Sunday TV Ratings: ‘The Rookie’ Hits Series Lows With Season 4 Premiere
The first of Sunday night’s fall dramas returned on September 26, but did people tune in to see the resolution of last season’s cliffhanger? Or did The Tony Awards Presents: Broadway’s Back! and the football pull viewers away?
The Rookie kicked off its fourth season down from last season’s finale (3.77 million viewers, 0.51 rating), premiere (3.44 million, 0.49 rating), and average (3.73 million, 0.49 rating) with 2.80 million viewers and a 0.3 rating in the key demo. Both are series lows.
As for the rest of ABC’s night, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune was down with a 0.4 rating and 3.76 million viewers from last season’s finale (0.73, 5.71 million) and average (0.91, 6.52 million), as was Supermarket Sweep (0.4 rating, 2.51 million vs. the finale’s 0.52 and 2.85 million and average’s 0.7 and 3.19). (Note: Celebrity Wheel of Fortune aired on Thursdays in Season 1.)
As for The Tony Awards Presents: Broadway’s Back!, 2.65 million tuned in following Big Brother (0.9 rating, 4.15 million viewers).
The big winner on the night was, of course, NFL Football (Packers at 49ers) on NBC, with a 3.6 rating and 13.03 million viewers. For the non-sports programs in primetime, The Simpsons took home the win in the key demo (1.1 rating), and Big Brother was the most-watched (after 60 Minutes‘ 7.12 million at 7/6c).
Without a series premiere on September 26, the top four most-watched new shows are still: NCIS: Hawai’i (6.33 million on September 20 at 10/9c), FBI: International (6.24 million on September 21 at 10/9c), Ordinary Joe (3.81 million on September 20 at 10/9c), and The Wonder Years (3.07 million on September 22 at 8:30/7:30c).
