Ratings: Magnum PI impresses, while The Enemy Within starts solid

CBS Logo

Monday night’s television ratings tell some interesting stories — there are some clear successes and, for the most part, no abject failures.

The first show worth discussing is Magnum PI. This is a series that has shown itself to be remarkably consistent over the past few weeks, and what it did last night was particularly impressive. Think along the lines of a 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic and close to 6.3 million viewers. These tie the best ratings for the show (the AFC Championship special notwithstanding) since the very first episode. Still, you have to feel good about these numbers if you’re a fan of all things Thomas Magnum. It’s following a trend of another recent Peter M. Lenkov production in MacGyver — getting better and better as the first season goes along. Where quality goes, viewers tend to follow; this show is setting itself up well for the start of the next season. Hopefully, that’s in the fall, but we’re not really in the business of reading CBS executives’ minds in regards to scheduling.

As for some other ratings headlines from the day…

How did The Enemy Within fare? – For the most part, NBC should be reasonably pleased. Getting a 1.2 rating in the demo isn’t bad for a network show starting off at midseason; it’s actually the best demo rating in that timeslot since November! Yet, remember that Manifest started off much stronger than a 1.2 and faded down as the season moved into its second part; it is certainly feasible that the Jennifer Carpenter series ends up taking a tumble as it goes along. It’s par from the course, and this premiere was also aided by the launch of The Voice — which also got off to a big start in a 2.1 rating. It’s a better performance than what we saw from the show this past fall, and that may be in part due to the presence of John Legend as a coach.

The Passage holds on – Save for all of the crazy-dangerous stuff that happens within the show itself, the characters’ biggest challenge came last night, when for the first time it was airing without a new episode of The Resident beforehand. This could have sent the numbers careening down a nearby cliff. Luckily, that didn’t happen and Monday’s installment drew a 0.8 rating in the demo. It’s a small drop from this past episode, but hey — it could have been so much worse. Sometimes within the world of TV ratings, you have to take the little victories wherever you can.

The Bachelor is still solid – With a 1.8 rating from last night’s episode, it’s clear there is something still appealing about watching the same exact hometown-date episode that we’ve seen every other season … and we’ll just leave it at that.

What do you think about the latest ratings for Monday night? Be sure to share some of your thoughts right now in the comments! (Photo: CBS.)

Love TV? Be sure to like Matt & Jess on Facebook for more updates!