UPDATE, Tuesday 10:22 a.m. : In time zone-adjusted numbers, "The Following" rose to a 3.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic, making it the second-highest drama premiere of the season following NBC's "Revolution." The new numbers for "The Following" pushed Fox to a 2.8 average in the demo for the night.
Previously…
Fox's serial-killer drama "The Following" got off to a strong start with its series premiere Monday night, while CBS won the night overall, according to preliminary numbers.
"The Following," which stars Kevin Bacon, premiered on Fox at 9 p.m., posting a 3.2 rating/7 share in the advertiser-cherished 18-49 demographic and drawing 10.4 million total viewers, giving Fox its best Monday-night numbers for scripted programming since last January.
"The Following" was also the second-best drama premiere of the season. NBC's "Revolution" was the season's highest-rated drama premiere of the season. Benefiting from a lead-in from "The Voice," "Revolution" posted a 4.1/11 in the demo with its Sept. 17 premiere.
"The Following" landed Fox in second place in ratings and total viewers with an average 2.8/7 and 9.4 million. "Bones" at 8 drew a 2.3/6 — up 10 percent from last week — and had a season-high in total viewers with 8.5 million.
Even so, the night belonged to CBS, which took first place in ratings and total viewers with a 3.0/8 and 10.3 million, despite seeing minor declines. "How I Met Your Mother" at 8 inched down to a 3.7/10 — tying in first place for the night with the network's "2 Broke Girls" — and had 10 million total viewers. Following a repeat of "The Big Bang Theory" at 8:30, "2 Broke Girls" dipped 10 percent to a 3.7/9 but took the night's largest audience with 11.5 million total viewers. "Mike and Molly" at 9:30 drew a 3.3/8 and had 10.8 million total viewers, while "Hawaii 5-0" at 10 posted a 2.2/6 with 9.6 million total viewers.
ABC took third in ratings and total viewers with a 2.3/6 and 7.9 million. Both "The Bachelor" at 8 and "Castle" at 10 saw minor upticks compared to last week, with "The Bachelor" drawing a 2.5/6 and taking 7.5 million total viewers, and "Castle" posting a 2.0/5 with 8.7 million total viewers.
NBC came in fourth in ratings and total viewers with a 2.0/5 and 5.3 million. "The Biggest Loser" at 8 drew even with last week for a 2.4/6 and had 6 million total viewers, while the freshman drama "Deception" at 10 fell 19 percent from last week, posting a 1.3/3 and taking 3.6 million total viewers.
