No pop in Peacock
'Joey,' 'Apprentice' bows on soft side
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On the same night, net's drama "Medical Investigation" bowed to solid numbers at 10 and also looked pretty good in its regular-slot Friday premiere.
The much-anticipated "Joey" dominated Thursday's opening half-hour but with numbers that put it on the low end of what progenitor "Friends" logged in the slot with original episodes last season -- and its competition gets tougher in coming weeks.
It was the perf by "The Apprentice" that was more surprising, though, and perhaps more alarming for NBC. The Donald Trump-hosted unscripted series rescued the net's Thursday lineup midway through last season and became the hottest new program of the year, but it didn't sizzle nearly as much with its second-season preem.
According to Nielsen nationals for Thursday, the 82-minute bow of "The Apprentice 2" (8:38-10 p.m.) averaged a 6.6 rating/17 share in adults 18-49 and 14.05 million viewers overall, its lowest regular-slot score to date and down 35% from its first-season average in 18-49 (10.1/25).
It built throughout its telecast and from 9 to 10, and finished second to ABC's special NFL season opener in adults 18-49, adults 25-54 and male demos, while winning in 18-34 and all female categories.
As for "Joey's" 38-minute preem (7.5/23 in adults 18-49, 18.55 million viewers overall), it easily won in the opening half-hour against competish that included CBS' "Big Brother" and an NFL pregame show on ABC. Like "Friends," its largest chunk of the aud (a 30 share) came from women 18-34.
In a vacuum, this is a very good premiere rating, especially for a show kicking off the night. But NBC was no doubt hoping for more from the fairly well-reviewed spinoff of "Friends."
"Joey's" bow in 18-49 repped a 62% retention of the "Friends" final-season average, not nearly as good as the 94% hold that "Frasier" delivered the year following the final season of "Cheers." It's important to note, though, that "Frasier" was launched behind "Seinfeld," while "Joey" was asked to kick off the night.
Viewers seemed to like what they saw in "Joey," as the 18-49 rating for the final eight minutes (8.5/25) was up nicely over the first 30 minutes (7.3/23). NBC can also hope that the return of skedmates "Will & Grace" and "ER" over the next two Thursdays reinvigorates both "Joey" and "Apprentice."
NBC tied ABC for Thursday's 18-49 lead as the Alphabet's NFL game between the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts (7.2/21 in 18-49, 16.69m) performed well but was down about 6% in 18-49 from last year's kickoff game, which faced lesser competish.
At 10, the Peacock's "Medical Investigation" (4.5/12 in 18-49, 11.78m) ran second to football but defeated a repeat of CBS drama "Without a Trace" (3.4/9 in 18-49, 10.77m) and held onto nearly all of its aud from its first half-hour to the second.
One night later, the drama from Paramount and NBC Universal averaged a prelim 3.8/12 in 18-49 and 10.8 million viewers overall, taking advantage of a nice lead-in from "Dateline" (prelim 3.1/11, 10.4m), which featured a report on the hiker who was forced to cut off his own arm after being trapped by an 800-pound boulder in Utah's Blue John Canyon.
"Medical" was in a close battle with a college football game on ABC among adults 18-49 but beat a repeat of "CSI" on CBS (prelim 2.4/8 in 18-49, 7.4m).
Back to Thursday, the WB scored with two hours of "Blue Collar TV": Specs "Boys in the Woodz" (1.6/5 in 18-49, 3.88m) and "Bill Engvall: Here's Your Sign" (1.5/4, 3.65m), combined for the net's top-rated Thursday among 18-49ers in 14 months.
