The former Dynasty vixen, T.J. Hooker ingénue, Melrose Place man-eater and Spin City politico helped her latest show, LAX, get off to a solid start Monday night.
The freshman NBC airport drama, starring Locklear as runway chief with a name, Harley Random, fit for a superhero's secret identity, took flight before 13 million, per overnight estimates from Nielsen Media Research.
That's a sizable improvement over the audiences the likes of Third Watch, averaging 9.4 million viewers last season, previously brought to the 10 p.m., Monday hour for NBC.
In another Peacock premiere Monday, Las Vegas launched its second season before 12 million who think Josh Duhamel has a really hot, um, body of work, on par with last year's 11.8 million average.
Overall, NBC ran second on the night to ABC, which saw the success of Monday Night Football (18.8 million) offset the disaster of The Benefactor.
The Alphabet's attempt to mint the next Donald Trump in the form of new-media mogul Mark Cuban went bust, with The Benefactor buying just 5.5 million viewers.
In a sad commentary on its snakebit status, ABC noted that the performance of the mostly ignored reality show was actually an improvement, demographically speaking, over the performances of the completely ignored shows (Primetime Monday, etc.) that aired in tandem with MNF last season.
In a service to the millions who missed Monday's premiere, ABC is rerunning The Benefactor's first episode at 10 p.m., Tuesday, and at 9 p.m., Thursday, opposite a first-run installment of NBC's authentically Trump show, The Apprentice 2.
Not that The Apprentice 2 is a safe-money bet itself these days. Numbers for last week's premiere were off 32 percent from its first-season average.
Could be time for Trump, or Cuban, to page Ms. Locklear.
Elsewhere:
NBC's Medical Investigation was the only brand-new, non-spinoff, hot-zone-braving series to crack the top 10 for the week ended Sunday. Thursday's premiere coughed up 11.78 million viewers (eighth place). Another episode, airing in its assigned 10 p.m., Friday home, got all serious in front of 10.8 million (11th place).Are the '70s finally over? The seventh-season premiere of Fox's That '70s Show zonked out in 34th place with 7.9 million viewers, down some 20 percent from last season's average.
Other less than stellar season premieres for Fox: The Bernie Mac Show (48th place, 6.6 million), Cops (65th place, 5.3 million) and its kin-fighting cousin Cops 2 (51st place, 6.2 million).
The boxing-reality show The Next Great Champ dealt Fox its biggest blow, falling in its opening round to 68th place (5 million).
The WB's presidential-minded teen drama Jack & Bobby received votes of confidence from 4.7 million (73rd place) in its Sunday premiere.
NBC's Father of the Pride looked toothless a week after its top-rated debut, falling out of the top 10, missing the top 20 and landing in 23rd place (9.89 million).
NBC's Five-O-free cop show, Hawaii, looked so-so but steady with 9.9 million (20th place) for its third original outing.
A two-hour Dateline NBC about a guy who got trapped under a boulder was good-time entertainment for 10.3 million (15th place).
The season finale of HBO's Six Feet Under dug in with 3.7 million; the season finale of Entourage, also on HBO, hung with about 2 million--neither number near large enough to give Tony Soprano cause to worry he's no longer the pay-cable network's capo.
A Sunday night NFL matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos on ESPN was basic-cable's most watched show, with 7.5 million NASCAR dads expanding their scope of interest.
Led by arguable underachiever Joey (first place, 18.6 million), NBC took the next-to-last week of the summer season, averaging 8.9 million viewers.
CBS, still burning off reruns, trailed with 8.4 million.
ABC, despite loads of football, fell short, with 7.2 million; Fox, despite loads of new programming (77 percent of its schedule was fresh), fell even shorter, with 6.1 million.
ABC and Fox did better among advertiser-desirable 18-to-49-year olds, tying for second behind NBC. CBS finished fourth.
The WB outdistanced UPN, 3.1 million to 2.4 million.
Here's a rundown of the 10 most watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:
1. Joey, NBC, 18.6 million
2. Monday Night Football (Thursday), ABC, 16.9 million
3. NFL Showcase, ABC, 14.7 million
4. The Apprentice 2, NBC, 14 million
5. CSI, CBS, 13.3 million
6. CSI: Miami, CBS, 12.5 million
7. Fox NFL Sunday--Postgame, 11.8 million
8. Medical Investigation (Thursday), NBC, 11.78 million
9. Law & Order, NBC, 11.7 million
10. The Amazing Race 5, CBS, 10.8 million