ABC’s ‘Resurrection’ Strong, Fox’s ‘Idol’ Weak

NEW YORK (AP) — Those repeated ads about a dead boy returning to his father after 32 years struck a nerve with television viewers, who proved curious enough to check out the debut of ABC’s new drama “Resurrection.”

The series drew just under 14 million viewers for its debut on Sunday night, more than AMC’s “The Walking Dead” or any other program on what is usually television’s biggest night of viewing, the Nielsen ratings company said.

That’s behind only CBS'”Intelligence” as the most-watched drama debut of the season, Nielsen said. It’s the best opening for a Sunday night drama on ABC since “Brothers & Sisters” in 2006.

Fox’s “Cosmos” debuted to 6.6 million people on Sunday night, a strong showing for a program that’s unusual for the network. It was Fox’s most-watched program last week after “American Idol.”

The news isn’t particularly good for “Idol,” however. The long-running hit reached just under 9.8 million people on Thursday, its second-smallest Thursday audience ever and the smallest audience among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic that Fox seeks. NBC’s “The Voice” is now the clear favorite in music competition shows.

Behind the top-rated comedy “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS won the week with a primetime average of 9.3 million viewers. NBC had 6.7 million viewers, ABC had 5.9 million, Fox had 4.7 million, Univision had 2.7 million, the CW had 1.5 million, Ion Television had 1.3 million and Telemundo had 1.1 million.

ESPN was the nation’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.8 million viewers in prime time. USA had 2.27 million, the Disney Channel had 2.23 million, TBS had 2.22 million and AMC had 1.7 million.

NBC’s “Nightly News” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9.7 million viewers. ABC’s “World News” was second with 8.5 million, and the “CBS Evening News” had 7.6 million viewers.

The Top 20

Primetime viewership numbers compiled by the Nielsen ratings company for March 3-9. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership.

1. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 18.09 million.

2. “NCIS,” CBS, 17.85 million.

3. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 15.62 million.

4. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 14.53 million.

5. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 14.37 million.

6. “Resurrection,” ABC, 13.9 million.

7. “The Walking Dead,” AMC, 12.65 million.

8. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 12.03 million.

9. “The Millers,” CBS, 11.58 million.

10. “Criminal Minds,” CBS, 11.42 million.

11. “The Black List,” NBC, 11.01 million.

12. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 10.73 million.

13. “Person of Interest,” CBS, 10.64 million.

14. “American Idol” (Wednesday), Fox, 10.53 million.

15. “Two and a Half Men,” CBS, 10.38 million.

16. “Hawaii Five-0,” CBS, 10.35 million.

17. “The Mentalist,” CBS, 9.95 million.

18. “American Idol” (Thursday), Fox, 9.76 million.

19. “Survivor,” CBS, 9.58 million.

20. “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS, 9.29 million.