Ratings (January 3): The Amazing Race 30 beats The X-Files; 911 premiere wins night
The first episode of the CBS reality show generated its best ratings in years — a 1.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic coupled with 7.3 million viewers. Basically, what this rating is a reminder of is that if you actually give The Amazing Race a good timeslot, viewers will flock to it. We also imagine that having Jessica & Cody from Big Brother, another popular CBS franchise, probably did not hurt. We would imagine that if these ratings hold somewhat firm that CBS will look to program more seasons of The Amazing Race in January for the years to come. For those of you who hate the CBS reality crossovers, get ready to see a whole lot more of them … especially from the Big Brother side of things.
We should also note that with more than 7 million viewers, The Amazing Race was also the most-watched series on the night.
As for The X-Files, the return of the series after almost two years off the air drew a 1.4 rating — while that’s good for Fox, it’s a pretty substantial drop from where the show was at the start of season 10. That premiere obviously benefited from A) getting to start off after the NFC Championship Game and B) getting a chance to capitalize years upon years of hype. This season entered the picture after season 10 was met with lukewarm reviews and we’re pretty darn sure that there are some people out there debating as to whether or not they want to watch after the super-polarizing twist that happened in the closing minutes.
Related – X-Files boss Chris Carter discusses shocking Scully twist
Another surprise of the night? That Ryan Murphy’s first responder drama 911 managed to win the night with a 1.8 rating despite having significantly less preseason buzz that The X-Files did. This just goes to show that sometimes, having a familiar premise and established actors can go a long way. We don’t think that it’s necessarily the presence of Murphy as showrunner, given that the ratings for his most-recent Fox series Scream Queens were far from great.
What do you think about the ratings for some of these shows on Wednesday night? Be sure to share in the comments right now!
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