The first Sunday of the TV season arrived a couple of days ago, and with it, so did the premieres of ABC's sophomore dramas, Once Upon A Time, and Revenge, freshman drama 666 Park Avenue
FOX and CBS didn't miss out on the fun though, with The Simpsons, Family Guy, The Good Wife, and The Mentalist all premiering for the first time this season.
NBC carried the NFL Football for the evening, which dominated the ratings, audience, and share. No surprises there.
8pm was easily the most successful timeslot of the night (if you exclude the NFL). Following a 7pm lead-in of the Once Upon A Time Clip Show, The Once Upon A Time premiere almost equaled last years series premiere ratings, with a 3.8 in the Nielsen preliminary ratings being adjusted up to a 3.9, and 11.36 million viewers. Last year's series premiere brought in as 4.0 rating and 12.94 million viewers. On FOX, The Simpsons began its 24th season with a 3.8 rating and 8.08 million viewers. This led in the season premiere of Bob's Burgers at 8:30, with a 2.6 rating and 5.46 million viewers. The Amazing Race premiered with a 2.5 rating and 9.40 million viewers over on CBS
At 9pm, The Good Wife on CBS, premiered with 9.93 million viewers, the most in its timeslot excluding the NFL, but it recorded a mere 1.8 rating. Revenge on ABC got off to a very good start in its new timeslot, after being moved to Sundays at 9pm this season, from Wednesdays at 10pm last season. Revenge pulled in a 3.2 rating, and 9.74 million viewers, marginally down on the ratings from last year's series premiere, a 3.3, and audience of 10.02 million. Thanks to the earlier timeslot and one of ABC's strongest shows in Once Upon A Time as a lead-in, I am expecting Revenge to increase its ratings average this season, over last seasons 2.46. Family Guy premiered with a 3.3 rating, the strongest of the shows bar the NFL in its timeslot, but with by far the lowest audience, with 6.55 million viewers tuning in. Family Guy led in American Dad at 9:30pm, which recorded a 2.5 rating and 5.25 million viewers
10pm saw the season 5 premiere of CBS's The Mentalist, which brought in a 2.1 rating and 11.06 million viewers, down considerably on last seasons premiere, which earned a 2.8 rating and 13.56 million viewers. To be fair though, The Mentalist has also had its timeslot adjusted this season, after previously airing on Thursdays at 10pm, with the then freshman, now sophomore Person of Interest as a lead-in. Its lead-in for this season's premiere, The Good Wife, didn't do anywhere near as good, as I mentioned in the previous paragraph. On ABC, the only freshman series for Sundays this fall, 666 Park Avenue, kicked off proceedings, with a respectable 2.1 rating, having being adjusted down from its preliminary rating of 2.2. This means 666 Park Avenue tied in ratings with The Mentalist, despite having just 6.90 million viewers. This Sunday night duel could be closer than expected
Overall, a steady night for the networks, and the shows I mentioned. It will be interesting to see how next weeks ratings change, now that the premieres are out of the way
As usual, I'll leave you with some graphs, this time being the all time ratings and audience graphs for The Mentalist. There was a time when The Mentalist was averaging well over 15 million viewers, and regularly earning ratings close to, or over, the 4.0 mark. It seems those days are gone, as the graphs are indicating with their steady downward trend. Check out this page on my website for more advanced, in-depth analysis of the previous seasons
 |
| The stronger lead-in performance last season was thanks to Person of Interest, and helped last season average a 2.61 rating and 13.10 million viewers |
 |
| Towards the end of last season, the audience began dropping |
Thanks for reading!!
Jimmy
