TV Ratings: 'The Big Bang Theory' Premiere Down Significantly From Last Season

Despite the fact that this will be the final season of CBS' beloved and long-running sitcom The [...]

Despite the fact that this will be the final season of CBS' beloved and long-running sitcom The Big Bang Theory, Monday night's premiere failed to live up to its own lofty ratings expectations.

To open the week, Big Bang Theory premiered to 12.7 million live viewers, along with a 2.4 rating in the coveted 18-49 demographic. While those numbers are still stellar compared to other programs on network TV, they are significant drops when you consider Big Bang's numbers last season.

Throughout all of Season 11, Big Bang Theory averaged 14 million viewers and a 2.7 demo rating. With premieres and finales usually providing the biggest ratings bumps, this season's debut could be seen as a bit disappointing, compared to the show's rich viewer history. Still, despite the drop, 12.7 million viewers is quite a lot, and the final season of the series will likely be one of the most watched shows on TV.

Following The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon (10.6 mil/1.7) was also slightly down from last season's 12.5 million viewers and 2.2 demo rating. The Magnum PI reboot premiered to 8.1 million viewers and a 1.2 rating, while Bull (7.3 mil/0.9) provided the network with a boost in its new time slot.

Over on NBC, Manifest was the Monday night's second most-watched program (behind The Big Bang Theory) with 10.3 million viewers and a 2.2 rating, which was good enough to make the mysterious new series the best drama debut since This Is Us in 2016. Surprisingly, Manifest actually built on it's lead-in from The Voice (9.6 mil/2.0).

With some of the mysteries of Manifest being answered, it will be interesting to see if the series can sustain its high ratings throughout the rest of the season.

The Resident (4.9 mil/1.1) started FOX off with its series-best Monday ratings, and the regular time slot debut of 9-1-1 (6.6 mil/1.6) kept up with its Season 1 finale ratings.

Finally, ABC suffered a dip with its Dancing With the Stars (8.1 mil/1.1) and The Good Doctor (7.8 mil/1.4) premieres.

Which Monday night TV series is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!

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