Ratings: Golden Globes up in preliminary numbers; ‘The Simpsons,’ ‘Son of Zorn’ soar following NFL lineup
Last night’s television lineup proved two hard-and-fast rules: Awards shows tend to rake in large audiences, and at the same time having NFL overruns almost always guarantees that other shows are going to get big ratings.
Let’s start with the big news from last night in the 2017 Golden Globes, which drew an impressive 4.9 preliminary rating in the 18-49 demographic to go along with 16.7 million viewers. This is a slight improvement from the preliminary figures from last year when Ricky Gervais hosted the show; it is down from the finals from last year, but we also anticipate that this show is going to rise pretty dramatically when some of those further figures end up being released a little bit later in the week.
Does this mean that host Jimmy Fallon will be offered another go? Maybe, but we hope not. While Jimmy is gifted as a sketch performer and a musical talent, he struggles as more of a stand-up comedian and this show exposed further some of his flaws.
As for Fox… – Interestingly, “The Simpsons” (4.9) capitalized heavily on the NFL overrun and ended up winning the night over the Globes — at least for the time being. “Son of Zorn” also drew an enormous 2.3, with “Family Guy” drawing a 1.8 and “Bob’s Burgers” a 1.5. While there were clearly some diminishing returns as the night progressed, all of these shows performed more than 25% better than their most-recent episodes. “The Simpsons” rose by more than 100%!
Here’s a fun thing about how much “The Simpsons” fluctuates depending on the NFL airing before it. Over its past three episodes, it’s drawn a 1.3, a 2.3, a 2.3, and now this 4.9. Basically, it’s quadrupled its rating in four episodes just based in part on what is coming on before it.
CBS – As a response to the odd decision to air new episodes against all of this, “NCIS: Los Angeles” (1.3), “Madam Secretary” (0.9), and “Elementary” (0.7) all declined versus their previous episodes.
ABC – A burn-off episode of “Conviction” drew just a 0.5, which ironically was an improvement over the week before.
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What did you watch on Sunday night? Be sure to share some of your thoughts below! (Photo: Golden Globes.)