NBC’s latest primetime offering, “Night Court” took down the Tuesday night competition with its Jan. 17 debut. With a back-to-back programming schedule featuring the first two episodes and starting at 8 p.m. on the network, the revived comedy starring Melissa Rauch as Judge Abby Stone opened to a 1.0 rating among adults 18-49 and 7.39 million total viewers.
Following at 8:30, the second episode dropped 10% in ratings, receiving a 0.9 within the key demo and an 8.72% fall in total viewers. Still, 6.75 million total viewers for the bottom half of the hour is a solid performance for an opening night for the network.
This marks the highest total viewers of any comedy premiere since “The Conners” in 2018 and the best on NBC since “Will & Grace” in 2017 – both of which were also revivals of lauded comedies.
In the new take on the formerly revered classic sitcom which ran for nine seasons on NBC, Abby Stone picks up the torch left to her by her late father, Judge Harry Stone, as she attempts to lead a crew of misfit oddballs working the night shift of a Manhattan arraignment court. Melissa and Winston Rauch executive produce through their After January Productions banner. Mona Garcea oversees on behalf of After January Productions and John Larroquette serves as a producer. After January Productions produces the series in association with Warner Bros. Television and Universal Television.
Sitting in second place among Tuesday night’s primetime rankings is ABC’s “The Rookie” with a .6 rating for the hour. The procedural raked in 4.62 million total viewers for the new episode – a steady figure for the popular show that’s now in its fifth season. This number reflects the show’s linear audience and doesn’t take into account those streaming the show online or through Hulu.
Fox’s “The Resident” took the third slot on the rankings with 2.92 million total viewers during the hour and a .4 rating among the focused group – that’s a 25% lag behind NBC.
NBC continued to reign over the 9 p.m. hour with a new episode of “New Amsterdam.” With another back-to-back reveal, the first of the two episodes attracted 3.42 million total viewers and scoring a 0.4 rating. While it’s a win for the hour, the network recorded an approximate 44% change in audience after “Night Court” finished airing. The second episode garnered a 0.3 rating and 2.76 million total viewers in the bottom hour, leaving “New Amsterdam” in third place behind ABC’s “Will Trent” and “FBI: Most Wanted” on CBS.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety