UPDATE: “Glee” climbed to a 3.5 rating in the nationals — making it Fox’s highest-rated scripted fall premiere in three years. “Dance” remained unchanged.
PREVIOUS: Fox’s critically acclaimed “Glee” launched to a strong start Wednesday night, pulling a healthy number in the adult demo.
“Glee” was seen by 7.3 million viewers and earned a 3.3 rating among adults 18-49 and easily won its hour. That makes “Glee” the network’s highest-rated scripted fall premiere for a new program in two years.
By comparison, Fox’s breakout hit last season “Fringe” debuted to a 3.2 and CBS’ smash “The Mentalist” opened to a 3.5.
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The musical comedy improved on its lead-in from the first-ever fall run of “So You Think You Can Dance” (6.5 million viewers, 2.7 rating), which underperformed compared to the opening of its summer run.
“Glee” slipped only 15% from its post-“American Idol” preview back in May, which is pretty impressive considering the show had the biggest lead-in on television. The network is also touting that adults 18-34 grew 9% from its May premiere.
Fox’s double dipping of “Dance,” however, was down 21% from its two-hour summer opener while up against Barack Obama’s health care speech. The network expects the show to gather steam in the coming weeks.
Also premiering last night: The CW’s 13th cycle of “America’s Next Top Model” (3.2 million, 1.5). The petite-model two-hour edition of the series was down 12% from last fall’s opener and ties for the show’s lowest opening ever. Among women 18-34, it was down 10% and not quite the lowest.
Fox won the night. NBC was second with “Glee” seeming to zap “America’s Got Talent” (9.7 million, 2.1). ABC had “Wipeout” (5 million, 1.7) and “Primetime” (3.8 million, 1.3). CBS had repeats. Ratings for Obama’s health care speech will be posted later.
