The season premiere of Gordon Ramsay's "Hell's Kitchen" propelled Fox to a ratings win on Tuesday night, while CBS was the most-watched network despite airing mostly repeats and NBC's "Smash" rebounded from last week's series low, according to preliminary numbers.
The "Hell's Kitchen" premiere, which filled Fox's primetime slate, drew a 2.2/6 in the advertiser-sought 18-49 demographic, down slightly from last June's premiere, and drew 5.4 million total viewers. That was enough to put Fox in first place for ratings, and second in total viewers.
CBS came in second in ratings and first in total viewers with a 1.8/5 and 11.1 million total viewers. Following repeats of "NCIS" (which was the night's most-watched show with 13 million total viewers) and "NCIS: L.A.," the new drama "Golden Boy" at 10 held steady with last week for a 1.6/5 and drew 8.5 million total viewers.
Univision took third place in ratings and fourth in total viewers with a 1.4/4 and 3.5 million.
ABC came in fourth in ratings and third in total viewers with a 1.3/4 and 4.9 million. "Celebrity Wife Swap" at 8 was up slightly from last week with a 1.6/5 and had 5 million total viewers, while the season finale of "The Taste" the following hour dipped 8 percent to a 1.1/3 — a series low — and took 3.4 million total viewers. "Body of Proof" at 10 was also down 8 percent to tie its own series low of 1.2/3 and had 6.4 million total viewers.
NBC drew fifth place in ratings and total viewers with a 0.9/3 and 3 million. The network aired mostly repeats, aside from a "best of" edition of "Betty White's Off Their Rockers" at 8:30, which posted a 1.0/3 and took 3.7 million total viewers; and "Smash" at 10, which climbed 13 percent from last week's series low despite the lack of an original lead-in, posting a still meager 0.9/3 and taking 2.9 million total viewers.