Trio Of New Freshman Series Off To Slow Ratings Start

NBC (Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA)) has been very lucky with its 2015–2016 rookie class. From "Blindspot" to "Chicago Med" in the fall to "Superstore" and "Shades of Blue" in the winter, this Peacock's earned the ability to strut.

However, the network's most recent pair of entries haven't been anything to brag about despite some top talent attached. Drama "Game Of Silence" was given "The Voice" as a lead-in and used it to post a 1.5 demo rating among the 18–49 crowd with 6.5 million viewers.

The problem is when it moved to its Thursday night home the numbers plunged 67 percent down to a 0.8 demo and just 4 million viewers. "Shades of Blue," which had been running in the slot debuted to a 1.8 demo but soon slipped to a 1.1. While "Blue" was renewed, as a barometer, any rookie series that falls under a 1.0 is in the danger zone.

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The news was worse for reality competition "Strong," which only gained a 1.0 demo debut off its two-hour post-"Voice" launch. The Sylvester Stallone produced series then fell to a 0.8 in its usual time slot the next night. Ironically, given how abysmal Thursday's at 8 p.m. have been for NBC that number actually ties a 10-week high.

It is hard to spin the same low numbers for Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ: FOXA)'s "American Grit," which despite having John Cena as its host fell just short of 2.5 million viewers and drew an 18–49 demo rating 0.8. "Grit" took over "American Idol's" old time slot, but apparently not its viewer base.