Courteney Cox (left), Jennifer Aniston (right) (SBC Ownership Group), Rachel (SBC-TV) (Channel 4)
Network Season Rankings
1st place = 4 points
2nd place = 2 points
3rd place = 0 points
1. ICE - 4 wins (21 points)
2. SBC - 2 wins (11 points)
3. ROD - 1 win (10 points)
RACHEL WAS THERE FOR SBC TOPPING ROD'S NEW COUNTRY LINEUPThis was by far the most competitive 3-way race of the season as all three networks offered big-time programming but Paige Van Buren will be able to celebrate the overall victory while SBC won the war against ROD.
Let's start off with the winning network ICE real quick because Paige Van Buren is off to a quick start this season and its been more competitive this season to start the new year than it was back in 2013 when Jessica Lowndes started her run at the Phederation.
Team ICE was the biggest draw of the night keeping a good amount of its audience from last week getting 144.37 million viewers last night as ICE's football team was involved in a close 4th quarter battle in that 9pm hour only to lose to Norwood's Sunrise College Prep in unfortunate crushing fashion late in the game after coming all the way back to take the lead. The city of Norwood celebrated the huge victory against like they won the Super Bowl in the streets although Team ICE still won the overall episode to go 2-0 this season. Things will get interesting as the team fully responds to losing their top leader of the studio Kya Summers to ROD and SBC & ROD stars compete for their opponent next Tuesday.
Kelly's Thugs followed with its season premiere with 80% retention out of Team ICE and staying over 100 million viewers for the whole 2-hour season premiere. Kelly's Thugs due to the huge lead-in is now the highest rated Janit O'Day franchise premiere of the new season pending what Heather does for SBC this October. Kelly's Thugs will be the permanent lead-out program for Team ICE for the rest of the fall so this is huge for them. Chicago's Most Dangerous Bitch's new season premieres next week with a new villain replacing Jessica Lowndes.
TGIT BEATS RCT
The most interesting ratings race of the season might belong to Tuesday nights between SBC and ROD as the old TGIF block rebranded as Thank God It's Tuesday (TGIT) due to its move to Tuesday nights this season ended beating out Lucy Hale's new ROD Country Tuesday (RCT) block of country music themed programming here during the first Tuesday of this season. This is a huge win for SBC as they picked up two points tonight to get back out in front of ROD and SBC has done really poorly in daytime so this was huge to get some momentum back from their huge weekend after a slow night on Monday.
TGIT's block consists of throwback sitcoms like Full House, Step By Step, Friends, and Gimme a Break! while ROD lineup consists of programs dedicated to country music fan viewers as they lineup a comedy block to start the night then a variety show and end the night with a country drama. Both of these studio's actors have been talking hell of shit to each other leading into tonight's battle but SBC can brag first.
The question is when things calm down next week how does SBC settle into its normal numbers and will ROD benefit from starting lower out of the gate?
SBC had the bigger advantage because their night was surrounded around the big Friends revival reboot premiere of Rachel which is one of this fall's most anticipated shows so they had a clear advantage and Full House started the night out really well for SBC getting 91 million viewers to start its second season to prove that the first season was not a fluke and Full House is a major reason why TGIF worked so well last season because it anchored the lineup really well against ICE and ROD. Step By Step did what it did last year and hung onto the lead-in.
JANIE ANISTON THANKS TO HER AUNTIE STARTS OFF FAST
Rachel started its run with 112.2 million viewers which makes it the largest premiere ever for a new SBC comedy as fans have been waiting for a long-time for this Friends reunion which only didn't have Matt LeBlanc who played Joey included int he show since he's a member of the ICE roster as one of their lead comedy producers. Matt LeBlanc's big night is on Wednesdays this season as he's one of the few responsible for Angry Landlords and the new Toronto's Friends reboot. Rachel started off huge but there's some that believe the rating could've been even bigger had it not had to go against Team ICE which smothered the hour. Most ICE viewers probably missed the premiere to watch the game so Thursday's ratings for the second episode will be interesting since ICE's night is a little lighter on Thursday they may get some ICE viewers to tune in for the first time.
Janie Aniston being attached to this project is huge for her career as she's on a new hit show so SBC made the right move calling an audible and it's a shame that she had to fight Topanga Jamora to get on the cast because had she not done that Topanga would've gotten credit so did starting a fight save Janie Aniston's rookie run?
Sam & Brian: Friends premiered next and it bled quite a bit falling under 100 million viewers for Victoria Justice's official primetime debut with SBC but retention was at 84% so not too bad as it could've fallen off even more even with the slip this is by far the highest ratings the show got as SBC put the show on Netflix this season to get people to catch up on it and it may have worked keeping it from getting under 80 million viewers.
The series premiere of Queens of Motown grew out of Sam & Brian: Friends getting over 100 million viewers for the former ICE sitcom and that led into Gimme a Break! which got 90 million viewers for its highest rating ever and SBC Stars After Dark had 77 million viewers so successful night all-around for SBC.
ROD's country lineup was very competitive and did well but came in last place as Reba's The Stella Sisters which was a surprise hit from last year started its new season way behind Full House with 66 million viewers which was solid though and Baby Don't Rush had almost 70 million viewers for its premiere and looks like it's gonna fit right in but ROD has to be concerned with their other comedy right out of the gate Two More Bottles of Wine which slipped to 63 million viewers and any kind of bleeding like this for a new show is always concerning so ROD should keep an eye on it.
The bad ass country female singers on Somethin' Bad got the ratings up to 76 million viewers as Kacey Musgraves newfound NITRO star power last season from her morning show with Hunter Hayes was huge in getting the ratings for it. Last season Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert were the two draws for it and now Maren Morris has also been added to the cast. Somethin' Bad no doubt about it is the lead comedy of this promising block.
What's going to be interesting is how SBC's ratings settle in because Somethin' Bad might be able to catch Sam & Brian: Friends in that slot soon.
Hayden's Country Hour was one of ROD's biggest shows last year after she left ICE for ROD. Hayden Panettiere still has a lot of her star power as Hayden drew over 80 million viewers and was the only ROD show last night to draw over 80 million leading into the huge premiere of Blake Shelton's new drama Mine Would Be You which bled to 74 million viewers but unlike his new comedy Two More Bottles of Wine this might actually survive the whole season.
Next week will be interesting but we'll see how SBC's ratings for Rachel really settles in on Thursday.
Tomorrow is all about ICE as the biggest scripted premiere of the fall The Wrong Students debuts behind the new season of Teen Angels and Saved By the Bell's hit comedy The Adult Years starts a new season in the ICE late night comedy block which has Lily Collins hit comedy Angry Landlords returning tomorrow as well. Over on ROD, The Nanny Diaries is back for a full season this year and I Love Lucy Hale starts a new season along with the return of The LA. Wednesday is huge for SBC to start the night as Aria, The Pretty Little Bitch starts its new season as Lucy Hale will be on SBC all season Wednesdays at 8pm. Killer Love and Escape the Night begin their runs hoping to keep a spot on the fall schedule.
