premiered to a strong 3.2 demo (or the same as Scorpion without an 18 million viewer lead-in). While slightly below last year's Sleepy Hollow premiere, there was more competition and it had to be more of a self-starter. The show skewed very young so this was an all around strong performance for the Batman origin series. The news was not nearly as good at 9pm where Sleepy Hollow fell to a series low in its second season premiere. Despite a big lead-in, the show couldn't excite audiences after its strong first season which ended way back in January. What a disappointment for one of the few FOX series that really could have an impact. It'll probably continue to fall like The Following did in the spring.

ABC had very solid news as Dancing with the Stars held up very well despite a major onslaught of competition. It was down just eight tenths in viewers and two tenths in the demo from last week's premiere. This was an excellent and surprising hold. After all, it had to face shows that are competing networks' highest priorities (The Voice, The Big Bang Theory, Gotham/Sleepy Hollow). It was also just a tenth behind last year's airing this week while week one was seven tenths behind. The news wasn't quite as good at 10pm where the series premiere of Forever in a special timeslot was largely ignored. The preliminary numbers were a 1.5 demo, which would be nearly DOA. A 1.7 demo isn't much better, but it's not DOA. I'd still be surprised to see this last longer than half a season.

WINNER OF THE NIGHT: The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
LOSER OF THE NIGHT: Sleepy Hollow (FOX)