Ratings: Glee's Premiere Numbers Are Worth Singing About
Barack Obama, Matthew Morrison
Fox's relentlessly promoted Glee series premiere opened to the tune of 7.3 million viewers, and ruled the night in the key demographics.
Glee got a bit of a head start thanks to President Obama's congressional address running into the 9 o'clock hour. The Obama speech pushed ABC's Wipeout back an hour, where it came in well below its average with 5 million viewers. Similarly, America's Got Talent pulled its lowest numbers this season, though its 9.7 million viewers was still enough to win the night overall.
Not benefiting from the Obama address as much as perhaps expected were the fall debuts of So You Think You Can Dance and America's Next Top Model. The latter was watched by 3.2 million viewers, down 10 percent from the previous season-opener. Dance delivered 6.5 million viewers, a decent opening but a bit less than the show's two-hour season premiere back in May (8.3 million).
Obama's speech averaged 21.2 million viewers across CBS, NBC and ABC, a 28 percent increase from his most recent prime-time address.