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TV Premieres: Bette and Geena Don't Choke
You can Bette on it.
Lame jokes aside, it's turning out to be a banner week for small-screen debuts from big-name stars, as sitcoms from Bette Midler and Geena Davis nabbed enough eyeballs to have promising futures on the tube. Their shows joined a handful of others this week hoping to generate strong followings (Gideon's Crossing, Welcome to New York), while others struggled to hold onto their premiere-week audiences (Deadline).
Midler's heavily hyped CBS sitcom, Bette, was so successful, it almost knocked Who Wants to Be a Millionaire off its Wednesday-night pedestal--and it actually beat the Regis-powered game show in the all-important adults 18-49 demographic. The new series--starring Midler in a real stretch as, um, herself--drew 15.2 million viewers and averaged an 11.0 household rating and 18 share. (Of course, Millionaire still topped the night with a whopping 19.3 million viewers.)
Bette's shenanigans also proved beneficial for Christine Baranski's new comedy, Welcome to New York. The series held onto 86 percent of Midler's lead-in audience, drawing a respectable 12.5 million viewers and a 9.1 household rating and 14 share.
Geena Davis, meanwhile, hasn't been this on-target since her last archery practice. The towering star ditched her big-screen malaise (Cutthroat Island, anyone?) for a promising start on network TV, as her ABC sitcom, The Geena Davis Show nabbed a strong 11.7 household rating and 18 share Tuesday.
Whether it was because viewers were expecting her to be as scantily clad as she was at the Emmys, we may never know. But her 9:30 p.m. debut retained a full 100 percent of the lead-in audience from comedy powerhouse, Dharma & Greg.
Geena also managed to keep 'em around for the full half-hour, as she gave the critically acclaimed new hospital drama, Gideon's Crossing, a nice starting point, numbers-wise. The special commercial-free preview of the series averaged an 11.0 household rating and 18 share, and beat CBS' returning drama, Judging Amy, by 4 shares among adults 18-49.
Elsewhere on the TV landscape, NBC on Monday lost a hefty chunk of its premiere-week audience for the second installment of Deadline, starring Oliver Platt. The series, which lost more than two full ratings points in its household average, tumbled 26 percent from last week's numbers for adults 18-49. The show scored a 7.5 rating and 11 share in households, but part of the blame may lie with the tougher competition from this week's Monday Night Football matchup of Tampa Bay and Minnesota.
Fox also had nowhere to go but down with the futuristic, babe-o-vision thriller, Dark Angel--but that's only because the series premiered to 17.4 million viewers, and the only real competition was from the presidential debates.
Dark Angel performed admirably in its second try, almost knocking off ABC's Dharma & Greg and Geena Davis among adults 18-49. The show scored an 8.9 rating and 14 share in households, and a 6.4/16 among adults 18-49.
But if anyone should personally thank Al Gore and George W. Bush for their bickering, it oughta be Felicity. Thanks to Wednesday night's second presidential debate (which drew an estimated 37.6 million viewers), the WB series rebounded tremendously from its premiere-week performance. With little competition from the networks, the show scored a 3.4 rating and 5 share in households (2.7/6 among adults 18-49), its best ratings ever on a Wednesday night.
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