RATINGS RAT RACE: Strong Premiere For ABC’s ‘Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’, ‘Lucky 7’ Flops, NBC’s ‘Chicago Fire’ Hits Highs

Nine years after Lost, another ABC drama series got off to a big start at 8 PM. The network’s heavily promoted Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. drew 11.9 million live viewers and a 4.6 rating in adults 18-49 in its debut last night. It was television’s highest-rated premiere in 18-49 in nearly 4 years, since November 3, 2009. The rest of ABC’s all-new Tuesday lineup couldn’t keep up. The most promising newcomer was comedy The Goldbergs, which opened with a 3.2/9 immediately following S.H.I.E.L.D. The premiere of fellow new comedy Trophy Wife slipped to 2.3/6 while new drama Lucky 7 (1.3/4) was dead on arrival as the lowest rated fall drama premiere in ABC history.

NBC’s The Voice continues to impress. After winning an Emmy on Sunday and returning higher on Monday, the singing competition managed to stay up year-vs-year even last night airing against S.H.I.E.L.D. and the season premiere of CBS’ NCIS. The Voice (4.6 in 18-49) tied S.H.I.E.L.D. as the highest-rated program of the night in the demo, up 15% from last fall’s Tuesday debut (down 10% from Monday). It boosted new lead-out Chicago Fire (2.8, 9.2 million), which posted series high in 18-49 and total viewers, up 47% in the demo from last fall’s series premiere on Wednesday behind SVU and up 27% from the one time last fall it aired after The Voice. For the first time in eight years, NBC won Tuesday night of premiere week in 18-49, ranking as No. 1 in the demo in every hour of primetime. (more…)