Primetime Ratings: Fox Comedies ‘Grandfathered’, ‘Grinder’ Open So-So

Fox’s building of a comedy block got off to an OK start, as both Grandfathered and The Grinder raised their curtains to a 1.5 rating in adults 18-49. Both were up against NCIS on CBS and The Voice on NBC.

Both comedies feature familiar comedic names in the top-line role. John Stamos plays what Fox calls “the ultimate bachelor” on Grandfathered, who finds out he’s a father—and a grandfather. Rob Lowe stars in The Grinder and as a lawyer and former TV star who goes back to his roots.

Speaking of familiar figures in TV comedy, ABC’s The Muppets was off in its second week, with a 2.0 rating, down from its 2.8 debut.

According to preliminary Nielsens, NBC won the night easily with a 3.1 rating and 10 share in 18-49, ahead of CBS’ 1.9/6, while ABC and Fox had twin 1.5/5s and The CW a 0.3/1. CW traditionally waits until the Big Four have premiered the bulk of their new offerings before taking its turn next month.

The Voice scored a 3.6 in that key demo, with 13.3 million total viewers. It was up 6% from last Tuesday’s installment’s 3.4. That led into Best Time Ever With Neil Patrick Harris, which had a 2.0 rating from 10-11 p.m., down 9% from the previous week’s 2.2.

On CBS, NCIS came out to a 2.1, down 13% from the previous week’s 2.4. NCIS: New Orleans scored a 1.7, flat with the prior week, while Limitless showed a 1.9, up 5% over last week’s 1.8.

ABC’s Muppets was at 2.0, down 29% from last week’s 2.8, while Fresh Off the Boat showed a 1.7, down 11% from the previous week’s 1.9. The season-three premiere of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had a 1.7, up 24% from its season finale’s 1.3, while a repeat of Quantico ran at 10.

Following Fox’s debutant comedies, Scream Queens tallied a 1.5, down 6% from the previous week’s 1.6.

The CW had the iHeartRadio Music Fest, which averaged a .3 across its two hours. 

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.