Ratings: ‘America’s Got Talent’ has stellar start; ‘Maya & Marty’ okay; ‘Person of Interest’ rises

If you are NBC, you’re probably feeling pretty darn great at the moment about the performance of some of your shows. After all, just look at how “America’s Got Talent” ended up faring for the first episode of season 11!

Overall, the show scored a 2.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which puts it on pace to be the #1 regularly-scheduled program on network TV for the week, easily defeating anything on Monday or Tuesday. This also matches it with the premiere of season 10 last year, which we weren’t quite sure would happen given the departure of Howard Stern. Is Simon Cowell a household name? Sure, but his star in America has diminished, and Stern remains an industry icon.

Overall, NBC also has to feel solid about “Maya & Marty” premiering to a 1.5 rating. That is close to the performance of “The Bachelorette” the night before, and it easily dwarfs a lot of other summer programming. With this show, staying power is really the most important thing, and given that the majority of reviews we’ve seen out there for the show have been positive, we’re feeling optimistic that it will continue to find a way to fare well over the course of the summer.

Also last night, the 100th episode of “Person of Interest” managed to get a 1.0 rating (up versus Monday), while “Coupled” on Fox (0.5) is somehow still on the air despite an abysmal performance. “Containment” dropped to a 0.4 without “The Flash” as a lead-in, but we’re still somewhat shocked The CW canceled it since it was bringing a few things to the table.