Gotham Premieres Strong, Earlier Ratings Report Totally Wrong

That said, Gotham still performed well in its initial outing — although both better and worse than previously reported.

The show premiered to a 10 share, significantly more than previously reported, but only a 3.2 rating. That means both the overnight rating and total viewership is lower than projected — and lower than last year’s debut of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. — but it was actually a more dominant force in the Monday night lineup than initial indications.

The numbers are no doubt a disappointment for some, who’d have liked it to have that “biggest debut of the year” kind of premiere — but going up against Monday Night Football and The Big Bang Theory that was never particularly likely. TBBT in particular is a potential problem as it shares a lot of the same target audience as Gotham (as opposed to MNF, which doesn’t necessarily and is more comparable to the competition S.H.I.E.L.D. faces from the dominant but older-skewing NCIS).

Warner Bros. Television, who produces both Gotham and The Big Bang Theory, had a pretty good night, though. TBBT was the top-rated scripted show by a wide margin last night, with both of its episodes pulling in more than 17 million viewers and no other show managing more than the 14 million CBS pulled in for its Scorpion premiere.