TNT's new legal dramedy "Franklin & Bash" got off to a decidedly unspectacular start Wednesday, averaging just over 2.7 million viewers.
The soft premiere provided no lead-in help for the third season of Ray Romano drama "Men of a Certain Age," which averaged only 1.8 million viewers — way down from the 2.4 million it averged for its second-season premiere.
"Franklin & Bash" stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who also toplined TNT's last legal drama, "Raising the Bar." That show debuted on Labor Day back in 2008, averaging 7.7 million viewers — about 5 million more than "Franklin & Bash" — but saw its audience quickly abandon it after its stellar premiere.
On the broadcast side, Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" slipped a bit from its premiere, but still won the night averaging 8.4 million viewers and a 3.0 rating/10 share among adults 18-49.
Also notable was the return of NHL hockey as a broadcast-TV ratings factor, with Game 1 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals yielding a 1.8/5 among adults 18-49 — the highest TV numbers for championship pro hockey in a dozen years.
The Vancouver Canucks beat the Boston Bruins 1-0 Wednesday to take a 1-0 best-of-seven series lead.