RATINGS RECAP: 9/21/15

ABC
8:00 Dancing with the Stars
Viewers: 11.5 million, 18-49 demo: 1.8
10:00 Castle
Viewers: 6.8 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2

CBS
8:00 The Big Bang Theory
Viewers: 18.2 million, 18-49 demo: 4.7
8:30 Life in Pieces
Viewers: 11.3 million, 18-49 demo: 2.6
9:00 Scorpion
Viewers: 11.1 million, 18-49 demo: 2.2
10:00 NCIS: Los Angeles
Viewers: 7.9 million, 18-49 demo: 1.2

NBC
8:00 The Voice
Viewers: 12.4 million, 18-49 demo: 3.5
10:00 Blindspot
Viewers: 10.6 million, 18-49 demo: 3.1

FOX
8:00 Gotham
Viewers: 4.6 million, 18-49 demo: 1.6
9:00 Minority Report
Viewers: 3.1 million, 18-49 demo: 1.1

Premiere Week is here but Monday night's results didn't get things off to a great start for many shows. NBC had the most to smile about after one night as The Voice returned at a pretty good 3.5 demo. Its best days are behind it, but it's still one of TV's top shows and was down 15% from last year. Given how other shows dropped year to year, that's not too bad. Even better news came at 10pm where Blindspot got off to a solid start with very good retention of The Voice. Even though its 3.1 demo premiere didn't come close to The Blacklist's 3.8 demo two years ago, it's worth noting that premiere came out of a 5.1 demo for The Voice. This is a very positive start for NBC after the disastrous run of State of Affairs and The Night Shift last year in this spot. It might prove to be a timeslot hit, but we know not every show can get numbers like that out of The Voice. We'll see where it goes from here.

On the other end of the spectrum, it really couldn't have gone worse for FOX on opening night. Gotham could not recapture its earlier form and instead took on its late season form with a weak 1.6 demo, just a tenth above its series low. This is quickly looking like it's the newest version of The Following and Sleepy Hollow: big time premiere, deterioration during the season, and a very disappointing return in season two. If things hold true, it will decline a little more and probably settle into the low 1s. But even that news wasn't as bad as what followed. Minority Report premiered to a DOA 1.1 demo and 3.1 million viewers. There is nothing positive to say about this result as it was just outright rejected by viewers. I was skeptical on its chances but I didn't think it would debut anywhere near this low. FOX will certainly be replacing this show in the lineup but they may let it linger for awhile so its replacement (most likely midseason drama Lucifer) can get the benefit of following The X-Files reboot in January.

CBS saw another solid premiere from The Big Bang Theory but it's audience is getting older. Last year, it premiered actually a tenth lower in viewers (18.1 million) but seven tenths higher in the demo (5.4). This was a heavily promoted episode and it was solid but not spectacular by its own standards. I think it's clear this show has peaked but it still has tons of life left. The series premiere of new comedy Life in Pieces was not nearly as promising. Though the raw numbers look okay, its retention out of Big Bang was a mere 62% in viewers and 55% in the demo. This will not cut it for CBS and if it takes a nasty week two drop, it might never make it to Thursday in November as planned. Remember, CBS has Mike & Molly, 2 Broke Girls, and The Odd Couple all waiting on deck. At 9pm, the season premiere of Scorpion was solid and on par with it season finale (and above what it was getting before then). It would have had a much bigger premiere if it had a Big Bang lead-in like it did for the series premiere a year ago. However, CBS has a lot to worry about at 10pm where NCIS: Los Angeles returned to a new series low in the demo. This show is aging fast and will probably not be in this slot a year from now.

Finally on ABC, Dancing with the Stars held up decently in week two. It was down 1.6 million viewers and three tenths in the demo from last week's premiere, which isn't bad given all the new competition. It's quite possible it could rise in the weeks to come. Disaster struck at 10pm where Castle returned to tie a series low in total viewers and hit it outright in the demo. ABC should never have returned this show to 10pm Mondays. It was on a constant downward trend last season. It's not too late to fix things for the spring and put one of their promising midseason dramas (perhaps The Family?) here.

WINNER OF THE NIGHT: Blindspot (NBC)
LOSER OF THE NIGHT: Minority Report (FOX)