The viewership gap between broadcast television’s two new comedies, “Ghosts” and “The Wonder Years,” is so large it’s downright spooky.
Thus far this season, CBS’ “Ghosts” is obliterating “The Wonder Years” in total viewers, averaging 7.809 million each episode vs. the ABC reboot’s 3.281 million, according to Nielsen, easily more than twice the audience size.
Among adults 18-49, the CBS comedy is averaging a 0.9 rating vs. the ABC sitcom’s 0.6. Shifting slightly older to the 25-54 demo, “Ghosts” is averaging a 1.5 rating to a 0.9 for “The Wonder Years.”
Those numbers, like all in this story, count up to one week of (mostly) DVR viewing where available. And yes, those are the only new comedies to have debuted on broadcast television this fall. Kind of ironic, considering we could all use a laugh and a little less drama these days — how was your family Thanksgiving by the way?
Back to total viewers, which includes anyone age 2 or older (and is frankly much easier to digest), where “Ghosts” is not the No. 1 new series thus far this season. It’s No. 3, though the top two slots belong to CBS as well, as does No. 5, for that matter.
“NCIS: Hawai’i” is the top new series of the fall, averaging 8.296 million total viewers. That is slightly ahead of CBS’ “FBI: International,” which averages 8.168 million total viewers.
NBC’s “La Brea” is the only non-CBS newcomer to infiltrate the Top 5, ranking fourth with an average of 7.501 million viewers per episode. CBS comes right back with “CSI: Vegas” in fifth, averaging 6.674 million total viewers. NBC’s “Ordinary Joe” and ABC’s “The Wonder Years” are the next most-watched new shows — but it’s a steep drop to those two.
While they’re both new comedies, neither “Ghosts” nor “The Wonder Years” is a true original, of course. (The same can really be said for every non-NBC series name-checked in this story.) CBS’ “Ghosts” is an imported format from the U.K., while this version of “The Wonder Years” is a remake of the late-’80s/early-’90s show starring Fred Savage — who is an executive producer on the reboot.
