Monday night ratings roundup: “Manifest” rocks, “Magnum” tanks

Big Bang, Young Sheldon erode from last year’s premieres

(Note: All numbers are in the adult 18-49 demo, unless noted.)

The 2018-19 television season began in earnest yesterday and for the major broadcast networks, provided a mixed bag of results.

The surprise of the night came from NBC’s new drama Manifest, who premiered with a 2.2 rating/9 share, and drew 10.4 million viewers. and even improved from its Voice lead-in, who had a 2.0/8. Reaction from viewers was mostly positive, but wary of being a Lost retread. The lineup helped NBC dominate the night (2.1/9).

CBS season premiered its Thursday comedies (Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon) on Monday, with Theory earning a 2.5 and Sheldon with a 1.7, down 32 percent from its lead-in, averaging 12.92 and 10.58 viewers, respectively. But both shows were down double-digits in the adult 18-49 demo from last year’s premieres – also on a Monday. CBS next Monday premieres Welcome To The Neighborhood and Happy Together, perhaps two of the worst shows of the new season.

Returning to Sheldon for just a second…if I took apart a refrigerator back when I was his age, my ass would be so sore I wouldn’t be able to sit for a week. Great parenting, Coopers.

The two comedies lead into the revival of Magnum P.I., originally running on CBS from 1980-88. The debut was a disappointing a 1.2 rating and 5 share with 8.1 million viewers. Finishing up the evening for CBS was Bull with a 0.9/4.

Over at ABC, The Good Doctor finished with a 1.3/6, down considerably from last year’s premiere, but was up from its Dancing With The Stars lead-in (1.0/5). Can anyone name the celebrities on Dancing this year? I didn’t think so.

Fox received some terrific mileage with 9-1-1 with a 1.6/6, up 45 percent from its Resident lead-in (1.1/5). The previous night, 9-1-1 premiered out of NFL coverage with a 2.3 rating, airing simultaneously in all time zones.

The CW aired repeats; its new programming rolls out in two weeks.

Heading over to cable, ESPN’s Monday Night Football featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drew a 4.4 rating and 12 million viewers – with the 18-49 number topping all broadcast shows. Of note is SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt in late night drew a better demo rating than Magnum, Resident, Good Doctor, and Bull. Maybe CBS should have casted Stanford Steve in the Magnum role instead of Jay Hernandez.

WWE Raw on USA earned a 0.8 rating for its three-hour show, tied with VH-1’s Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood as the Atlanta edition clearly pulled in stronger numbers.

Outside of primetime, Debmar-Mercury’s new syndicated courtroom strip Caught In Providence debuted Monday and earned a 0.3 household rating and 1 share across the metered markets, down 40 percent from year-ago time periods. In Chicago, Providence airs weekdays at 2 and 2:30 p.m. on WPWR-TV.