NBC's much-ballyhooed musical drama Smash struggled
in its return on Tuesday, posting just a 1.1 rating with adults 18-49 from 9-11
p.m., according to Nielsen overnight numbers. The second season premiere, which
also averaged just 4.5 million total viewers, was down 39% from Smash's
season one finale (1.8) and fell way short of its premiere last winter (3.8),
which had The Voice as its lead-in and was heavily promoted
during the Super Bowl.
Smash had a significantly weaker lead-in this
time around, following the special, Betty White's Second Annual 90th
Birthday, which drew just a 1.5. NBC finished in fourth place for the night
with an overall 1.2 rating/3 share.
CBS won the night with an overall 2.8/7. NCIS was
down a tenth to a 3.7 and its Los Angeles spinoff was even with another
3.1. Vegas declined 16% to a 1.6.
ABC's two-hour Bachelor special improved two tenths
from Monday's regular episode to a 2.6 from 9-11 p.m. Earlier, new cooking show
The Taste was also up two tenths for a 1.8. ABC took second with a
2.3/6.
Fox was in third with a 1.9/5. Raising Hope scored a
1.6 at 8 p.m. and a 1.5 at 8:30 p.m., down a tenth from each time slot last
week. New Girl was down a tenth to a 2.5 and The Mindy Project
rose 12% to a 1.9.
The CW rounded out the evening with a 0.5/1. Hart of
Dixie was up two tenths in the net's targeted adults 18-34 demo to a 0.7,
while also rising a tenth with 18-49s to a 0.6. Emily Owens, M.D. ended
its brief run with a 0.5 with 18-34s and a 0.4 with 18-49s.
