Despite all the emphasis on Monday’s dramas, it was new comedy series “Mike and Molly” that premiered to the highest ratings.
CBS’ new comedy opened with a 3.9 adults 18-49 rating, a high mark for any series premiere Monday. Combined with veteran “Two and a Half Men” (4.8 rating, 14.5 million viewers), the sitcom helped CBS place second for the hour (behind the ABC mammoth “Dancing with the Stars”) and build a sturdy bridge for fellow new CBS series “Hawaii 5-0.”
“Mike & Molly”‘s total viewership was 12.2 million, second only to that of “Five-0.”
FOX’s “Lonestar,” meanwhile, got off to an even worse start than was projected by the early overnight ratings. The series opened to a mere 1.3 adults 18-49 rating with 4.1 million viewers, an absolute bomb given the excess of rave reviews and the “House” lead-in (4.2 rating, 10.5 million viewers). Worse, for a series that was viewed so strongly by critics, the show’s significant decline in viewership over the course of the hour was both quite surprising and extremely disappointing.