Primetime Ratings: ABC Wins With ‘American Idol’

ABC took the Sunday ratings prize with its revamped American Idol premiere, scoring a 1.7 in viewers 18-49, and a 7 share. That easily beat the 1.0/4 that O.J. Simpson-fueled Fox put up.

America’s Funniest Home Videos was up a tenth of a point at 1.1 on ABC before American Idol rated a 2.3, with 10.3 million total viewers. Its last premiere, on Fox in 2016, rated a 3.0, with just shy of 11 million total viewers. Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan are the new judges on Idol.

Drama Deception premiered to a 1.3 for ABC.

Fox had Bob’s Burgers at 0.7, then O.J. Simpson: The Lost Confession? at 1.2.

CBS and NBC both did a 0.8/3. CBS had a pair of 60 Minutes up a tenth of a point from last week at 0.9 and NCIS: Los Angeles at 0.9, then Madam Secretary at 0.6, both dramas flat with their last fresh airings.

On NBC, American Ninja Warrior: USA vs. the World scored a 0.9 and second season premiere of drama Timeless rated a 0.8. Timeless’ series premiere did a 1.9 in October 2016.

Univision did a 0.5/2 and Telemundo a 0.4/1.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.