The two-hour premiere of Fox’s new J.J. Abrams drama, Alcatraz, debuted to relatively high ratings with a strong showing against some fierce competition, marking the highest debut of a Fox drama since 2010.
Topping the Monday night ratings was Betty White’s 90th birthday celebration on NBC, with 13.9 million viewers tuning in for the 90-minute special, which led into the premiere of White’s Off Their Rockers reality show. It will be interesting to see where those 13.9 million eyeballs fall next week, without the Betty White special.
The two-hour premiere of Alcatraz (10 million total viewers, 3.3 rating in adults 18-49 demographic) was ranks as Fox’s highest-rated drama series debut since Human Target in 2010. Compared to last year’s midseason launch of The Chicago Code, Alcatraz was up a hefty 38 percent among adults 18-49. Despite no lead-in, Alcatraz is tied with ABC’s Revenge as the season’s second-highest rated new drama.
Even with the strong showings by Fox and NBC, CBS took the Monday ratings victory on the strength of the 150th episode of How I Met Your Mother (10.1 million, 4.4) and Two and a Half Men (12.9 million, 4.6), both jumping 13 percent and 5 percent, respectively. 2 Broke Girls (11.3 million, 4.5) and Mike & Molly (11.2 million, 3.8) were steady, while Hawaii Five-0 (10.5 million, 2.8) dipped 3 percent.
Alcatraz also topped new episodes of The Bachelor, Castle and the midseason premiere of Gossip Girl.
Did you tune in for the Alcatraz premiere last night? What did you think of the new series?