NBC edged Fox to win the first night of the 2019-20 TV season in ratings. “The Voice” did all the heavy lifting, while the “Bluff City Law” debut disappointed a bit at 10 p.m.
NBC was first in ratings with a 1.4 rating/7 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 7.5 million, according to preliminary numbers. “The Voice” season premiere from 8-10 averaged a 1.7/8 and 8.8 million viewers. “Bluff City Law” at 10 had a 0.8/4 and 4.7 million viewers.
“Bluff City Law” stars Jimmy Smits, Josh Kelly and Caitlin McGee.
Fox was second in ratings with a 1.3/6, but fourth in viewers with 5.6 million. The Season 3 premiere of “9-1-1” at 8 earned a 1.5/7 and 7 million viewers. The “Prodigal Son” series premiere at 9 received a 1.0/4 and 4.2 million viewers.
ABC was third in ratings with a 0.9 and in viewers with 6.6 million. “Dancing With the Stars” from 8-10 averaged a 0.8/4 and 6.6 million viewers. At 10, the Season 3 “The Good Doctor” premiere got a 1.0/5 and the same rounded 6.6 million viewers.
We should point out here that ABC carried the “Monday Night Football” game in the Washington, D.C. market, which could be artificially inflating its above fast-national Nielsen numbers.
CBS was fourth in ratings with a 0.8/4 and third in viewers with 6 million. The Season 2 premiere of “The Neighborhood” at 8 had a 0.9/4 and 5.7 million viewers. The series premiere of “Bob Hearts Abishola” at 8:30 got a 0.8/4 and 5.9 million viewers. The debut of “All Rise” at 9 received a 0.7/3 and 6 million viewers. The Season 4 premiere of “Bull” at 10 closed primetime with a 0.7/3 and 6.3 million viewers.
Univision and Telemundo tied for fifth in ratings, both with a 0.4/2. Univision was fifth in total viewers with 1.3 million, Telemundo was sixth with 1.1 million.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.2/1 and in viewers with 801,000. “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” at 8 had a 0.2/1 and 905,000 viewers. At 9, “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” got a 0.2/1 and 687,000 viewers. A rerun followed.