Ratings: The CW’s ‘Tell Me a Story’ Debut Doesn’t Have a Fairytale Start

Former CBS All Access series is now airing on linear television — but not on CBS

Tell Me a Story
Connie Chornuk/CBS

“Tell Me a Story,” the former CBS All Access series of reimagined fairytales for adults, made its broadcast television debut last night. Only it wasn’t on CBS, it was on The CW. After looking at the Nielsen ratings this morning, the Season 1 restart didn’t provide a very happy ending for The CW. For those numbers, you’ll have to scroll down to the very bottom of this story, where last place lies. Higher up on the leaderboard, kicking off primetime with a special honoring Regis Philbin, ABC climbed into a second-place tie with Univision among adults 18-49. NBC won the evening with “America’s Got Talent.” Fox settled for sixth place in the key demo’s ratings last night.

NBC 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 5.3 million, according to preliminary numbers. “AGT” from 8 p.m. t0 10 p.m. averaged a 1.0/6 and 6.1 million viewers. At 10, “World of Dance” drew a 0.7/5 and 3.7 million viewers.

ABC and Univision tied for second in ratings, both with a 0.5/3. ABC was third in total viewers with 3.5 million, Univision was fourth with 1.6 million.

For ABC, a special at 8 o’clock honoring the late Regis Philbin had a 0.5/3 and 3.7 million viewers. A second “20/20” special at 9, titled “American Catastrophe: How Did We Get Here?” got a 0.6/4 and 3.7 million viewers. “What Would You Do?” at 10 received a 0.5/3 and 3 million viewers. CBS was fourth in ratings with a 0.4/3 and second in viewers with 4.1 million, airing all reruns.

Telemundo was fifth in ratings with a 0.3/2 and sixth in viewers with 955,000.

Fox was sixth in ratings with a 0.2/1 and fifth in viewers with 959,000, airing repeats.

The CW was seventh in ratings with a 0.1/1 and in viewers with 605,000. “DC’s Stargirl” at 8 had a 0.2/1 and 754,000 viewers. At 9, “Tell Me a Story” received a 0.1/1 and 456,000 viewers.

Since CBS All Access was not Nielsen measured, these are the first TV ratings we have for “Tell Me a Story.”

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