Primetime Ratings: 'The Muppets' Debuts Strong

The Muppets opened to a 2.8 rating in adults 18-49, drawing 8.9 million viewers Tuesday on ABC. The puppet-starring workplace comedy was the No. 2 new show of the young season in 18-49, behind NBC’s splashy Blindspot debut.

Less fortunate was Fox’s Scream Queens, which debuted with a 1.6 rating across two hours.

NBC won the night with a 3.0 rating and 10 share in adults 18-49, ahead of CBS’ 2.0/7, ABC’s 1.8/6, Fox’s 1.6/5 and CW’s 0.5/2. The Voice’s 3.4 was down slightly from the previous night’s 3.5 premiere, while Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris posted a 2.2, up 22% from its premiere the previous week.

On CBS, NCIS opened to a 2.4, down 17% from last year’s 2.9 premiere, then NCIS: New Orleans showed a 1.7, down 32% from last year’s 2.5 debut. New drama Limitless debuted to a 1.8 rating in 18-49.

On ABC, Muppets led into the return of Fresh Off the Boat, which posted a 1.9 rating in 18-49, down 24% from the 2.5 the series premiered to last February, before two hours of Dancing With the Stars averaged a 1.5 rating, down 17% from the previous night’s 1.8.

The CW was in repeats.

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.