Fox’s Sunday debut of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” scored the best opening night demographic ratings of any new show in three years, while NBC’s not-so-lustruous Golden Globes special barely registered with audiences, reports Variety.
Boosted by strong marketing and a big NFL playoffs lead-in, the Warner Bros. TV-produced “Terminator” notched an eye-popping 7.6 rating/18 share among adults 18-49 and delivered around 18.3 million viewers with its one-hour premiere Sunday at 8.
By contrast, the WGA and SAG-boycotted Golden Globes announcement special on NBC settled for an abysmal 1.7/4 in the demo and 5.8 million viewers. That’s even fewer viewers than last-week’s star-less “People’s Choice Awards” on CBS, though the Globes special did a hair better in the demographic.
The one-hour special even dipped at the half-hour mark, indicating auds didn’t even want to stick around to see who won best picture–or maybe realized they could find out the winners faster by tuning to E!, which aired the half-hour official Globes press conference live.
“Terminator” gave Fox its best premiere numbers for a scripted show in eight years, since “Malcolm in the Middle” became an instant hit on a January Sunday night in 2000.
“Terminator” also ended the two-week reign of “American Gladiators” as the season’s biggest premiere. Foxs scripted series outdrew “Gladiators” by 30 percent in the demographic and by 50 percent in overall viewers.
The show shifts into its Monday slot tonight. The network has eight episodes in the can.
