The networks on Tuesday night again demonstrated that they can successfully introduce a series to the public, as ABC’s much-hyped new comic-book drama, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” posted the best numbers for a new drama in almost four years.
Still, the story of the early television season remains the performance of the NBC singing competition “The Voice,” which scored another two hours of hit ratings on Tuesday, surpassing its performance a year ago and leading all of television for its second hour.
The result for “S.H.I.E.L.D.” was welcome news for ABC, which put enormous support behind the start of the series, a spinoff from the movie franchise “The Avengers” (except that it does not star superheroes). Though the characters can’t fly, the premiere did, attracting just under 12 million viewers and a big 4.6 rating among viewers in the 18- to 49-year-old age group, which ABC uses for most of its ad sales. (That number, which is based on initial overnight sampling, is sure to grow when national ratings come in and even more so after delayed viewing is counted over the next three days.)
“S.H.I.E.L.D.” is the third new drama this season to open with hit-size numbers, following “Sleepy Hollow” on Fox and “The Blacklist” on NBC.
Unfortunately for ABC, Tuesday was book-ended by a second new drama, “Lucky 7,” which opened with the lowest drama ratings for a fall premiere that ABC has ever scored: fewer than five million viewers and only a 1.3 rating in that 18-49 category.
ABC got mixed results from its two new comedies in the 9 p.m. hour. “The Goldbergs,” which immediately followed “S.H.I.E.L.D.,” rode that lead-in to strong initial numbers, over nine million viewers and a 3.2 rating in the 18-49 measure. But the falloff accelerated in the 9:30 half-hour for “Trophy Wife,” which dropped to 6.6 million viewers and a 2.3 rating with those younger adults.
The competition was fierce Tuesday and it especially cost the Fox network. Ratings tumbled for two new comedies Fox introduced last week, “Dads” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”; and two of the network’s holdover comedies, “New Girl” and “The Mindy Project,” got battered.
The main reason: another potent night for “The Voice,” which again topped its ratings from a year ago. The music show averaged over 14 million viewers for its two hours Tuesday, with a 4.6 rating among the 18- to 49-year-old viewers. It would have likely been even bigger but for the sampling going on for “S.H.I.E.L.D.” in the 8 p.m. hour. In the 9 p.m. hour, “The Voice” jumped to 15.5 million viewers and a 5.2 rating in the 18-49 category.
CBS’s night of long-running crime shows held its own against the heightened competition, though their ratings were down from last year. The juggernaut “NCIS” still attracted more viewers than anything else on television, over 19 million, but it was down to a 3.4 rating in the 18-49 group from a 4.1 last season. It was the lowest “NCIS” premiere in six years.
Its spinoff, “NCIS: Los Angeles,” was also down, about 12 percent, to a 3.0 rating and just over 16 million viewers.
The strength of “The Voice” helped make a winner at 10 p.m. out of “Chicago Fire” on NBC, which scored a solid 2.8 rating among the 18-49 viewers. That topped “Person of Interest” (2.3) on CBS, though typically for that network it was the winner in total viewers with 12.3 million to 9.3 million for “Fire.”
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/business/media/agents-of-shield-gains-a-big-audience-while-the-voice-keeps-rolling.html?partner=rss&emc=rss