Ratings: NBC’s ‘Hannibal’ has expected return; ‘Shark Tank’ in beast mode

When we knew that “Hannibal” was going to be moving over to Friday nights, we really felt like it would be all right to just receive the same sort of numbers here that it did when it aired on Thursday over the course of last summer.

So far, it has really matched that goal without a problem. The season premiere, which was pretty fantastic last night, brought in total a 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic. That is not an amazing rating by any means, but remember that it is a better figure than what “Dracula” drew at times near the end of its run. Also, remember that this is a very strong show creatively, and NBC needs to have something that gets this sort of acclaim. A good comparison could be CBS and “The Good Wife,” as the Eye does not want to cancel one of its best shots at getting Emmy nominations.

The big winner on the night again was “Shark Tank,” which really should be network TV’s best bit of evidence to not cancel something right away as it struggles to find an audience. It took viewers roughly until season 3 to really understand what this show really was, and you can probably cite that and the subsequent arrival of Mark Cuban as the real reasons why this show became the smash success that it has become. Anyone who gets more than a 2.0 rating on a Friday has to be doing cartwheels somewhere in celebration. This is, after all, the hardest night of the week. At least Saturdays have “SNL” to get numbers near midnight.

One other thing worth noting here is that “Enlisted” is, sadly, pretty much dead. Friday’s episode drew a 0.6 rating, and that just goes to show that if you try to bear a show for some silly reason, it’s probably not going to get an audience. It’s a shame, since there were moments here of humor and heart.

What did you watch last night? Share below.