Two new dramas opened Tuesday night to very different fates: CBS’ Intelligence and ABC’s Killer Women.
Intelligence returns Josh Holloway to prime-time as a secret agent with a computer chip in his brain. The 9 p.m. premiere had 16.6 million viewers and a 2.4 adults 18-49 rating. That’s a huge number of total viewers for Intelligence, but with a middling rating in the key demo. In fact, this makes Intelligence the most-watched new series premiere of the season, so expect to see CBS ads touting that stat any second now.
The reason for this unusual split-return performance for a new show starring a relatively young-ish star, presumably, is the lead-in: NCIS has an older audience and is the most-watched drama on TV. But here’s the not-great news: Intelligence dropped 17 percent in the demo from NCIS and then dropped from a 2.5 in its first half hour to a 2.3 in its second, as well as underperformed the time period average for NCIS: LA. So though Intelligence has one awesome bragging right in its most-watched claim, the other numbers give some pause. Plus with Intelligence moving to Mondays, there could be some challenges ahead. Still: It’s a procedural on CBS and this is just the first airing, so it’s too early to say too much.
Killer Women, however, is another story. On ABC, Killer Women at 10 p.m. stars Tricia Helfer as a Texas Ranger, seems to be headed for an early grave. The drama had a mere 3.9 million viewers and a 0.9 rating. That sadly matches ABC’s time-period average in this slot this season, but it was stomped by CBS’ Person of Interest and NBC’s Chicago Fire.
Here’s our take on Killer Women and our interview with Holloway on Intelligence.
Around the grid: ABC’s SHIELD was steady with its last airing, The Goldbergs was up a tick and Trophy Wife was flat. CBS’ NCIS and Person of Interest were steady. Biggest Loser and Fire were down about 15 percent each. Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine and New Girl were down, but Dads and Mindy Project were up. Full chart: READ FULL STORY