12 New Summer Broadcast Shows Ranked by Premiere Viewers, From ‘When Nature Calls’ to ‘Wellington Paranormal’ (Photos)

With all due respect to “America’s Got Talent,” summer is not exactly the time when Nielsen ratings threaten to fall off the charts — at least, not the top of the charts. And when it comes to new series, a summer slot isn’t generally a vote of confidence from the network.

Click through our gallery to see how 12 freshman broadcast television shows performed in terms of total viewers for their Summer 2021 debuts.

Rank: 12    •   Show: “Wellington Paranormal”   •   Net: The CW  •   Total Viewers: 218,000   •   These are not (para)normal numbers — not even for The CW, and not even for an imported series.

Rank: 11    •   Show: “Republic of Sarah”   •   Net: The CW  •   Total Viewers: 464,000   •   Don’t secede just yet with these kinds of numbers.

Rank: 10    •   Show: “Housebroken”   •   Net: Fox  •   Total Viewers: 994,000   •   Probably not enough house(holds), and possibly too broken.

Rank: 9    •   Show: “The Ultimate Surfer”   •   Net: ABC  •   Total Viewers: 1.432 million   •   A wipeout

Rank: 8    •   Show: “Small Fortune”   •   Net: NBC  •   Total Viewers: 1.472 million   •   To keep the title puns going here, this one got the “small” part correct, at least.

Rank: 7    •   Show: “Fantasy Island”   •   Net: Fox  •   Total Viewers: 2.053 million   •   Not exactly dream numbers here for the reboot.

Rank: 6    •   Show: “Celebrity Dating Game”   •   Net: ABC  •   Total Viewers: 2.751 million   •   ABC execs probably weren’t in love with these numbers, but enough for a second date.

Rank: 5    •   Show: “Capital One College Bowl”   •   Net: NBC  •   Total Viewers: 2.802 million   •   Peyton Manning makes another Top 5.

Rank: 4    •   Show: “Superstar”   •   Net: ABC   •   Total Viewers: 2.881 million   •   Not “super,” not a “star,” but good enough for August.

Rank: 3    •   Show: “Secret Celebrity Renovation”   •   Net: CBS  •   Total Viewers: 3.010 million   •   Just like HGTV’s “Celebrity IOU” — including the Nielsen success.

Rank: 2    •   Show: “Family Game Fight”   •   Net: NBC  •   Total Viewers: 3.388 million*   •   Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell sure put up a fight — and benefitted from a big lead-in — but it was not enough for No. 1.

*Series premiere followed Tokyo Olympics closing ceremony; actual time-period premiere received 2.613 million viewers.

Rank: 1    •   Show: “When Nature Calls With Helen Mirren”   •   Net: ABC  •   Total Viewers: 3.692 million   •   Nature called, and Helen Mirren answered.