RATINGS RAT RACE: Decent Openings For ‘Dads’ & ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’, ‘Mindy’ Down

Addressing the rampant criticism of Fox’s racy new comedy Dads, Fox chief Kevin Reilly at TCA read a potpourri of scathing reviews CBS megahit The Big Bang Theory had received before its launch. Judging by its opening last night, Dads maybe better compares to another multi-camera sitcom that was universally panned, ABC’s Work It. Fox’s sons-fathers comedy opened with a 2.1/7 in adults 18-49 last night. Given all the backlash and the fact that Dads was a self-starter at 8 PM, that was a decent number, in line with Work It’s debut last year (2.0) and short of Big Bang‘s opening (3.7 in 2007). Fox’s best reviewed new comedy, Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2.5/8) built on its lead-in, and both Dads and Brooklyn were up from the openers of Raising Hope (1.7) and Ben & Kate (2.1/6) in the 8 PM and 8:30 PM slots last fall. But the latter opened against regular competition while Dads and Brooklyn ran virtually unopposed last night, and Brooklyn boasts popular former SNL star Andy Samberg as the lead. Is their start strong enough to withstand NCIS, boosted by the pending departure of fan favorite cast member Cote de Pablo, and ABC’s heavily promoted Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.? New Girl (2.9/8) was up a tenth from last year’s opener, which aired during premiere week. Meanwhile, despite Fox’s efforts to bring new audiences to The Mindy Project — with a big–for-a-sophomore-series marketing campaign that included early release of the premiere episode online — the off-beat comedy returned to a 1.9/5, down 21% from its series debut last year and the lowest-rated member of Fox’s new Tuesday comedy block. New Girl and Mindy will face The Voice next week. With the all-original lineup, Fox won the night in adults 18-49.

NBC’s Million Dollar Quiz (1.1/4) was up a tenth from Monday as it is limping towards the finish line. The season performance finale of America’s Got Talent (2.4/7) was up a tenth from last week but down 17% from last year’s closer. The AGT results finale airs tonight.