The fall TV premiere season chugged on in its third week, with new offerings from CBS, ABC and NBC making their debuts in their bid to become the next big hit.
Of course, not every show can come away from its premiere with a gold star and ribbon. So who prevailed, and who just failed? Read on for a breakdown of this week’s premiere ratings.
Also read: Fall Premieres Week 2: How ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.,’ Michael J. Fox and Other New Shows’ Ratings Stacked Up
CBS rolled out two new series this week, with vastly varying results. Monday night saw the premiere of the comedy “We Are Men.” The series stars Jerry O’Connell, Tony Shalhoub and Kal Penn as a group of single guys living in an apartment building, and audiences were by and large content to leave them single. The premiere episode drew a 2.0 rating/5 share in the advertiser-sought 18-49 demographic — 17 percent down from last year’s premiere of the network’s short-lived sitcom “Partners,” and — gasp! — the network’s lowest-rated in-season comedy debut ever.
The network fared much better on Thursday, when the Will Arnett comedy “The Millers” made its bow. The initial episode of the series pulled a 3.3/10 — a very solid start for the show, even if it was off 6 percent from last year’s season premiere of “Two and a Half Men.”
Also read: ‘Super Fun Night’ Review: 5 Things You Should Know About Rebel Wilson’s New Comedy
Also holding its own this week — ABC’s Rebel Wilson comedy “Super Fun Night,” which premiered in Wednesday to a respectable, if not super, 3.2/9.
NBC trotted out a trio of new offerings this week, with little to celebrate ratings-wise. The network rolled out its reboot of the cop-TV classic “Ironside” on Wednesday, which pulled a 1.4/4 — 26 percent off from last year’s “Chicago Fire” premiere, and the network’s lowest-rated fall drama premiere ever.
The following night saw the network hit another low, this time on the comedy front. The new series “Welcome to the Family” posted a 1..2/4 — down slightly from last September’s premiere of the since-canceled “Up All Night,” and the worst-rated Thursday comedy in the network’s history.
Also read: A Paraplegic Viewer Reviews NBC’s ‘Ironside’: High Hopes Dashed
Also premiering on Thursday night: the new Sean Hayes comedy “Sean Saves the World.” Apparently, the world did not include the network that night — the series drew a mere 1.6/4 in the demo.