Young Sheldon ratings fall hard; Perfect Harmony, Sunnyside start low

The first Thursday ratings are in for the fall season and the biggest takeaway already for Young Sheldon and others is clear: It’s hard to be a comedy in the current TV climate.

Remember just last year, when the family comedy was the biggest comedy hit on TV other than The Big Bang Theory? While the premiere generated a 1.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic last night and over 8 million viewers, that’s a hard fall from the 1.7 rating and over 11 million viewers that the show averaged last season. Maybe those averages are slightly inflated by the episode that followed the Big Bang series finale, but even if you take that out it’s still a huge drop. What this shows is that for many, Young Sheldon ended at the same time that The Big Bang Theory did — though with a season 4 renewal already locked in, it won’t be going anywhere for a while.

Beyond Young Sheldon, both Mom and newcomer The Unicorn were tied for the second-strongest comedies of the night with a 0.8 rating. Carol’s Second Act, another newcomer, ended up finishing with the same demo rating as The Good Place with a 0.7.

Comedy danger zone! We’re worried already about Perfect Harmony, which drew just a 0.5 rating for its premiere on NBC. Meanwhile, Sunnyside with its 0.4 rating may not be experiencing sunny skies for very long at all.

Good news for dramas! At least over on ABC. Grey’s Anatomy premiered with a 1.5 rating, easily the best non-sports rating of the night. Remember that a lot of these shows are hurt on some level by NFL football on Fox. Meanwhile, A Million Little Things drew a solid 1.1 that signals that it’s got a great chance already of a season 3. Yes, we are in an era where getting a 1.1 rating is now suddenly a great performance.

Still TBD – The premiere of Evil generated a 0.7 rating in the demo for CBS. If it keeps that number all season long, it could be a stable mid-tier hit for the network this season — and reasonably comparable to SWAT. Yet, this show is a big swing for the network creatively and if it wasn’t the entire audience’s cup of tea, it could fall hard and fall fast.

What did you watch on TV Thursday night? Be sure to share in the comments below, and remember now to stick around to get some other updates. (Photo: CBS.)