NBC has no reason to be sure it has a hit on its hands with “The Cape,” but the superhero drama got off to a passable start Sunday.
The two-hour premiere averaged a 2.6 adults 18-49 rating with 8.39 million viewers. Down quite a bit from the premiere of NBC’s fall drama launch “The Event,” the show would nonetheless be acceptable for NBC should its ratings stabilize within this general territory.
“The Cape” does not, however, have flexibility within the adults 18-49 demo, so it cannot endure much of a post-premiere drop-off, which is often the norm for heavily-promoted new dramas.
“The Cape” supporters do have some spin potential in the fact that the ratings held steady from beginning to end, with slight growth in the demo and a slight loss in total viewers. But while that means people were not turned off by the premiere episode, it does not guarantee everyone will be back–several freshmen dramas now considered “busts” started off with a steady premiere audience.
Over on FOX, the premiere of “Bob’s Burgers” scored a lot of eyeballs but cannot be outright ruled as a smash success.
Thanks to the monstrous lead-in from the tight Packers vs. Eagles wildcard game, which scored at least a 13.0 adults 18-49 rating and 35.96 million viewers in its final full half-hour segment, “The Simpsons” opened FOX’s scripted night with a big 5.7 rating and 12.65 million viewers.
That was enough to keep “Bob’s Burgers” ahead in its timeslot with a 4.5 and 9.41 million, but the 21% demo drop from the lead-in was not phenomenal for a similarly-targeted series premiere. “Family Guy” followed at 9PM with a 4.7 and 9.28 million viewers, while “The Cleveland Show” parlayed the seemingly-ideal lead-in into a 3.5 with 7.36 million.