Ratings: ‘Big Brother 18’ down year-to-year; ‘American Gothic’ almost dead on arrival

This is NOT a good summer for CBS. They ended “Person of Interest,” and many of their new summer projects are looking to be down the tubes almost the moment that the begin. We already saw “BrainDead” sink like a rock; now, “American Gothic” is in a similar spot.

Last night, the new mystery drama drew just a 0.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic, and what makes this even more depressing to us is that this had a good lead-in courtesy of “Big Brother.” It’s not like “BrainDead,” where it really did not have a lot helping it out. We do think that CBS is thinking correctly in giving viewers original summer programming, but they need to think of something that may be a little more summer fare, like genre programming that either has familiar themes, or a cast that people know and want to watch.

The one silver lining for “American Gothic” is that presumably, it has been a little bit more well-received than “Big Brother.” Therefore, we at least feel like there’s a slight chance it could have some more staying power. We imagine that time will really tell there.

As for “Big Brother,” its premiere rating of a 1.9 is also down versus the season 17 premiere … not that CBS is really furious over that. This is still a very good rating for them, so there’s no real cause for concern unless it plummets.

Over on Fox, “MasterChef” (1.0) fell slightly versus its most-recent episode, and “Wayward Pines” (0.7) continues to be immovable, even if that rating is not great.

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