The overnight ratings for Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., and as expected, it was a giant hit, despite the fact that the pilot — as Dan suggested in his recap — was timid. It was kind of generic, but now that it’s brought in huge numbers, maybe it will begin to be more playful with its premise.
How big were those numbers, exactly? 11.9 million viewers and a 4.6 rating in the 18-49 demo, which is the biggest debut on any network in four years (since V). In fact, it beat both what was once the most popular scripted show on television, CBS’s NCIS, which only brought in a 3.4 comparison (in fact, the entire once dominant CBS line-up faltered, with a 3.0 for NCIS: Los Angeles and a 2.3 for Persons of Interest. That’s progress. Unfortunately, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. only tied The Voice (14.1 million viewers, 4.6 in the demo) for the highest rated show of the night in the demo.
There is, however, more good and bad news.
The good, if you — like me — enjoyed The Goldbergs, is that Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. helped to boost its The Goldbergs to a very solid 3.2. Hopefully, it will hold next week, although in doing so well, it resulted in a 28 percent drop for Fox’s New Girl from its premiere week, although I suspect most of that will be recouped on DVRs. Likewise, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Dads suffered 30 percent declines, for a 1.8 and a 1.5 respectively (I liked the second episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine but not as much as the pilot, while I had sense enough to quit Dads after the terrible pilot). The Mindy Project also tied Dads with a 1.5, and the weakest showing of the night among sitcoms.
Trophy Wife over on ABC didn’t do as well as The Goldbergs, falling to a 2.3, which didn’t help as a lead-in to Lucky 7, which pretty much bombed with a 1.3 at 10 p.m. EST on ABC. I revise my cancellation prediction on Lucky 7 to November sweeps, rather than the winter break.
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