CBS comedy "My Big Fat Greek Life" is off to an impressive start in its regular Sunday slot, ranking a solid second in adults 18-49 to Fox's "The Simpsons" while winning its 8 o'clock slot in total viewers, according to preliminary nationals from Nielsen. Night also saw NBC's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" hit another regular-slot record and ABC's "Dragnet" edge past NBC's "Boomtown" at 10.
"Greek Life," which bowed to boffo numbers last Monday in a special preview episode, averaged a 4.4/11 in adults 18-49 and 16.5 million viewers overall, building by 25% in 18-49 over its "60 Minutes" lead-in (3.3/10 in adults 18-49, 16.2 million viewers overall). By comparison, "Becker" never achieved higher than a 2.6/7 at 8 o'clock this season, while the premiere of "The Education of Max Bickford" netted a 4.3/11 in the half-hour in September 2001.
Fox won the night in adults 18-49, led by "The Simpsons" (6.4/16 in adults 18-49, 14.4 million viewers overall). Net's "Futurama" placed third at 7 in adults 18-49 (2.8/9), and "Malcolm in the Middle" placed second at 9 (4.9/11 in adults 18-49).
ABC received another strong score from "Alias" (4.8/11 in adults 18-49, 10.6 million viewers overall), which was up slightly year-to-year and placed second in 18-49, while lead-out drama "Dragnet" (4.2/11 in adults 18-49, 11.7 million viewers overall) picked it up a bit, edging out NBC's return of "Boomtown" (4.1/11 in adults 18-49, 11 million viewers overall). From 7 to 9, "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" ranked fourth (2.9/8 in adults 18-49, 7.5 million viewers overall).
NBC, which won the night in adults 25-54, was led by timeslot-record scores for "Law & Order: CI" (5.9/13 in adults 18-49, 17.2 million viewers overall) - an impressive feat given that HBO drama "Six Feet Under" made its season premiere in the same hour.
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 4.6/12; NBC, 4.0/10; ABC, 3.7/10; CBS, 3.1/8.
In total viewers: NBC, 11.6 million; CBS, 11.4 million; Fox, 10.7 million; ABC, 9.3 million.
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com