NBC returned The Voice for its midseason cycle Monday with Shakira and Usher coming back for their second go-round as voice coaches. The two-hour broadcast was down just a tenth from last year's midseason debut (which was a month later) with a 4.7 rating with adults 18-49, according to Nielsen overnight numbers.
Compared to Voice's bow in September for its fall cycle, Monday's debut was down two tenths. Among total viewers, Voice topped both the fall and last spring's debut with 15.7 million viewers.
With the benefit of its Voice lead in returning, freshman drama The Blacklist rose 24% from its last episode in late January to a 3.1 at 10 p.m. NBC easily led Monday with an overall 4.2 rating/11 share.
ABC nipped CBS for second with a 2.2/6. The Bachelor rebounded 9% from last week's series low to a 2.4, while Castle matched last week's series-low 1.7 rating.
CBS took third with a 2.1/6. Beginning its final run of episodes, How I Met Your Mother returned down two tenths from its last pre-Olympics show to a 3.6, while 2 Broke Girls dipped 17% from its last episode to a 2.5. Mike & Molly returned down 22% to a 2.1 and Mom shed 21% to a 1.9. Intelligence was even with last week's 1.2.
Fox, which finished in fourth with a 1.6/4, saw both The Following and Almost Human dip a tenth from last week to post a 1.6 rating. The 1.6 is a series low for The Following.
The CW's Star-Crossed was down a tenth from last week's premiere in 18-49s with a 0.3. In the net's targeted adults 18-34 demo, the new series also dipped a tenth to a 0.2; CW finished with an overall 0.3/1.
