The premiere of HELL’S KITCHEN Season 8 gave FOX a No. 2 rank for the night among Adults 18-49, and put FOX at No. 1 among Adults 18-34 and Teens.
HELL’S KITCHEN posted a 2.9/8 from 8-10p among Adults 18-49, showing 100% retention of its Adults 18-49 premiere rating this past summer (2.9, 6/1/10) and an increase of +6% in Total Viewers (6.6 vs. 6.2 Mil.)
Despite airing against all original premiere competition, HELL’S KITCHEN showed momentum over the course of its two hours, growing in the 9p hour by +23% among Adults 18-49 and +22% in Total Viewers versus its 8p hour.
Competition
The 10/11 premiere of ABC’s The Middle (2.6/8) was in line with its series premiere in the 8:30p time period last season, Better With You (2.5/7) was down -4% from the comparable premiere in the 8:30p time period last season (The Middle). At 9p, Modern Family (5.0/14) was up from its series launch last year (4.2/11), but Cougar Town (3.3/9) slipped -25% from last fall’s premiere (4.4/11 on 9/23/09), in spite of its bolstered lead-in. Finishing last in the 10p hour, new drama The Whole Truth premiered with a 1.5/4, dropping -50% from Eastwick’s premiere in the time period last fall (3.0/8 on 9/23/09) and losing -18% of its A18-49 audience from 10p to 1030p (1.7/5 > 1.4/4).
On CBS, week two of Survivor: Nicaragua (4.0/12) was on par with last week’s opener. At 9p, the season premiere of Criminal Minds (4.0/11) fell -9% from its 09/10 premiere (4.4/12), while at 10p, the series debut of The Defenders (2.9/8) dropped -28% from last year’s time period premiere (CSI:NY, 4.0/11 on 9/23/09), losing -28% of its lead-in rating and posting a -10% loss from its first half-hour to its second (3.0/9 > 2.7/8).
New NBC drama Undercovers (2.0/6) delivered the network’s lowest fall series premiere in almost two years (since Crusoe on Friday 10/17/08), dropping -13% from Mercy’s series launch in the time period last year (2.3/7 on 9/23/09). At 9p, the two-hour season premiere of Law & Order: SVU delivered a 3.2/9, up from its one-hour launch on the same night last fall (2.6/7).
Live+Same Day Nielsen Ratings
(source: FOX)
