The premieres of CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory” prequel Young Sheldon” and the ABC medical drama The Good Doctor” were among the five most-watched entertainment programs during the opening week of the 2017-18 prime-time television season, according to live-plus-same-day figures released by Nielsen today.
Young Sheldon” averaged 17.215 million viewers, the most for a comedy premiere since Sept. 19, 2011 when CBS’ 2 Broke Girls” averaged 19.37 million viewers following the episode of “Two and a Half Men” which featured the funeral of Charlie Sheen’s character and the introduction of Ashton Kutcher as its new star that averaged 28.74 million viewers.
“Young Sheldon” retained 97.5 percent of the 17.657 million audience of The Big Bang Theory” that preceded it. “Young Sheldon” was the second most-watched prime-time program between Sept. 25 and Sunday, only trailing The Big Bang Theory.”
“Young Sheldon” is a comedy spinoff about the childhood of one of “The Big Bang Theory” main characters who is possibly the most eccentric of the brainy, eccentric nerd scientists on the show.
“The Good Doctor” was the week’s second most-watched premiere, sixth among non-sports programs and 11th overall, averaging 11.352 million viewers, the most for the premiere of an ABC drama since Sept. 25, 2014, when “How to Get Away with Murder” averaged 14.34 million viewers.
Viewership for “The Good Doctor” was 30.9 percent higher than the 8.67- million average for two-hour “Dancing with the Stars” episode that preceded it.
The premiere of the NBC military drama “The Brave” which aired opposite the premiere of “The Good Doctor” averaged 5.958 million viewers, finishing 42nd for the week.
CBS had each of the next three most-watched premieres. “SEAL Team” was Wednesday’s most-watched program and 19th for the week, averaging 9.875 million viewers.
The audience was CBS’ largest in the 9-10 p.m. Wednesday time period with a regularly scheduled program since March 23, 2016, when “Criminal Minds” averaged 10.945 million viewers for Shemar Moore’s final episode.
“Wisdom of the Crowd” averaged 8.828 million viewers to be the most- watched of Sunday’s three premieres, finishing 22nd overall.
“Me, Myself & I” averaged 7.458 million viewers, finishing 29th for the week.
The least-watched of the week’s 10 premieres was the ABC drama “Ten Days in the Valley,” which averaged 3.443 million viewers, 65th for the week, just behind the debut of the Fox comedy “Ghosted,” which averaged 3.581 million viewers, to finish 64th.
Ratings for premieres are often unrepresentative of how the series will fare due to the heavy promotion they receive and because viewers who are interested in the concept may not return for future episodes.
The live-plus- same day figures are treated with less importance by network executives when determining series’ futures than they had been in the past because the growing amount of delayed viewing has prompted advertisers to increase acceptance of figures that include delayed viewing.
CBS was the most-watched network on premiere week for the ninth consecutive season, averaging 9.5 million viewers. NBC was second, averaging 7.78 million, followed by ABC, which averaged 5.8 million, and Fox, which averaged 3.14 million.
Viewership was down on all four major broadcast networks compared to last season’s premiere week. CBS was down 15 percent, NBC 11 percent, ABC less than 1 percent and Fox 13.7 percent.
CBS and ABC both broadcast 22 hours of prime-time programming for ratings purposes, NBC 21 1/2 hours and Fox 16.
CBS and NBC both received boosts to their weekly averages from NFL coverage. NBC’s coverage of the Seattle Seahawks 46-18 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on “Sunday Night Football” was third for the week, averaging 16.731 million viewers.
The Green Bay Packers lightning-interrupted 35-14 victory over the Chicago Bears on CBS’ “Thursday Night Football” was fourth for the week, averaging 14.61 million viewers. The game’s 44-minute weather delay was sixth for the week, averaging 13.389 million viewers.
CBS’ 30-minute runover of its Sunday afternoon NFL coverage into prime time averaged 18.21 million viewers. The runover is not considered a separate program, but is included in the weekly average.
The week’s most-watched cable program was the Arizona Cardinals-Dallas Cowboys “Monday Night Football” game on ESPN which averaged 13.698 million viewers, fifth overall.
ESPN was the most-watched cable network for the third consecutive week, averaging 3.018 million viewers. Fox News Channel averaged 2.234 million viewers to finish second for the third consecutive week, after winning 16 consecutive weeks.
MSNBC was third for the third consecutive week, averaging 1.631 million viewers.
The week’s 10 most-watched prime-time programs were CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory” and “Young Sheldon”; NBC’s “Sunday Night Football”; CBS’ “Thursday Night Football”; ESPN’s “Monday Night Football”; the 44-minute “Thursday Night Football” weather delay; CBS’ “NCIS”; NBC’s “This Is Us” and the 10-minute “Sunday Night Football” kickoff show; and CBS’ “60 Minutes.”
—City News Service