Ratings: ‘The Carrie Diaries’ gets off to weak start; ‘2 Broke Girls’ wins night

Somewhere, we wonder if Michael Patrick King is having the last laugh. The producer, responsible in many ways for making “Sex and the City” the great show that it was, saw a prequel air that in many ways took away some elements of his vision from the original HBO show. While it disappointed in the ratings, his new show wiped the floor of everyone on the schedule.

In some ways, it is a surprise to us that “The Carrie Diaries” did not get off to a better start. While the diehard fans expressed concerns about the liberties Candace Bushnell (admittedly the original creator of Carrie Bradshaw) took with the character in developing her backstory, we still thought many of them would give the show a chance once. We were a bit ho-hum on the pilot, but many fans seemed to very much like it. Nonetheless, a 0.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic is not going to cut it for the premiere … even if it did draw a 0.4 with a repeat of the pilot that aired the next hour.

Basically, we applaud The CW for taking a chance on this show … but the issue may fundamentally be that older fans of Carrie did not want to watch a PG-13 version that was not 100% canon, whereas young CW viewers may have been put off by it being a prequel show to something they have never seen set in a time before many of them were born. The audience was just not very big here.

Meanwhile, King’s “2 Broke Girls” won the night with a 4.1 rating, and all of CBS’ comedy lineup improved following several weeks off the air. The other real winner here is “The Biggest Loser” over on NBC, which kept all of its 2.4 rating from last week intact. Can anyone say “renewal” fast enough? Airing only once a year has saved this show.

Why do you think “The Carrie Diaries” proved to be a letdown? If you haven’t read our full review yet, you can do so here.

Photo: The CW