The series premiere of Fox’s new animated series “Bless the Harts” wasn’t exactly blessed on Sunday, settling for a 0.7 rating among the important adults 18-49 demographic and 1.8 million viewers, according to preliminary data from Nielsen.
Still, the Harts retained 78% of their lead-in from “The Simpsons” on their first night as part of the network’s “Animation Domination” block of programming. The show’s debut rating is also even with the 0.7 put up by the series premieres of “Bob’s Burgers” and “Family Guy,” which followed “Bless the Harts.”
Meanwhile, NBC easily crushed all of its primetime competition with the Dallas Cowboys-New Orleans Saints game on “Sunday Night Football.”
Due to the nature of live sports, the below fast-national Nielsen numbers for NBC and CBS should be considered subject to significant adjustment.
NBC was first in ratings with a 5.6 rating/24 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 17.6 million, according to preliminary numbers. Those numbers were put up by the Saints’ 12-10 win over the Cowboys and the network’s pre-game show.
CBS was second in ratings with a 1.7/7 and in viewers with 9.6 million. An NFL overrun at 7 p.m. scored a 4.7/22 and 18.2 million viewers. At 7:30, the first half of the “60 Minutes” season premiere posted a 3.3/15 and 15 million viewers. The second half at 8 received a 1.6/7 and 10.9 million viewers. At 8:30, the debut of “God Friended Me” Season 2 started with a 1.1/5 and 8.7 million viewers. The second half of the episode at 9 put up a 0.9/3 and 6.9 million viewers. At 9:30, “NCIS: LA” opened its new season with a 0.9/3 and 6.9 million viewers. The end of that episode received a 0.7/3 and 5.6 million viewers. A repeat followed.
Fox and ABC tied for third in ratings, both with a 0.8/3. ABC was third in viewers with 4.6 million and Fox was fourth with 2.3 million.
For ABC, the season premiere of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” at 7 p.m. had a 0.7/3 and 5.1 million viewers. At 8, “Celebrity Family Feud” closed its latest season with a 1.0/4 and 5.4 million viewers. At 9, “Shark Tank” started a new season with a 0.7/3 and 3.8 million viewers. At 10, Season 2 of “The Rookie” got a 0.7/3 and 4 million viewers.
For Fox, following back-to-back repeats, “The Simpsons” opened the “Animation Domination” premieres with a 0.9/4 and 2.3 million viewers. “Bless the Harts” at 8:30 had the above-mentioned 0.7 rating and 1.8 million viewers, plus a 3 share. At 9, “Bob’s Burgers” had a 0.7/3 and 1.9 million viewers. At 9:30, “Family Guy” got a 0.7/3 and 1.9 million viewers.
Telemundo and Univision tied for fifth in ratings, each with a 0.3/1. Univision was fifth in viewers with 1.2 million and Telemundo was sixth with 1.1 million.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1/0 and in viewers with 558,000. Following local programming, the “iHeartRadio Music Festival Greatest Moments” special at 8 settled for a 0.1/0 and 496,000 viewers. At 9, “Mysteries Decoded” managed a 0.1/0 and 509,000 viewers.