NBC’s “Awake” was not an all-out flop by the network’s drastically-reduced standards, but it definitely did not make a great impression in its opener Thursday.
The well-reviewed drama series launched with a 1.9 adults 18-49 rating and 6.3 million viewers. While it would actually stand a decent shot at a renewal if it could hold exactly in that range, odds are strong that its numbers will fall in the coming weeks.
In addition to the usual premiere inflation, “Awake” also benefited from an absence of original competition Thursday night. When “The Mentalist” returns to originals, the battle at 10PM will be much tougher.
While some might claim that NBC’s aggressive pre-premiere distribution of the pilot negatively impacted ratings, there is no reason to believe that is the case. FOX did something similar with fall premiere “New Girl,” and that series ended up dramatically topping ratings expectations.
A more reasonable excuse is that the show received a weak lead-in, and it is hard to argue something different about “Up All Night” (a comedy with a 1.6 rating and 3.4 million viewers). That noted, there was no compelling, alternative timeslot for “Awake,” so if NBC felt this show was going to be entirely-lead-in-dependent, it probably should not have scheduled it.
As a negative point, the show lost .3 in the demo and 330,000 viewers for the second of its two half-hours.
Earlier in the night, “30 Rock” failed to take advantage of a “The Big Bang Theory” lead-in, delivering only a 1.4 and 3.8 million viewers. “Parks & Recreation,” which went head-to-head with an original (though reduced due to the lack of an “Big Bang” lead-in) “Rob,” posted a 1.7 and 3.8 million viewers.
“The Office” was good for a 2.5 and 5.0 million at 9.
Over on FOX, a two-hour “American Idol” reaped the reward of no “Big Bang Theory” and improved to a 5.3 adults 18-49 rating with 18.3 million viewers. That was its best fast national number of the week, besting the ratings for the Tuesday and Wednesday performance shows.
Though the top 12/13 reveal show has special intrigue that usually resonates with viewers, the Thursday results generally did perform as well as the performance shows last season, so this is a welcome bit of news for FOX.
