Donald Trump Defeats Zombies: ‘60 Minutes’ Interview Gooses ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ To Conquer ‘Walking Dead’

Donald Trump – still being great for CBS’ business, like Leslie Moonves said a while back.

This time, the POTUS-elect’s first extensive TV interview since his stunning Election Night upset, on CBS’ 60 Minutes, goosed ratings on Trump’s lead-out, NCIS: Los Angeles.  So big was NCIS: LA‘s crowd – 12.1 million viewers – it out-delivered AMC’s The Walking Dead, which clocked 11.51M.

This marks the first time a scripted Sunday drama has outstripped The Walking Dead in Live+Same Day delivery in more than 2 1/2 years. Last time it happened was way back on March 9, 2014.

The veteran CBS series, now in its eighth season, was the week’s most-watched drama, delivering its largest audience since the Season 5 finale on May 13, 2014.

Thus can it be said our next POTUS, Donald Trump, has defeated zombies.

In fairness, NCIS: Los Angeles already had been doing well in its new Sunday time slot. It’s one of only a handful of series on network TV to be up over a year ago.

In its move to Sunday, NCIS: LA is up 14% in total viewers (12.7M from 11.1M) compared with last season, when it aired on Monday nights.

In the demo it’s up 12% (1.9 rating vs. 1.7), and up 8% among adults 25-54 (2.7 vs. 2.5).

The spinoff series also has improved its new Sunday 8 PM time slot compared with same time last season: up 5% in viewers (12.7M vs. 12.1M), 19% in the demo (1.9 vs. 1.6) and 13% in 25-54 (2.7 vs. 2.4).