Ratings: ‘Celebrity Wheel of Fortune’ and ‘The Chase’ Debut Much Better Than ‘Mr Mayor’

Three new series debuted on broadcast TV last night — that is, so long as you count “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” as a new show. The best of the bunch, ratings-wise, was “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune,” which led into “The Chase.” Both ABC game shows left Ted Danson’s “Mr. Mayor” in the dust. The “Mr. Mayor” start was not a disaster, though — Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s new sitcom was NBC’s top comedy launch in terms of total viewers since 2017. It’s likely “Mr. Mayor” will be more competition for the ABC game shows — and and possibly surpass them — when delayed viewing is tallied. ABC won Thursday’s primetime outright. Fox was second in the key demo and NBC finished third. All of that said, CBS (essentially) aired only reruns last night and ended up in a ratings tie among adults 18-49 with Spanish-language broadcast network Univision. Fox’s new Mayim Bialik sitcom, “Call Me Kat,” sunk from Sunday’s series premiere, which immediately followed football.

ABC was first in ratings with a 0.9 rating/6 share in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and in total viewers with an average of 6 million, according to preliminary numbers. “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” at 8 p.m. posted a 1.1/6 and 7.8 million viewers. “The Chase” at 9 premiered to a 0.9/5 and 6.2 million viewers. “The Hustler” at 10 received a 0.7/5 and 3.8 million viewers.

Fox was second in ratings with a 0.6/4 and third in viewers with 2.9 million. The “Hell’s Kitchen” season premiere at 8 drew a 0.7/4 and 2.7 million viewers. At 9, “Call Me Kat” had a 0.6/4 and 3.2 million viewers. “Last Man Standing” at 9:30 got a 0.5/3 and 3.3 million viewers.

NBC was third in ratings with a 0.5/3 and second in viewers with 3.4 million. The “Mr. Mayor” series premiere at 8 had a 0.6/4 and 4.9 million viewers. A second episode at 8:30 dipped to a 0.5/3 and 4.3 million viewers.

CBS and Univision tied for fourth in ratings, both with a 0.3/2. CBS was fourth in total viewers with 2.6 million viewers, Univision was fifth with 1.3 million viewers.

For CBS, following encores, a “Star Trek: Discovery” episode at 10 had a 0.2/1 and 1.6 million viewers. Though the episode was original to CBS’ airwaves, it already ran on SVOD service CBS All Access.

Telemundo was sixth in ratings with a 0.2/2 and in viewers with 910,000.

The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1/0 and in viewers with 411,000. The network re-aired Night 2 of the “iHeartRadio Music Festival.”