The third “Harry’s Law” timeslot was no kinder than its second and first when it comes to ratings performance. Sunday’s time period premiere again failed to resonate with young adults, scoring a terrible number in the key 18-49 demo despite a very impressive viewer total.
As has been the story of its entire run, “Law” attracted an overall viewership count far in excess of NBC’s average. With 8.9 million viewers, Sunday’s episode will easily stand as the network’s most-watched scripted offering of the week.
Unfortunately, the show could only muster a 1.1 adults 18-49 rating, which is actually below its average from the crowded Wednesday at 9PM timeslot.
From a lead-in standpoint, this particular timelsot remains far from ideal–“Dateline NBC” averaged an abysmal 0.9 with 4.7 million viewers, but at a certain point, a second season show with a big name lead in Kathy Bates, an impressive creative pedigree (it comes from David E. Kelley of “The Practice” and “Boston Legal” fame) and a wide viewership reach has to be expected to attract its own audience in the demo.
“Celebrity Apprentice” followed with a 2.0 and 6.4 million, a weak performance for that series.
