Setting up camp in the Nielsen top 20: ‘The Crazy Ones,’ with Robin Williams, left, and Sarah Michelle Gellar) debuted No. 6, higher than any other new series.(Photo: Richard Cartwright CBS)
Story Highlights
- Major networks lure more than 10 million viewers to at least one new series
- ‘The Crazy Ones,’ ‘The Blacklist’ and ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ are in top 20
- Video and on-demand usage continues to climb
Big-network executives are breathing sighs of relief: The fall TV season is off to a promising start, as each major network lured more than 10 million viewers to the premiere of a new prime-time series.
In an age of DVRs and online options, that counts for a lot, and is a stark contrast to last fall, when only one new show — CBS’s since-canceled Vegas – achieved that goal.
CBS’ The Crazy Ones, NBC’s The Blacklist and ABC’s Marvel series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., ranked in network TV’s top 20 last week, and among young adults, so did ABC comedy The Goldbergs and Fox’s Sleepy Hollow, which premiered with 10.1 million viewers Sept. 17.
“People are coming to network TV when we put on shows they want to see,” says Kelly Kahl, CBS’ program planning chief. “We all had some success over the (last) couple of weeks. That’s a good sign.”
And while it’s premature to anoint hits so early in the season — fickle viewers sample and sometimes bail on the new wares –”It looked pretty promising for first-year shows,” says analyst Brad Adgate of ad firm Horizon Media.
DVR and video-on-demand usage continues to climb, promising further gains once all viewing is counted. DVR playback was up 17% last week, and 23% among viewers 50 and older, Nielsen says. Twelve shows gained 3 million or more viewers within three days of their initial airing; . Blacklist, The Big Bang Theory and Elementary added more than 4 million.
Big Bang, in its seventh season, scored a series-high 20.4 million viewers Thursday, climbing to 24.7 million by Sunday.
And while more viewers are watching on their own schedules, the week also provided evidence that a strong lead-in really matters. A double dose of Big Bang, TV’s top comedy, catapulted Robin Williams’ new CBS comedy The Crazy Ones to 15.5 million viewers, the week’s top newcomer; in contrast, NBC’s weak Parks and Recreation (3.3 million) didn’t do any favors for The Michael J. Fox Show (7.5 million), even though it more than doubled Parks‘ launching pad.
Likewise, NBC’s The Voice, up 22% over last year’s opener, lifted The Blacklist and Chicago Fire, which scored series highs in its new Tuesday home. The once-lagging network climbed 19% to finish second for the week — and a dominant first among adults under 50 — while the other three networks dipped.
As usual, there were sore spots. CBS’ Hostages faltered against The Blacklist, and dropped this week to a low 6 million viewers. ABC’s lottery-winner drama Lucky 7 was a loser on Tuesday, with just 4.4 million viewers, despite that network’s success earlier in the evening. Fox’s Dads and the returning Mindy Project are weak links.
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