The new Zooey Deschanel sitcom "The New Girl" premiered strong for Fox on Tuesday night, topping its lead-in — a "Glee" premiere that was down dramatically from last year's, according to preliminary numbers.
Premiering at 9 p.m., "The New Girl" posted an impressive 4.8 rating/12 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, the strongest showing of the evening and a 55 percent improvement over last year's "Raising Hope" premiere in the same time period. "New Girl" also grabbed 10 million total viewers. Overall, the episode was Fox's highest-rated series premiere since "Bernie Mac" in 2001.
But at 8, the "Glee" season premiere was down 29 percent compared to last year's premiere with with a 4.0/11 in the demo and 8.9 million total viewers. The "Raising Hope" season premiere at 9:30 performed flat with last year's season bow with a 3.1/8 in the demo and 6.8 million total viewers. Overall, Fox took the night's top ratings honors with an average 3.9/10 in the demo and 8.6 million total viewers, though CBS was the most-watched network of the evening by far with an average 16.7 million total viewers.
CBS scored the second-highest ratings of the night with the "NCIS" season premiere at 8, which took a 4.2/12 in the demo and 19.5 million total viewers. "NCIS: LA" premiered the following hour with a 3.6/9 in the demo and 16.6 million total viewers. The network closed the evening with the series premiere of "Unforgettable," which posted a 2.9/8 in the demo — a 3 percent decline versus last year's "NCIS: LA" second-hour premiere a year ago — and 13.9 million total viewers.
ABC's night began with "Dancing With the Stars: Meet the Cast," which drew a 2.0/6 in the demo and 10.7 million total viewers, followed by the season premiere of the series the following hour, which received a 2.9/7 in the demo and 14.5 million total viewers. The network closed the evening with the season premiere of "Body of Proof," with a 2.3/6 in the demo and 9.8 million total viewers, a 26 percent drop from its last premiere in March.
NBC's season premiere of "The Biggest Loser" at 8 dropped 21 percent from last fall's premiere with a 2.3/6 in the demo and 6.1 million total viewers. "Parenthood" followed at 10 with a 2.1/6 in the demo and 5.2 million total viewers.
