ABC’s family comedy “Dr. Ken” opened with promise on Friday, building on its “Last Man Standing” lead-in and contributing to a nightly victory for the network. Also of note on the ratings front was a particularly large lift in delayed viewing for NBC’s “Blindspot,” which has emerged as the early fall’s hottest new show.
Looking at Friday’s action, “Dr. Ken” premiered in the 8:30 p.m. half-hour with a 1.4 rating/6 share and 6.7 million viewers overall, according to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen. The series created, written and co-executive produced by lead actor Ken Jeong, led its timeslot in 18-49, 25-54 (2.0/7) and total viewers, building on its lead-in from “Last Man Standing” (1.2/5 in 18-49, 6.5 million viewers overall).
As for “Last Man Standing,” the veteran was up a tick from its week-ago premiere. If it stands in the nationals, it would join Wednesday’s “The Middle” to give ABC the fall’s only two scripted series to improve in their second weeks. The ABC Friday comedies figure to have tougher competition starting next week, when NBC begins airing comedies in the hour. “Undateable” has a one-hour premiere next week, and newbie “Truth Be Told” comes aboard in the 8:30 p.m. slot on Oct. 16.
“Shark Tank” won at 9 p.m. for ABC (1.7/6 in 18-49, 6.7 million viewers overall) but it remains below last year’s level even with a stronger lead-in. “20/20” closed out the night (1.1/4 in 18-49, 4.6 million viewers overall).
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CBS had another solid Friday, placing second in demos and winning in total viewers with its lineup of “The Amazing Race” (1.2/5 in 18-49, 6.0 million viewers overall), “Hawaii Five-0” (1.0/4 in 18-49, 9.0 million viewers overall) and “Blue Bloods” (1.3/5 in 18-49, 11.1 million viewers overall). Each show matched its national demo rating of last week, and “Blue Bloods” was up in total viewers to easily rule as Friday’s most-watched program overall.
NBC aired a repeat of new Thursday drama “The Player” (0.6/2 in 18-49, 3.5 million viewers overall), followed by a two-hour “Dateline” (1.1/4 in 18-49, 5.6 million viewers overall)
In other ratings news, NBC’s new drama “Blindspot” saw an especially large lift in L3 for its second episode, rising 1.6 ratings points in 18-49 to a 4.2 rating (from 2.6 in same-day). As a result, it is now down just 7% from its premiere (4.16 vs. 4.45) after showing a 18% decline in same-day numbers (2.56 vs. 3.11). The 1.6 point build from “live plus same-day” to “live plus-3” for “Blindspot” exceeds the 1.33 lift it saw for its premiere and is the largest for any regular NBC program since “The Blacklist” in November of last year.
In total viewers, “Blindspot” picked up 4.558 million viewers in delayed viewing, which is 99% of its Week 1 total (4.587 million) when it saw the largest lift for any program on television for the week. The new NBC drama from Greg Berlanti also drew one of Premiere Week’s most racially diverse audiences, according to Nieslen estimates.
CBS comedy “The Big Bang Theory” also saw a bigger L3 lift in week 2, rising from its previously reported 3.82 rating in 18-49 and 15.23 million total viewers to a 5.55 demo rating and 19.77 million viewers overall. Its 1.73 lift in 18-49 is higher than the 1.70 it did for its premiere. So after falling off last week’s premiere pace in 18-49 by 19% in same-day numbers, the deficit has been trimmed to 13% (5.55 vs. 6.39).
Fox’s “Gotham” went form a 1.63 in same-day to 2.59 in L3, which puts it 2% ahead of the 2.53 it did for its premiere.
