The jam-packed first Tuesday of the television season featured some of the fall’s most-anticipated premieres, with ABC’s “The Muppets” opening impressively and standing as the night’s top new show in key demos, and CBS’ “Limitless” looking good too by building on its lead-in in young adults. Fox’s “Scream Queens,” on the other hand, opened to unspectacular numbers on what has been a challenging night of late for the network.
NBC won Tuesday night in demos behind another two-hour installment of “The Voice” and an improved second week for new variety show “Best Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris.” CBS rolled in total viewers, with “NCIS” leading the way as usual as it kicked off its 13th season.
Looking at the early numbers, “The Muppets” — despite airing in a tough timeslot opposite both “The Voice” and “NCIS” — averaged a 2.8 rating/10 share in adults 18-49 and 8.9 million viewers overall to become the No. 2-rated new series of the fall in the demo (behind NBC’s “Blindspot”). It was up sharply from last year’s Tuesday comedy bow in the timeslot (a 1.3 in 18-49 and 4.2 million total viewers for “Selfie” in the second week of the television season).
“Muppets” fared well across all age groups, earning an 8 share in adults 18-34, a 9 share in teens 12-17 and 10 shares in both adults 18-49 and 25-54. Its young-adult audience was roughly 55% female. And it earned especially high scores in top-10 markets Philadelphia (5.9/17), Chicago (4.9/21) and Boston (4.3/15).
Fox’s “Scream Queens,” which had generated the most social media buzz heading into premiere week, opened with a 1.6/5 in 18-49 and 4 million viewers overall from 8 to 10. It ran fourth in its timeslot in 18-49, while placing second in adults 18-34 (1.6/7). The horror comedy from Ryan Murphy opened with a 1.7 rating in 18-49 and then held at a 1.6 for its final three half-hours. It tied for the 18-49 lead in the New York market with “The Voice” (2.9/10).
The two-hour premiere provided some nice time period improvement for Fox, which struggled out of the gate on the opening Tuesday a year ago. Last night’s “Scream Queens” did 60% better than the net’s lowly 1.0 nightly average for “Utopia,” “New Girl” and “The Mindy Project.” Starting next week, new comedies “Grandfathered” and “Grinder” will open the night for the net, with “Scream Queens” airing at 9.
