“Murphy Brown” did not have a very inspiring return on Thursday night — at least, not per Nielsen. The Candice Bergen sitcom received a 1.1 rating/4 share among people 18-49 and 7.4 million total viewers at 9:30 p.m. To be fair to CBS, the comedy, which originally premiered in 1988, was not expected to draw a bunch of young adults.
The revival’s premiere went up against “Thursday Night Football,” which never helps. Either way, the numbers for “Murphy Brown” were nothing like the huge ratings for ABC’s return of “Roseanne,” or even NBC’s “Will & Grace” comeback episode, which also went up against “TNF.”
“Roseanne” came back to TV in March 2017 with a 5.1 rating/21 share among adults 18-49 and 18.2 million total viewers. That’s 2.5 times the overall eyeballs of “Murphy” and nearly 5x its demo rating.
Read the earlier-available overnight ratings for “Thursday Night Football” here. The below fast-national numbers are inaccurate for live events, like sports.
Fox was first in ratings with a 3.2 rating/13 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 10 million, according to preliminary numbers. The NFL game was the only show on Fox’s schedule.
ABC was second in ratings with a 1.5/6 and third in viewers with 5.5 million. The two-hour season premiere of “Grey’s Anatomy” from 8-10 earned a 1.8/8 and 6.8 million viewers. The “How to Get Away With Murder” season premiere at 10 received a 0.8/4 and 3 million viewers.
CBS was third in ratings with a 1.3/5 and second in viewers with 7.9 million. “The Big Bang Theory” at 8 posted a 2.1/10 and 11.7 million viewers. At 8:30, “Young Sheldon” put up a 1.6/7 and 10.1 million viewers. The “Mom” season premiere at 9 landed a 1.3/5 and 8 million viewers. After “Murphy Brown,” the season premiere of “S.W.A.T.” at 10 had a 0.7/3 and 5 million viewers.
NBC was fourth in ratings with a 1.0/4 and in viewers with 4.4 million. The one-hour season premiere of “The Good Place” at 8 got a 0.9/4 and 3.1 million viewers. At 9, the two-hour season premiere of “Law & Order: SVU” averaged a 1.1/5 and 5.1 million viewers.
Telemundo was fifth in ratings with a 0.5/2 and in viewers with 1.34 million.
Univision was sixth in ratings with a 0.4/2 and in viewers with 1.27 million.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.2/1 and in viewers with 644,000 airing just reruns.