Promising Start For ABC's 'Rookie Blue'

Promising Start For ABC's 'Rookie Blue'

In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king. After a slew of new dramas opening in the 1.3-1.5 rating range among adults 18-49 this summer, ABC’s Canadian import Rookie Blue last night emerged as the most promising new off-season scripted prospect with a 2.0 rating/6 share in 18-49 and a solid 7.3 million viewers overall for its premiere. Described as Grey’s Anatomy in the world of rookie cops and airing in Grey’s Thursday 9PM slot, Rookie Blue held onto 78% of its lead-in Wipeout (2.6/10), which was down 16% from its Tuesday telecast but still ranked as the highest-rated program on Thursday. (In total viewers, Rookie Blue held onto an impressive 93% of Wipeout's audience.) Rookie Blue marks the top-rated scripted series debut in over a year and ABC's highest in almost 6 years. ABC’s other premiere last night, ABC News’ docu series Boston Med (1.3/4) did a so-so business at 10PM, finishing second in the hour hour behind CBS' Mentalist repeat. Fox's So You Think You Can Dance (2.3/7) was even with last Thursday's episode. CBS and NBC aired all-repeats with the exception of NBC’s 100 Questions (0.6/2), which was flat with last week and once again the lowest-rated telecast on the Big 4 networks for the night (and probably for the week since its main competition for the title, ABC’s Happy Town, has been pulled) ABC won the night in adults 18-49 with a 1.9/6 average, while CBS prevailed in total viewers with 7.4 million.