‘Carmichael Show’ Ratings Solid(ish) In Debut, ‘ANTM’ Hits 2-Year High, ‘Extant’ Up, ‘MasterChef’ Even

To quote Herman’s Hermits, it was a little bit of a case of “second verse same as the first” last night on NBC. Having burned off 6-episodes of Mr. Robinson in 3-weeks, the Comcast-owned net debuted The Carmichael Show (1.1/4) last night in the same post America’s Got Talent (1.6/6) slot. And the result was …pretty much the same. The 9 PM pilot for the newbie was a mere 8% less among adults 18-49 that Mr. Robinson’s August 5 start. Compared to last week’s 9 PM Mr. Robinson finale, The Carmichael Show was up 10% in the demo.

Where The Carmichael Show’s debut was just behind Mr. Robinson’s premiere in the key demo, it was just ahead in total viewership. With an audience of 4.83 million, the new sitcom from Jerrod Carmichael topped the 4.60 million that its slot predecessor drew to be the most viewed summer comedy opener since CBS’ Creature Comforts debuted on June 4, 2007. A second episode of The Carmichael Show (0.9/3) at 9:30 PM dropped 18% among the demo from its lead-in, which was just 2% more of a decline than the second Mr. Robinson episode had on August 5.

Related‘Mr. Robinson’ Review: NBC’s Music Teacher Comedy Hits All The Wrong Notes

Of course, like Mr. Robinson’s greater than expected rating results over its run, the much more topical Carmichael Show got plenty of introductory help from its Wednesday night lead-in – even if AGT was even with last week among the 18-49s. While the most watched show of Wednesday’s primetime (8.28 million), Talent was the second highest rated. The top spot went to its 8 PM slot rival, Big Brother (2.0/8), who dipped 5% from last week. MasterChef (1.4/5), the other unscripted heavyweight of the hour, was even with its August 19 show. Last Comic Standing (1.1/4), NBC’s prime ender, was also even with last week.

In fast nationals, Wednesday looks to be a tie between NBC and CBS in the demo with the latter winning in viewership by a hair with 5.71 million watching.

With the exception of Celebrity Wife Swap, ABC was all encores last night. The 10 PM family mix up series was down 11% from last week to match a series low in fast nationals. Down was not the fate of the 9 PM Extant (0.8/3), which rose 14% among the 18-49s. Down was the fate of Fox’s Home Free (0.8/3), with an 11% drop.

Over on The CW, both America’s Top Model (0.5/2) and A Wicked Offer (0.3/1) were up a tenth from their August 19 shows. For the Tyra Banks run ANTM, Wednesday saw the highest viewership (1.34 million) in just over 2-years and its best 18-49 result since its November 15, 2013 show.

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