“Bionic Woman” Does Well In First Outing

Written by: Michael Hickerson (SoSF Staff Journalist)

Going into the fall TV season, Wednesday night at 9 p.m. looked to be one of the most competitive nights of the week. And if last night’s ratings were any indication, it’s shaping up to be quite a battle for viewers in the time-slot.

The good news for fans of NBC’s reimagined “Bionic Woman” is that while the show finished second in its time-slot overall with an average of 8.4/13 household rating, the new drama grew in viewership as the hour progressed. Ratings breakdowns show the new adventures of Jamie Summers building an audience as the hour went along and helping power NBC to a second-place finish for the night, behind the line-up on ABC.

Better news is that the launch of all of NBC’s Wednesday night line-up showed significant improvement over the ratings in the same time-slots last year.

While this doesn’t certify “Bionic” as a hit right out of the gate, the fact that its ratings grew while it’s competition’s ratings on “Private Practice” fell during the 9 o’clock hour is good news for NBC. Hopefully, NBC will be satisfied with the ratings and allow the show to grow into a hit, like it did last year with another sci-fi drama called “Heroes.”