Primetime Ratings: 'Blindspot' Opens Strong on NBC

NBC's premieres were robust with The Voice debuting to a 3.5 rating in adults 18-49, and 12.1 million viewers overall, according to Nielsen overnight numbers, good for a 21% improvement over its spring finale.

That led into ballyhooed 10 p.m. drama Blindspot opening with a 3.1 rating and 10.6 million overall viewers. It was the highest 18-49 number for a regularly scripted series since the season two premiere of The Blacklist exactly a year ago, according to NBC.

NBC won the night with a 3.4/11 in 18-49, ahead of CBS with a 2.3/8, ABC’s 1.6/5, Fox’s 1.3/4 and CW’s 0.4/1.

On CBS, The Big Bang Theory came out with a bang, putting up a 4.5 rating in viewers 18-49, and garnering 17.8 million viewers overall. The 4.5 was a 22% gain from last year’s finale. The series premiere of Life in Pieces showed a 2.7 in 18-49, with 11.5 million viewers total, while returnees Scorpion had a 2.0 in 18-49, down 38% from last year’s 3.2 premiere, and NCIS: Los Angeles a 1.3, off 32% from the previous year’s premiere.

ABC’s Dancing With the Stars posted a 1.8, up 39% from the previous week’s 1.1, while Castle, singled out in the Emmys telecast opening song and dance as being not quite must-see TV, registered a 1.2.

On Fox, Minority Report opened with a 1.1, while Gotham returned to a 1.6, down 10% from last season’s finale.  

CW’s Penn & Teller: Fool Us averaged a 0.4, off 20% from the previous week, and Significant Mother was at a 0.3, up 33% over last week.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.