Ratings: ‘The X-Files’ revival stars huge; ‘Galavant’ drops further

Everyone more than likely assumed that “The X-Files” would get off to a fairly strong start, mostly due to the fact that it had one of the biggest lead-ins of the entire year in the NFC Championship Game between the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers. That game on Sunday drew more than 40 million viewers, and had an 18-49 demo rating of 14.3. Just in case you are wondering why networks always put the NFL over anything else on the priority list, this is why.

Had the game been closer, it’s possible that the David Duchovny – Gillian Anderson series could have benefited even more than they did. As it is, though, the show drew a 5.1 rating for its first half-hour on the air. The ratings for the second half-hour are not clear, but we expect that number to go down slightly. Either way this is a huge win for the show’s return, which Fox is looking at as a litmus test for many of their other revivals.

The second part of the premiere is airing on Monday, and we feel like given the premiere numbers the hop would be to get something that is a 3.0 or higher. If that happens and the show averages around this, we feel extremely confident that the show will get another run of episodes in the future. With that said, we’d even feel good about its future just so long as it is around the 2.5 range.

The only regret we have for the show is that its premiere is, per at least some well-trusted critics, probably the weakest episode of the season that has been screened to date.

As for the bad news, “Galavant” continues to fall courtesy of a 0.5 for its latest two episodes. It’s a shame because we love the show, but the future is far from bright.