'Wanda Sykes' debuts against season-high 'SNL'

Attention shifts this week to those other new talk shows -- Fox's "Wanda Skykes Show" and George Lopez' TBS series "Lopez Tonight."

Skyes debuted on Saturday to the very preliminary 2.2 household rating among metered-markets at 11 p.m.

The trick here is what you compare it to. 

"Wanda Sykes" is replacing "MadTV" in the slot as Fox's alternative to NBC's "Saturday Night Live," which last night hit a season high 5.0. and featured Taylor Swift as host and musical guest.

"Sykes" was 16% higher than the "MadTV" winter average in the time period and 100% higher than the six-week-trial average of Spike Feresten in the slot during Jan. and Feb. Note that these are averages and not premieres. 

Comparisons to other late-night talk show hosts are all over the map. Fox compares Sykes favorably to the first Monday episodes of the broadcast season for Conan, Kimmel and Fallon, yet these weren't premieres either since the shows had already been in originals when the the season started.

If these early numbers hold up I'd call this a decent debut for new Saturday night talk show, but it's just going to be awhile before we know the full story (nationals don't come out until Thursday). If Sykes received any premiere boost last night, her show could end up struggling to tie the dearly departed "MadTV."

Read the review by THR's Barry Garron here.

Lopez starts his TBS gig Monday.

Also Saturday, CBS rolled out the return of "Saturday Night Fights" (3.8 million viewers, 1.7 preliminary adults 18-49 rating). Talk about preliminary, these numbers don't even include the main event, which aired outside of primetime. Based on a first blush look and assuming an increase in the national ratings, these are some decent numbers for CBS on a Saturday night, especially considering MMA was airing against college football on ABC (5 million, 1.5).