Magnum PI season 5 premiere ratings: How did it really fare?

We know that there’s been a lot of interest in the Magnum PI season 5 premiere ratings for some time. After all, just how well did the Jay Hernandez series really do on NBC following its previous cancellation at CBS? There’s no denying the network invested a lot in bringing the show back, whether it be an extensive promo campaign to just ensuring the cast and crew were still on board.

In the midst of all of this, there were some things to remember. For starters, NBC has routinely done poorly on Sundays after the NFL season; last year, they alternated out repeats with Weakest Link and the Canadian import Transplant. Before that, they had low-rated but critically-acclaimed shows like Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. It was clear that they wanted to bring some life to this timeslot, and we do think that they can be reasonably pleased with what they got.

After all, both episodes of Magnum PI season 5 generated 0.3 ratings in the 18-49 demographic, which was enough for the show to actually win the 10:00 p.m. timeslot in that measurement. This does mark a drop from what the show generated on CBS last, but remember that 1) that was a good nine months ago and 2) NBC had to convince viewers to watch it on a new network. There also wasn’t the same established infrastructure here, but the show’s demo performance (plus generating more than three million live viewers an episode) is significantly better than what we’ve seen in this timeslot in some time.

If the whole move for Magnum PI was for it to dramatically improve NBC’s Sunday-night lineup after the NFL season, we do consider this a success. That’s especially the case if they continue to draw these same numbers the rest of the way. We know that there is a lot of competition in this timeslot, especially when you think about American Idol and The Last of Us.

Rest assured, we’ll keep track of these numbers the rest of the way. Stay tuned! (Remember, there are also going to be a lot of people streaming on Peacock.)

Related – Want to learn more about the next Magnum PI episode?

What do you think about the ratings for the Magnum PI season 5 premiere?

Be sure to share right now in the comments, and also come back for some additional updates the rest of the way. (Photo: NBC.)