Ratings: Terra Nova Has Solid, But Not Monster-Sized Debut; Men Still Strong
Fox's Terra Nova opened to solid, though not monster-sized, numbers, scaring up 9 million viewers Monday, according to Nielsen overnight data.
The sci-fi thriller — with effects that wowed various critics but left them wanting more from the script and characters — scored a 3.0 rating among 18-to-49-year-olds for its two-hour premiere, while Week 2 of Dancing with the Stars — Nancy Grace's nip slip and all — posted a 3.3 rating and reeled in 16.02 million fans. Head to head with those Fox and ABC shows, NBC's The Sing-Off sang to 4.39 million (1.7 rating).
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Monday night's other series premiere, The CW's Hart of Dixie, whistled to 1.78 million and a 0.8 in the advertiser-coveted demo. That audience substantially grew from Gossip Girl's 1.41 million (0.8 — a 20 percent decline compared with last year's debut).
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While dropping by about one-third from its American Idol-sized premiere, the Ashton Kutcher-led Two and a Half Men — featuring Judy Greer as the wife who dumped him — grabbed a still formidable 20.03 million people and a 7.2 demo rating (vs. last week's 28.74 million, 10.7).
2 Broke Girls, which benefited a week ago from following Men, preceded Men and attracted 11.58 million people and a 4.5 demo rating — inevitably down from 19.37 million and a 7.1. Taking its usual time slot (8:30/7:30c), the new sitcom followed How I Met Your Mother, which lured 10.56 million fans (4.4).
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This week's beneficiary of following Men was the Season 2 premiere of Mike & Molly, whose title characters got engaged in front of 13.98 million witnesses (4.9).
In prime time's final hour, NBC's The Playboy Club lost 20 percent of its viewership, dropping to 3.91 million and a 1.3 in the demo. ABC's Castle again nabbed the most viewers in the slot — 11.90 million viewers (2.9) — and again outpaced CBS' Hawaii Five-0 (11.0, 3.3).
Final ratings for the first full week of the 2011-12 TV season that came out Tuesday showed that 2 Broke Girls was the only new show to break into the top 10, and Sunday Night Football was knocked off its perch as the top show because of the curiosity tune-in factor for Two and a Half Men. The biggest new drama? CBS' Unforgettable at No. 13, with 14.09 million viewers.
