FOX’s delayed freshman drama Monarch finally premiered on Sunday, and the early numbers are not encouraging.
Monarch Season 1 Episode 1 kicked off with 2.8 million viewers and a 0.5 rating, according to early numbers.
The Susan Sarandon country music drama slipped considerably from its football lead-in, which came in at 9.5 million viewers and a 2.4 rating.
The true test will be when the series premieres on its regularly scheduled Tuesdays at 9 p.m. time period on September 20.
Many new shows falter in their second episodes.
However, these numbers so far are nothing to write home about when you consider the impressive lead-in.
We need to see the delayed viewing numbers and whether many of the premiere viewers follow the show to Tuesdays.
The rollout strategy has been confusing, to say the least.
Elsewhere on the night, Big Brother’s double eviction aftermath played out with 3.9 million viewers and a 0.7 rating.
Before that, 60 Minutes had 6.8 million viewers and a 0.9 rating.
ABC went with Celebrity Family Feud (4 million viewers, 0.5 rating), The $100,000 Pyramid (3.4 million/0.4 rating), and The Final Straw (1.6 million/0.3 rating).
What did you watch on the night, TV Fanatics?
Are you surprised about Monarch’s low numbers?
Hit the comments.
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.