It's usually snooze time when it comes to ratings, but during these exciting premiere weeks, it's hard not to take notice. Last night the big question was how NBC's Knight Rider would do. If you recall, the property was rejuvenated in the form of a two-hour movie earlier this year and pulled in decent numbers and poor reviews. And even though there was nothing else on television that night, NBC execs saw only the numbers and instantly ordered it to series. That's some thinkin'!
You're next, Knight Rider.
The premiere of Knight Rider probably didn't go the way NBC hoped it would, drawing in 7.3 million viewers. That put KITT and company in third place, behind ABC's Dancing With the Stars (15.6 million) and Fox's Bones (9.6 million). And judging by the critics' response, Knight Rider could be sent to the scrap yard very soon.
Check out this lovely boost of confidence from The Miami Herald's Glenn Garvin: "I'm paying a bounty of $5 per vicious blow administered to the heads of any NBC executive involved in any way with Knight Rider, which cost me an hour of my life and 50 IQ points that I'll never get back." Come on, the fetching Deanna Russo has to be worth at least 50 cents, drop it to $4.50!
CBS' experiment with a new comedy hour on Wednesday went OK. The series debut of Jay Mohr's Gary Unmarried didn't do so bad, grabbing 6.8 million in the 8:30 p.m. slot (CBS' other new comedy, Worst Week, was watched by 11-plus million viewers on Monday). Gary's lead-in, The New Adventures of Old Christine, put up almost identical numbers with 6.7 million viewers.
But once the 9 p.m. hour got rolling, the night belonged to CBS, with its back-to-back sleuth shows Criminal Minds (15.1 million) and CSI:NY (15.6 million). I like to pretend that David Blaine doesn't exist, so I'll make this quick: His ABC "magic" special netted about 7 million gullible viewers. Elsewhere, Fox pulled in about an average of 4 million for 'Til Death and Do Not Disturb, the latter of which you better catch while you can, because it isn't going to be around too much longer.
For all you network fans, here are the stats for the evening broken down by channel, according to Variety (in average number of viewers): 12.5 million for CBS, 10.4 million for ABC, 7.9 million for NBC, 6.8 million for Fox, 3.2 million for The CW.
Bones rocks, new shows, get some fresh ideas please! I mean, Knight Rider, 90210? And Dancing with the Stars??? Nothing else to say but... Bones Rocks!
I enjoyed the new series much more than the pilot movie. At least they've toned down the car 'advertising' shots that the movie suffered from. I hope they don't cancel it without giving it a chance.
hm, not suprise of knight rider... If thay are gone make this work thay need to look back at the old knigh rider and look what made it special.
I think the old one was special beacuse of the humor, the new one got a good enugh actor i think, but thay realy shuld but in another voice on the car and some humor
it was ok, better than Bones.
I love Knight Rider. I can't wait till Wedneesday so I can watch the next episode! NBC You are geat! Thanks so much for airing this show!!
I wonder what where some viewers expecting from Knight Rider and are sooooo disappointed...I thought it was pretty good, nothing special,but satisfying.It didn't change my life but it didn't make me want to shoot myself either.Maybe some people are stuck with the 80s classic version...
CBS is doing good so far
Yikes CBS comedies didnt do so well, nor did Knight Rider
I don't know why everyone complains about Knight Rider. It was a good show, not fantastic but good. I watched it online before it premiered like alot of people did which may account for the not-so-great ratings. Hopefully, people will continue to watch it next week on tv. David Blaine is THE MAN. His big "stunts' aren't really anything to get too excited over but his street magic is GREAT. That Wednesday is probably going to be the only time I will watch tv at 9pm. Everything on Wednesday night SUCKS. Every channel is nothing but a snooze fest.
Bones rules :D
again viewers are missed cuz they watched it online ...i think that knight rider was great and maybe if they hadnt released the premiere episode it might have done better...
Hope Knight Rider improves. I like the original series so I hope this one will be the same
Knight Rider was good. Maybe NBC should have done a better job of promoting it's seasons premire.
I thought Knight Rider was pretty sweet. And I didn't watch anything else Wednesday except Ghost Hunters on SciFi.
Go for CBS, <em>CSI:NY</em> and <em>Criminal Minds</em> had excellent season premiere episodes. I did watch <em>Knight Rider</em> last night (airs in Canada at 7pm) and I can't believe that Bruce Davison and Val Kilmer would lend their names to this piece of dreck, AWFUL! <em>Bones</em> was okay, didn't like seeing Zack back sorry folks don't like him. Absolutely love <em>Worst Week</em> very very funny show. A feel good show for sure. As for David Blaine's fiasco, ABC should give him the bill for two hours worth of garbage, what a JOKE!
I knew Knight Rider would get rubbish figures.
i think knight rider looks awesome but i watch my shows online how thats not a bad thing. i like all those shows.
There was just no way to go wrong with Criminal Minds and CSI: NY. They both had carryover cliffhangers from last year.
Yeah, the Knight Rider premiere was already everywhere, internet, itunes, ondemand. So, that's why there were low viewers. It will have to depend on next weeks ratings for real ratings.
I watched Knight Rider online for free last week. The ratings were down because people who wanted to watch it already had!