'Scrubs' opens solid; 'Loser' and 'Mentalist' hit highs

Transplanted veteran comedy "Scrubs" had a solid premiere in its new ABC home Tuesday night, while the series premiere of reality show "Homeland Security USA" had a modest opening.

Back-to-back episodes of "Scrubs" (6.8 million viewers, 3.1 preliminary adults 18-49 rating and a 7 share; and 6.6 million, 3.2/8) were down 18% from its most recent NBC debut in fall 2007 to mark a season opener low for the show, but this is almost not a fair comparison to make. NBC aired "Scrubs" in its supportive comedy block, and the fall tends to be higher rated than January.

Plus, "Scrubs" did, after all, swap networks. The eighth season bow also outperformed its lead-in, the fairly modest series premiere of "Homeland Security USA" (7.8 million, 2.3/6). Both "Scrubs" and "Homeland" improved their hours compared with last year's originals in the slots, and "Homeland" did better than "Opportunity Knocks" in the slot earlier this year. With Fox in repeats, they did place third in their hours, however.

NBC's "The Biggest Loser" (11.9 million, 4.5/11) once again demonstrated its impressive ability to be impervious to ratings erosion. In fact, this is the show's biggest opening yet. The lead in helped "Law & Order: SVU" (10.6 million, 3.9/10) conquer 10 p.m. 

In third, CBS' "NCIS" (19.1 million, 3.7/10) and "The Mentalist" (19.6 million, 3.9/10) performed well. Though "Mentalist" was off 7% in the demo from its last original, it set yet another season high among total viewers. At 10 p.m., "Without a Trace" (13.2 million, 2.7/7) was down slightly from its last original and tied ABC's "Primetime: What Would You Do" (7 million, 2.7/7) for second place in the demo.

The CW had the return of originals for "90210" (2.8 million, 1.4/4) and "Privileged" (1.7 million, 0.8/2), both roughly on par with their last airings. 

RELATED: Biggest Midseason Ratings Battles: Tuesday 'Homeland Security' vs. 'Biggest Loser'

Comments

[smokeybear]

I'm warming up to the Mentalist. Sometimes Simon Baker is just really funny for being very direct with other characters.

[James Hibberd]

Thought last night was the best episode since the pilot. Too bad Bruno Heller can't write all of them himself. He got the tone/pace/character back on track.

[Marty McDoodle]

Finally! Scrubs getting the ratings it deserves. NBC, the best you can do is the Biggest Loser???