Fox’s “The Orville” settled into its regular time slot on Thursday, which unfortunately does not contain the NFL boost Seth MacFarlane has seen on his two previous Sunday shots.
The drama did manage to build off its “Gotham” season premiere lead-in, at least — and Fox finished first in primetime’s key 18-49 ratings demographic last night. CBS was No. 1 in total viewers.
Of course, there were a ton of reruns across NBC, CBS and ABC — broadcast networks that also air an hour more than Fox does, 10 p.m. tends to hurt their averages.
Fox was first in ratings with a 1.0 rating/4 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and third in total viewers with an average of 3.6 million, according to preliminary numbers. The “Gotham” season premiere at 8 p.m. had a 1.0/4 and 3.1 million viewers. At 9, “The Orville” got a 1.1/4 and 4 million viewers.
In its first two Sunday episodes, “The Orville” averaged a big 2.4 rating and 7.6 million total viewers, following football. So, yeah, not quite the same.
CBS was second in ratings with a 0.9/4 and first in viewers with 5 million. Following repeats, the “Zoo” season finale shut down with a 0.5/2 and 2.9 million viewers.
NBC was third in ratings with a 0.8/3 and second in viewers with 3.7 million, running just reruns.
Telemundo was fourth in ratings with a 0.7/3 and fifth in viewers with 1.6 million.
ABC and Univision tied for fifth in ratings, both with a 0.5/2. ABC was fourth in total viewers with 2.6 million, airing all repeats; Univision was sixth with 1.45 million.
The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.4/2 and in viewers with 1.38 million. “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” at 8 received a 0.4/2 and 1.6 million viewers. At 9, “Whose Line Is It Anyway” had a 0.4/1 and 1.2 million viewers. A rerun followed.