Ratings: Manifest slips, The Resident rises, & The Passage premiere steady
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At the moment, the big winner seems to be Fox — something that may become somewhat of a trend in this new year thanks to The Masked Singer and the continued success of Last Man Standing. The winter premiere of The Resident last night drew a 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic, the show’s best performance since the premiere, and a season-high 5.5 million viewers. The total audience is actually the strongest for a regularly-scheduled episode of the show ever. It premiered to better ratings in 2018, but that was due mostly to an NFL lead-in after the NFC Championship Game.
Meanwhile, The Passage got off to a very-solid start with a 1.3 rating. That gives the supernatural / science-fiction series a little bit of a cushion for the inevitable week 2 decline that happens with most shows. If it hovers around a 1.0 for most of the season, it’s easy to feel confident about its future chances and another season.
As for elsewhere the numbers weren’t as shiny. Specifically, Manifest dropped down to a 0.9 rating in the demo, while Magnum PI fell to a 0.7 rating. These shows are certainly still in contention with more episodes — Manifest is a sure thing, but it’s falling victim to getting too weird and complicated too soon. That’s the problem with these high-concept dramas — it’s really hard to keep viewers committed to them in the long-term.
Finally in terms of scripted TV, Bull returned with a 0.8 rating — basically even with the show’s most-recent episode. For those who wondered what the impact of the Eliza Dushku – Michael Weatherly headlines would be on the ratings, it doesn’t appear that there is one (at least for now).
Reality TV programming
America’s Got Talent: The Champions did win the night with a 1.7 rating — though it did drop versus its premiere episode. That’s no surprise given the weird format for this show and the lack of Susan Boyle this time around.
Meanwhile, The Bachelor ended up also drawing a 1.6 rating in the demo, which is a small improvement over the prior episode and a reminder that it’s not going anywhere. Clearly, these two shows can actually coexist without one severely hurting the other. That’s something that we had a few doubts about entering these episodes.
Related News – Be sure to preview further what’s next on Manifest
What do you think about the ratings for Monday night’s television lineup? Be sure to share right now in the comments. (Photo: NBC.)