Will & Grace premiere ratings strong; is Gotham in cancellation danger?
The first episode of the new revival starring all of your favorite familiar faces ended up drawing in total a 2.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which was easily enough to be #1 on the night. Obviously the show isn’t going to get the ratings that it used to — it’s a different era now — but The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon are the only comedies that performed better this week.
NBC in general should also be pretty happy with how Will & Grace boosted the lineup around it; The Good Place was steady at a 1.3 despite not having America’s Got Talent as a lead-in this week, and Great News (1.3) was decent — though losing THAT much of its lead-in from Will & Grace is disconcerting and could be a trouble spot for the network moving forward. Beyond all of that, even Chicago Fire (1.5) matched some of our expectations for it on Thursday night. If it continues to get that rating all season long it’ll be a lock for a season 7 renewal. It’s probably a better performance than the network’s had in this timeslot since ER went off of the air.
One more bit of good news before we get over to the bad — Grey’s Anatomy started off its new season with a 2.3 rating for its first two episodes. While down versus the season 13 premiere, we don’t think anyone at ABC will be crying themselves to sleep over this, especially since the second episode aired opposite Will & Grace.
Is Gotham in cancellation danger?
Here’s the thing — we at CarterMatt love the show and love that it’s becoming more and more like Batman comics every week, and we really wish that some people who bailed on the show years ago would give it another shot. It’s gotten better and better as time goes on. Unfortunately, a 0.8 rating for just the second episode of the season probably isn’t going to cut it and throws the show into serious cancellation jeopardy. It’s from an outside studio for Fox and it films in New York (which is never cheap). If you love this show we suggest that you start the rallies and try to encourage live viewership now. If you wait on this for too long it could be too late.
For those wondering, The Orville was fairly steady on Fox after the fact with a 1.1 rating. While that’s still a little dangerous for a show with this kind of special effects, the Seth MacFarlane factor probably keeps it safe if it keeps that ratings for the rest of the season.
What do you think about the Will & Grace premiere ratings?
Be sure to share some of your early thoughts on that subject now in the comments below! Meanwhile, check out this link in the event you want news on this and more via our CarterMatt Facebook Page. (Photo: NBC.)