Monday Overnights: NBC Wins; Debut of Drama ‘Manifest’ Amply Sampled

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

Household Rating/Share
NBC: 6.6/11, CBS: 6.3/10, ABC: 5.4/ 9, Fox: 4.3/ 7, CW: 0.6/ 1

-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening:
Fox: +169, NBC: +12, CW: no change, CBS: – 7, ABC: -18

-Ratings Breakdown:
As always, these household overnights are a precursor to what could lie ahead once additional data arrives. This is your initial look. With that in mind, NBC topped this first evening of the 2018-19 TV season in the household overnights, with the debut of drama “Manifest” in the 10 p.m. hour amply sampled.

In the battle of the reality/competitions, both “The Voice” and “Dancing With the Stars” took a backseat to CBS comedies “The Big Bang Theory” and “Young Sheldon.” But the absence of “Big Bang” next season could obviously be a concern for “Young Sheldon.”

The season-premiere of NBC’s “The Voice” scored a solid 6.8 rating/11 share in households from 8-10 p.m. (#2), which bested the season-opener of ABC’s competing “Dancing With the Stars” (#3: 5.6/ 9) by 21 percent. Comparably, “The Voice” was just four percent below the 6.8/11 for the year-ago season premiere (6.8/11 on 9/25/17), while “Dancing With the Stars” slipped by just 8 percent (6.1/10). In other words, the expectations for this season should be close to one year earlier for both competitions. Naturally, “The Voice” will attract a younger skew.

The debut of NBC’s aforementioned “Manifest” scored a dominant 6.9/12 in households in the 10 p.m. hour, which built by five percent from the 9:30 p.m. portion of lead-in “The Voice” (6.6/11) and was a hefty 72 percent above the series-premiere of failed year-ago time period occupant “The Brave” (4.0. 7). “Manifest” also outdelivered the season premiere installments of competing “Bull” on CBS (#2: 5.1/ 9) and “”The Good Doctor” on ABC (#3: 5.0/ 8) by 35 percent and 38 percent, respectively.

What did you think of the series premiere episode of NBC drama #Manifest?

— Marc Berman (@marcberman) September 25, 2018

The positive for “Bull”: improvement of 31 percent from year-ago time period occupant “Scorpion” (3.9/ 7). The bad news for “Bull”: Minus the lead-in support from “NCIS” expect noticeable erosion this season.

“The Good Doctor” on ABC, meanwhile, slipped by 33 percent from the 7.5/13 from the year-ago series-premiere.

The night’s other series premiere was the reboot of “Magnum, PI,” which was sampled at a second-place 5.6/ 9 in households in the 9 p.m. hour.

What did you think of the series premiere episode of the reboot of CBS drama #MagnumPI?

— Marc Berman (@marcberman) September 25, 2018

But the more realistic test will be how this fares next week, and beyond, once new CBS comedies “The Neighborhood” and “Happy Together” open Monday.

Tops for the night was the season premiere of “The Big Bang Theory,” which scored a 9.1/15 in the household overnights in the 8 p.m. half-hour. And that led into the second season premiere of “Young Sheldon” at a dominant 7.1/11 at 8:30 p.m. But “Young Sheldon” dropped by 34 percent from its year-ago series premiere (10.7/17) and will not have “The Bang Theory” to support it next season. “Big Bang,” meanwhile, dropped by 30 percent from its year-ago opener (11.4/18).

Also opening for the season was Fox medical drama “The Resident” at a 3.7/ 6 (#4) at 8 p.m. The time period premiere of also sophomore “9-1-1” perked up to a 4.9/ 8 at 9 p.m. (#4), which could be enough to beat competing “Magnum, PI” in adults 18-49.

The CW populated the evening with “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” (#5: 0.7/ 1 at 8 p.m.) and two episodes of “Whose Line is it Anyway?” (#5: avg. 0.6/ 1 at 9 p.m.).

What follows are the household overnight ratings for Monday, September 24 broken out by half-hour:

8:00 p.m.
ABC – “Dancing With the Stars” (season premiere): 5.9/10 (#3)
CBS – “The Big Bang Theory” (season premiere): 9.1/15 (#1)
NBC – “The Voice” (season premiere): 6.3/10 (#2)
Fox – “The Resident” (season premiere): 3.7/ 6 (#4)
CW – “Penn & Teller: Fool Us”: 0.7/ 1 (#5)

8:30 p.m.
ABC – “Dancing With the Stars” (season premiere): 5.8/ 9 (#3)
CBS – “Young Sheldon” (season premiere): 7.1/11 (#1)
NBC – “The Voice” (season premiere): 6.5/10 (#2)
Fox – “The Resident” (season premiere): 3.7/ 6 (#4)
CW – “Penn & Teller: Fool Us”: 0.8/ 1 (#5)

9:00 p.m.
ABC – “Dancing With the Stars” (season premiere): 5.5/ 9 (#3)
CBS – “Magnum PI” (series premiere): 5.7/ 9 (#2)
NBC – “The Voice” (season premiere): 6.6/10 (#1)
Fox – “9-1-1” (time period premiere): 4.9/ 8 (#4)
CW – “Whose Line is it Anyway?”: 0.6/ 1 (#5)

9:30 p.m.
ABC – “Dancing With the Stars” (season premiere): 5.2/ 9 (#3)
CBS – “Magnum PI” (series premiere): 5.5/ 9 (#2)
NBC – “The Voice” (season premiere): 6.6/11 (#1)
Fox – “9-1-1” (time period premiere): 5.0/ 8 (#4)
CW – “Whose Line is it Anyway?”: 0.5/ 1 (#5)

10:00 p.m.
ABC – “The Good Doctor” (season premiere): 5.1/ 9 (#3)
CBS – “Bull” (season premiere): 5.2/ 9 (#2)
NBC – “Manifest” (series premiere): 7.2/12 (#1)

10:30 p.m.
ABC – “The Good Doctor” (season premiere): 4.8/ 9 (#3)
CBS – “Bull” (season premiere): 5.0/ 9 (#2)
NBC – “Manifest” (series premiere): 6.6/12 (#1)

Source: Nielsen Media Research