Premiere ratings: NBC’s Rise out-shines ABC’s For the People
Rise – Let’s start with the new NBC drama from executive producer Jason Katims starring Josh Radnor. This show was meant in some ways to be almost Glee meets Friday Night Lights, and while this wasn’t a perfect premiere it has some potential. It started off with a decent 1.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic, but you have to remember that it was aided largely by airing directly after the finale of This Is Us, which posted a 2.7 rating and clearly won the night.
If Rise can stay above a 1.0 rating in its second episode in its new timeslot next week, we’ll say that there is a reasonably good shot that it can come back for more. The one thing it will have going for it there, other than airing an hour earlier, is that it will still have a good lead-in following The Voice and having a performing-arts component may help to some degree.
For the People – Meanwhile, the new legal drama from Shondaland ended up drawing in total a 0.8 rating, which is about what many ABC dramas have generated in this timeslot. It’s in a precarious spot given that unless it finds a way to improve on this performance, there is a reasonably good shot that it could be in some danger. The unfortunate thing here is that For the People really doesn’t have the benefit of virtually any lead-in at all and that means potentially some trouble for it in its hopes to stick around. It’s also not moving to an earlier timeslot later this season as Rise is.
Ultimately, it’s too early to make any bold predictions about either show after one episode. We’ll see more of how the two programs are faring next week.
What do you want to see for these two shows moving forward and did you watch either premiere? Share in the comments!
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